Isaiah House in East Orange has been serving the community for 35 years, providing food, shelter and clothing along with mental health, job training, and other services. Now, with a grant from the state Department of Corrections, it will be helping women coming out of jail to get back on their feet.
“With this funding, we are allowed to have women who are just reentering society, ” said Zammeah Bivins-Gibson, Isaiah House’s executive director. “We can help them get stability, but we can also allow them an opportunity to have their children living with them in the process of gaining that stability. We know that having their children be away from them for so long is challenging.”
Among those helped has been Maria Pacheco-Lopez, who was incarcerated for three years and separated from her 8-year-old daughter and 5-year-old son.
“Before, I was living in the halfway house, I didn’t have a house,” said Pacheco-Lopez. “So, Isaiah House, they helped me with housing so I can live with my daughter.”
Isaiah House also partners with mental health providers who bring services right to its clients, along with parenting classes for those women who are trying to reunite with their kids or regain custody.
