Cutler Cleaners shared the holiday joy with a local non-profit, Riverside House. Richard Diaz, the owner and general manager of Cutler Cleaners (on the border of both the Village of Pinecrest and the Village of Palmetto Bay), donated complimentary dry cleaning services for four bags of women’s clothing donated to Riverside House in East Little […]
Those who come to Riverside House after a long and painful journey, seek redemption and a second chance at life. We are inspired by one client who has endured unfathomable difficulty but has nonetheless persevered with hope and gracious gratitude in his newfound freedom. *Jimmy Stevens had been in a maximum-security prison for 25 years. […]
Black History Month is celebrated around the country each year during the month of February. Beginning in 1926, it was initially called the Negro History Week and was celebrated for just one week in February, until 1976 when Carter Godwin Woodson extended the celebrations for the full month to commemorate America’s bicentennial celebration. Every year, […]
Many of our clients come to us having suffered immensely in their lives both before and during their incarceration. One of our strengths is helping them discover, or in some cases come back to, their faith in God. In this testimonial, one of our clients shares how her time in prison was the wakeup call […]
By Cleveland Bell, Riverside House Executive Director When all the trees are cut down to make way for progress, at least some of those trees are later replaced through reforestation. We don’t leave the environment stark and empty, but we try to restore the land so that it’s similar to what it was before being […]
By Cleveland Bell, Riverside House Executive Director Achieving restorative justice is not something that happens over a few days, weeks, or even months. Our residents are with us 120 to 160 days, then we follow up with them for three years. Being committed to the long-term process is crucial to restore the lives of offenders […]
By Cleveland Bell, Riverside House CEO We have recently talked about restorative justice – what that means, why it’s important and the process we go through at Riverside House to help returned citizens achieve it. One big element that deserves a blog post series all of its own is reentry, or how a person who […]
By Cleveland Bell, Riverside House CEO As we continue to talk about the four elements of successful reentry as part of the larger process of restorative justice, it’s important to understand why we need to think about and treat offenders like PEOPLE, not just inmates. Last time, I shared some of my story about why […]
By Cleveland Bell, Riverside House CEO In this blog post series, we are talking about the four successful aspects of reentry, or how a returned citizen can successfully come back into society after being incarcerated. We have discussed the importance of starting the process early and why it’s crucial to treat prisoners as people, not inmates. […]
They say that you are a product of your environment and at no time are you more impressionable than you are as a child. It’s easy to judge others and point fingers telling them that they should know better. But what happens when the line between right and wrong is a blurry one marked by […]
