JOB-READINESS
Filthy Rags Outreach provides job readiness services as well as re-entry fairs and programs inside and outside of the prison system.
We connect each participant with an Academic and Career counselor at local community colleges that work specifically with women and men coming out of the state's prison system to identify the career or education path they'd like to pursue and knock down any barriers in the way of obtaining an education or career.
We provide interview clothing, help with resume and cover letter writing, as well as do mock-interviews so our participants can be fully prepared for the workforce in the 21st century.
We actively advocate for our participants with D.O.C., probation, and Community Corrections officers.
RE-ENTRY CASE MANAGEMENT
Filthy Rags Outreach has developed a program to help our participants connect with resources, jobs, & trade schools to help you get back on their feet, be independent, and make a living wage.
In combination with our other programming, such as our peer-led meetings and our job-readiness workshops, our case managers work hard to overcome any barriers to independence and offer supportive services to our participants.
We offer wrap-around support to knock down any barriers to successful reintegration into society. We start with an assessment to determine what our participant's most critical needs are and help them connect with resources.
Each client is partnered with a peer mentor who will be there for them throughout their re-entry process. Our peers all have lived experience, which makes their stories and messages credible.
TRANSITIONAL
HOUSING
We have partnered with "Be a Friend Ministry to provide transitional housing for men coming out of prison. Our 1st transitional housing program opened on November 1st, 2021 with 6 beds. Be A Friend offers weekly house meetings and programming designed to create an atmosphere of healing and to help the individual overcome barriers to success.
Filthy Rags Outreach partnered with the Northwest's Premier Flagship shelter program, Aurora Oaks. Through a partnership with Lake City Partners Ending Homelessness, Filthy Rags Outreach has dedicated beds for men and women returning to society from incarceration, with supportive services built in to help obtain stabilizing documentation, jobs, counseling, and permanent housing. Filthy Rags Outreach works with its' participants Community Corrections Officers to ensure a smooth and successful transition back into society, while supporting basic needs.
R.A.G.S. YOUTH
PROGRAM
(Radical Actions Guarantee Success)
Radical Actions Guarantee Success (R.A.G.S.) is a Filthy Rags Outreach youth program designed to reach at risk youth in our community through mentorship and the most influential medium in our culture... music.
From the birth of street gangs in our community, music has played a critical role in shaping the mentality and culture of the street and gang lifestyles. Filthy Rags Outreach aims to use the lyrics and lifestyles of the artists that the youth of this generation are inspired by and look up to, to teach critical lessons surrounding: gang and gun violence, Identity, Images and reputation, relationships, education, hustle, entrepreneurship, and legacy.
As music has always been the driving force shaping the culture of the streets and gang lifestyle, from the clothes worn, and the cars driven, to the mentality of the youth and their perception on life, we aim to use these same lyrics to influence and reshape the mentality of young adults to redirect their path toward a life of positive living.
PEER-LED
MEETINGS AND MENTORSHIP
Filthy Rags Outreach holds peer group meetings “Breaking the Chains and Bridging the Gap” that are similar to the meetings that we hold inside the prison.
We actively create an atmosphere for healing, and challenge the criminal and gang mentality through exposing its false realities, lies, and the illusions we all bought into.
Our meetings are lead and facilitated by core members who know what it's like to be in the participants’ shoes and have first-hand knowledge, experience, and insight into the challenges they'll face in transitioning from the conditionings of the street lifestyle toward positive living.