JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Today Rebuilding Ex-Offenders Successfully Through Opportunities, Rehabilitation and Education or R.E.S.T.O.R.E. broke ground on its new Transitional housing Quadplex in Jacksonville’s Durkeeville neighborhood.
“R.E.S.T.O.R.E. is a non-profit; we provide safe housing and services to former incarcerated women,” Rebecca Smith said, Founder and Executive Director of R.E.S.T.O.R.E.
Right now, R.E.S.T.O.R.E. has two transitional houses, which are where the women first go when they are released from prison. They also have one ‘step up house’, which is the next step towards living independently. The Quadplex will be the final stage before the women live on their own.
“It’s very difficult for formerly incarcerated individuals to be able to afford a place,” Smith said. “So we want us to fill that gap.”
“The Quadplex is a huge deal when it comes to independent living,” Nadieal Ash, House Manager for R.E.S.T.O.R.E., said.
Nadieal Ash is one of the house managers for R.E.S.T.O.R.E. She also used to be one of their clients.
“I was locked up for first-degree murder at the age of 17,” Ash said.
Ash was given a life sentence without the possibility of parole in 1996. However, that was reduced to 25 years due to a 2012 Supreme Court ruling that said juveniles cannot get life sentences without the possibility of parole. She was released in 2021, and her attorney connected her with R.E.S.T.O.R.E. Now, Ash is studying to become a lawyer and has a full-time job.
“If it was not for R.E.S.T.O.R.E., I don’t think I would have prospered as much as I’ve prospered in the four and a half years I’ve been out,” said Ash.
Construction on the Quadplex is expected to wrap up by the end of the summer, and it’s expected to open by the beginning of this Fall.
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