You Matter Nashville

Dismas House with Kay Kretsch and Jessica Guzman

• Jason and Mindy Hoover • Episode 14

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In this episode of You Matter Nashville, we had the privilege of hosting Kay Kretsch and Jessica Guzman, two extraordinary leaders from Dismas House of Nashville. Their organization is a beacon of hope for formerly incarcerated individuals, providing them with the tools, support, and opportunities they need to reintegrate into society successfully. Kay and Jessica shed light on how their work is making a profound impact not just on the individuals they serve, but also on their families and the Nashville community as a whole.

Dismas House, celebrating its 50th year, has grown from humble beginnings in an 8-bed house on Music Row to a state-of-the-art, 72-bed facility. The organization offers comprehensive reentry programs focusing on healing, personal development, and life skills training. Their trauma-informed approach ensures residents receive individualized care, addressing their unique needs and challenges. From helping them heal from past trauma to preparing them for life outside incarceration, Dismas House is redefining what it means to truly provide second chances.

Kay and Jessica shared how the first 30 days of their program are dedicated to healing—slowing things down for residents to adjust to their new environment, regain control over their lives, and begin addressing the root causes of their struggles. The organization also provides life skills training, financial literacy classes, job readiness workshops, and access to mental health services, all tailored to set residents up for long-term success. Their efforts are supported by a wide network of community partners who contribute everything from financial education to healthcare and even haircuts for job interviews.

The results are inspiring. While the national recidivism rate hovers around 30%, Dismas House boasts an astounding 2.5% recidivism rate for their recent program graduates. Beyond helping individuals, their work creates generational change, benefiting families and communities for years to come. For those who need additional time and support after the program, Dismas House offers independent living options on-site, providing affordable housing and continued access to wraparound services.

Kay and Jessica also shared how the community can get involved, whether it’s through donations, volunteering, or simply attending events like their annual “Whiskey, Wine, and Whiskers” fundraiser in May. Dismas House emphasizes the importance of community acceptance, urging society to embrace those reentering from incarceration as capable, valuable members of the community. Their programs not only transform lives but also save taxpayer money and create healthier, more stable communities.

The conversation was a powerful reminder of the strength of the human spirit, the value of second chances, and the incredible change that can happen when we work together to uplift those who need it most. Kay and Jessica left us inspired and determined to do our part in building a more compassionate, inclusive community.

Takeaways:

  • Focus on Healing: Residents start with a 30-day healing phase to adjust, stabilize, and regain control of basic aspects of life.
  • Personalized Reentry Plans: Each individual’s journey is tailored, from financial literacy to job readiness and emotional health support.
  • Impressive Impact: The recidivism rate for program graduates is down to an incredible 2.5%.
  • Independent Living: Graduates can transition to subsidized housing on-site, further easing their path to independence.

Dismas House
https://dismas.org/

You Matter Nashville YouTube Channel
https://www.youtube.com/@YouMatterNashville

The Hoover Team
https://www.thehooverteam.com/

Jason & Mindy Hoover (00:00.12)
Hey, Nashvilleians, welcome to the You Matter Nashville podcast, the place where every story we share is a celebration of you, the heartbeat of our community. I'm Jason Hoover, delighted to be one half of your hosting duo. And I'm Mindy Hoover, joining you alongside Jason to bring the stories of inspiring individuals and unsung heroes making a positive impact right here in our hometown. Every episode is about passions, dreams, and actions that stitch together the Middle Tennessee community. So if you're looking to get inspired by the good happening around us,

Or if you want to hear from the change makers who believe, just like us, that you matter, then hit that follow button on your favorite podcast platform. And if you are looking to make a move in the middle Tennessee area, and Dan and I are real estate professionals and would be honored to serve you with excellence. Now let's dive into another episode of You Matter Nashville.

Jason & Mindy Hoover (00:51.874)
Welcome to another inspiring episode of You Matter Nashville. Today we are thrilled to welcome two incredible women who are making a profound difference right here in our community, Kay Kretsch and Jessica Guzman. Kay and Jessica, they represent the heart and soul of Dismas House of Nashville. It's an organization dedicated to transforming the lives of formerly incarcerated individuals and strengthening our community through reentry programs.

Kay is a passionate advocate and leader deeply committed to creating pathways for second chances. Her work has been instrumental in fostering hope and opportunity for those navigating and challenging issues of reentry. Yeah, and joining her is Jessica, who is tireless supporter of empowerment and healing. With her unique perspective and dedication, Jessica plays a vital role in ensuring the success and well-being of Dismas House residents.

Together, and Jessica bring a wealth of experience, compassion, and insight to the table. And we can't wait to dive in today to the incredible impact they're making in the lives of so many here in Nashville. Welcome to you, Matter Nashville, Kay and Jessica. Thank you so much. Hey, guys. It's so good to have you on today. Thank you for taking time out of your schedule to join us. So we love what you're doing at Dismas House.

And just, you know, we've met with you before shortly and the impact that you're making is, it's something that really Mindy and I have talked about many times as far as the reentry, getting people acclimating, know, setting them up for success for once they have gone and served their time and they want to reenter the community. So I am so thankful there are people like you and

especially here in our community that are helping people reactivate and get back into the community. So thank you for what you guys are doing. And we can't wait to talk more about Dismas House and from the start of where how it began. But if you would give our listeners a little bit of information about what it is exactly that you guys do. All right. Well, Dismas House is a men's residential reentry program. We are a 72 bed facility.

Jason & Mindy Hoover (03:13.53)
And men releasing from county jails or state prisons can make application to us. And if they're accepted, they'll go through our program. And what we do is we look for people who want change and who are ready to change, but also need support. If they've been incarcerated a short time or a long period of time, it doesn't really matter. It's still a very difficult journey for each individual once they're released from.

from their jail or the prison that they were assigned. So I love that. So they have a place to go, but they have to be committed and determined. So what are some of the qualifications? I think we're looking for the qualifications is, they a good fit for our program? So are they in a place where they are willing to accept help? Because we have a very intensive program.

and we look at their mental and physical health, we look at their ability to manage life skills, we provide all of their basic needs. But if they aren't ready for that kind of programming and the rules that we have, which our rules are not to restrict them, our rules are to support them because our first phase is healing and we really want them to come in and not work for the first 30 days. So they have to be willing to

except that we're going to slow them down before we speed them up. So our admissions manager spends a lot of time. She not only reviews their application, she does an in-depth interview with each of them. We need to make sure that they haven't had any violations while they were incarcerated in the last 12 months. And they usually get a good recommendation from the facility. And then we

we look at, you know, are they a fit and will they respond to what we think we've explained to them and the whole process of our reentry program. I like what you said about healing because we never, you know, just think that, you know, there's healing when they come out of prison, but that is so true. There's a lot of pain that they have to work through. There's a lot of, you know, for lack of better word, baggage.

Jason & Mindy Hoover (05:40.814)
We give them the adverse childhood experiences test when they get here. They're averaging a four. So that means that most of them, they fall into that 17 % of the population that's been pretty traumatized with their childhood experiences. And then the other thing is they usually have untreated or undiagnosed mental health issues behind bars because it can be weaponized against them.

And then regardless of if they've been in three years or 30, we still see adjustment disorder in this population. So it's the equivalent of like a PTSD in how they're going to respond to certain noises and sounds. And it is really an adjustment for some of them. Some of them have no problems, but others have come in and it's been three days before they could go back up the door. And I can see how that could happen.

just from our nation going into COVID state, you know, and so many people were stuck in their homes for six months or longer and then going out, there were a lot of anxiety disorders coming out of that. So I can't imagine, you know, prolonged like five, 10 years, 15, 30, and then coming out. That is a whirlwind of emotional overload, sound overload. Yes, yes. And that's why

Even how we designed our building has taken all of that into effect. the first things they regain control of are the things that we take for granted every day. They can control the temperature of their room, finally. They can control the lights and they have a window that opens. Those are the first three things we give them control of on the first day that they arrive. And so we just don't naturally think of that. No. Yeah, it's amazing.

how accustomed we get to our surroundings and the freedom that we have that we don't appreciate every day. Now you guys have been in business, so to speak, for a long time. would love to hear the beginnings of this. Like how many beds, how many people were you serving? Have you always been in downtown Nashville? Yeah, we were started by Vanderbilt Chaplain University, Father Jack Hickey.

Jason & Mindy Hoover (08:06.862)
who felt that people who were living in incarceration and restarting their lives over had a lot of similarities to college students. so together, college students and people leaving incarceration lived together in an eight-bed house on Music Row. So we were on Music Row for 46 years. We averaged about serving about 20 men a year. And the program obviously wasn't what it is today, the holistic services that we now are that include all of the mental health.

in recovery pieces, but it's been interesting as we celebrated this 50th anniversary to hear from folks who have been a part of our history. We got a note from the first woman who was ever accepted to Dismas House and how Dismas House changed her life. And because she had a place to go after incarceration and got a letter of recommendation from the CEO at the time, she was able to attend a

nursing program and had a very lifelong fulfilling career as a nurse. It's just really sweet to see how we've changed over time, but how we've impacted not only the people that we serve, but have made an impact in the national community as well. you have, because these people, want to change. And I love that they're adamant and stories like that.

It's not impacting just them, but it is a generational blessing. it's for people, you know, people like you guys that are helping do that. again, thank you for that. So 50 years, you celebrated 50 years this year, right? We did. That's incredible. That's fun. So just four or five years ago, 2020 in the middle of COVID, you guys decided to expand. you went from eight beds to how many?

We went from eight to 72 beds just after the tornado ravaged Nashville and just before the declaration of the pandemic. So it was quite challenging and it taught you a lot of patience because the resources were still being deployed to everybody who was negatively or adversely impacted by that tornado. So we needed Comcast, but if people didn't have any connectivity,

Jason & Mindy Hoover (10:29.438)
I really believed that they should have priority, but we still had opened our doors. And then what happened after that is once the pandemic was declared, what we did is we shut down our doors and then got a mobile hotspot and retooled everything so that we could do everything virtually because all of the partners that we work with in the community, when we put together our reentry program,

were also not seeing anybody. They were doing the same thing in April we were doing. So everything had to be retooled and we reopened. We still had some people showing up during that time. So we didn't turn anybody away. We just said, you're going to have to be patient while we focus on retooling. was As crazy as that sounds, right? Like that's probably not the way that any new building wants to open up. But I think it was a blessing in disguise because

At the time, a lot of people were also just not getting released from prison. So people were just kind of staying in prison. But when they were coming here and they were slowly being released, we could use the space accordingly. So we were able to have, you know, you know, a quarantine room and, you know, just designate different places of the building to make it work for the times that were happening. Right. Got to slowly acclimate.

Yes, so good news is we did not experience during that time, we did not have COVID cases on our campus because we brought people in, we quarantined them for 10 days before they entered the general population. And then once they entered the general population, because we knew everybody here was safe, they had to wear their masks when they went out, but they didn't have to wear their masks when they were on campus. I don't think we had COVID for two years. was...

Pretty much the whole- When we stopped wearing masks. Yeah, when we stopped. Yeah, the staff had to wear masks. And we, you know, because we provide a very high-touch service, we had to be here. So we would see all the healthcare workers were across the street from TriStar and Sarah Cannon on Charlotte Avenue. So we would see all the healthcare workers coming in and knowing that we were right there with them helping this community as it was releasing from incarceration. And-

Jason & Mindy Hoover (12:48.782)
providing their services. So during COVID you expanded. So that's a little bit of a COVID crazy, right? That was a very interesting time that we went through. But you guys were still able to support those that were there. Now, was it in 2020 you went from the smaller place to the 72 beds? Did you already have people lined up for those 72 beds?

We actually had a plan and our plan was we have 56 program beds and each of those each of the wings of the building has 14 beds in it. So our goal was to do 14 stabilize another 14 stabilize and you know and keep like every quarter increasing and then adding the staff and training the staff and having time to do all that. But that's the plan.

Ah ha ha. And then there's the reality, which is we got really good at our plan and we were, we had 30, probably over 30 men here. And all of a sudden the TDOC stopped releasing people from incarceration because they didn't, it was like September. It wasn't long after that. Like there wasn't anybody who was released from prison in September. And we're all just going, wait a minute.

You know, so we don't bring everybody, we don't bring 14 people in on day one. We spread them out so we get so many a month. And that month it was zero. So I know they were really struggling behind bars. Oh my goodness. And to have their time extended, that doesn't even sound fair. And their time was extended because they needed a class. Their condition of parole was that they had to take a class and the classes weren't being taught.

in the prison so it created an impossibility of performance which they had to resolve. Now with that, I know that there is a high reentry rate, right? People who are released in a pretty big chunk, like a third of inmates, into going back. Your program is to stop that, is to reduce that number greatly as much as possible. About where...

Jason & Mindy Hoover (15:12.63)
are you guys sitting at for people who go through your program successfully? So our first cohort that that graduated that was our class of 2020 has we completed that and our recidivism rate was 10%. So that's that's not where we wanted it to be. That was our goal. But we had not added our clinical team at that time.

So cohort two, we're just starting to get the recidivism rate data on it and they're at 2.5%. my goodness. So that clinical team is having a huge impact. we have a certified peer recovery specialist and we have a therapist and we have student interns that are working to get their therapeutic licensure and they are providing all of that front end support that they need.

to prevent relapse and to really help their recovery journey as well as their reentry journey. You know, just how amazing would it be if every president of America had these programs going on while they were incarcerated? It would be life changing for families, for the individuals, you know, just period for America. Well, and then we'll talk about the taxpayer side of it, right?

because the average cost of incarcerating an individual for one year is $40,000. my goodness. So if you're putting... Yeah. Yeah. if you're putting a third of them back, that's huge. If we're only putting two back, there's a big savings from having this type of program. That's a very good point. Very good point. And a lot more healthier people. Correct. That's right.

community members and people who actually want to participate. want to pay taxes. You know, they want to contribute to their social security and their Medicare, all those things that we just take for granted and they are playing catch up. So take me through the process of a new inmate that has been accepted or actually a step back who wants to apply to be to live there. Can you take me from that standpoint of what they have to do?

Jason & Mindy Hoover (17:32.618)
So they'll fill out an application and submit it to our admissions manager. like K said earlier, our admissions manager has a lens of trauma informed lens and has, you know, taught us about ACEs. She's our ACEs trainer. So she looks at the application and really just makes sure that the person who has applied has the will and the desire to come to a program like ours. You know, they're going to do the work that

we need them to do to graduate in this program. And in that there are rules and there's things that they have to abide by, but they're all part of the program. And in the end, it's to set them up for their success and self-sufficiency. So they'll meet with Cleopatra, she'll work with the clinical team and the VP of programs to just ensure that they are fact a good fit. And then they'll get notified that they have been accepted.

And so that typically happens no more than like a month out from when they're expected to leave incarceration. then they come, they get here. So sometimes they even arrive on the day they say they will. Sometimes they don't. But a lot of them come, know, they get on the bus and they arrive here or a family member might bring them. But typically they'll arrive.

Just with the clothes on their back and maybe a small sack of belongings if anything, which is not much. Yeah, they'll have their papers. They get like $25 and a bus ticket. And so they pretty much have a pack of cigarettes, they pretty much walk in that whatever they have, they walk in the doorway unless they have like a family member going all out. But we provide everything. cover.

You know, food, clothing, we know their clothing sizes. So when they come in, they have three days worth of clothing. They have shoes, have shower shoes. We provide all the linens. We provide all the towels, everything they need. There's even a basket of snacks and personal care items. So that for the first 30 days, they can just focus on healing. That's really the most important phase. And I think the other thing to note is our program is only 90 days. So

Jason & Mindy Hoover (19:55.502)
It may seem to the applicants and the future residents that 90 days might be a long time, but it goes by so quickly. keep them really busy. Yeah, 90 days. was actually expecting it to be longer than that. Well, they can stay as long as they need to, right? If they need more time or want to have continued wraparound services, if they move into our independent living.

This is just a safe place in a sober living environment. So for some 90 days isn't enough. That's okay. And I do want to get to that independent living. That's on the top floor. But before we do, so once they get there, that first 30 days, what is life like? So we have about three days of intake where we're meeting with them and talking to them.

We not only give them ACEs, we also have this other assessment test. That's the Arizona Self-Sufficiency Matrix. It's used a lot with homeless populations and that, and it has 18 parameters. And what we're trying to do is baseline like where are they? And it also, by looking at what's in that assessment, we work with them and say, what do you want to prioritize while you're here? Is it improving your financial stability? Is it improving...

your family relationships? it going back to school? They take this assessment so that we have a pathway to really create a plan that is specific to their needs. Everybody here is an individual. It's never a one size fits all. And that's what we do. And then our certified peer recovery specialist meets with them. And that's where we talk about relapse prevention. So the first three days are pretty intense. Immediately, you're having them set some goals.

Yes, absolutely. I like that. So that's first three days. so from there, do they go and is there a certain period of time before they can go get a job or is that case by case basis? Yeah. And by week two, they're ready to go over to like Project Return for a three day class that Project Return teaches that is like a job readiness that makes sure they have their two forms of ID for the job.

Jason & Mindy Hoover (22:19.086)
So it'll help them get a copy of their birth certificate if they need it and then a picture ID, a photo ID that can be used. And the case managers that is assigned to them is working with them on understanding their triggers, talking to them about how the workforce has changed. Like if you haven't been in the workforce in 30 years, it's going to be a real change. So talking to them. Very good point. Yeah, about what they're going to experience in the workplace, finding out what kind of work they want to do, making sure that they're going to find something that's meaningful.

Unless they're like, yeah, unless, yeah, unless after 90 days, they know that they're going to go back home to their families, but most of them stay here. So we really try to put the community connections and make sure their resume is ready. They're doing mock interviews. They're, you know, they're doing, they're looking for jobs during this time, but at the same time, we're really coaching them on helping them with their life skills.

So before they ever go to work, they'll have a bank account. So they have four banking classes they have to take. We call it financial literacy. Fifth or third bank comes on site and educates them on their credit score. And so when they start work, they will have a bank account. They don't have to use any of the more risky banking vehicles.

Yeah, because most employers, now have direct deposit. having that is really, really great. Now, after they've done this nine day program, I know you've mentioned a few times about the, I guess, the fourth floor, the extended living and, and it's really just really great affordable housing. Again, it's that next step of freedom, giving them some ownership about love to hear a little bit more about that.

Yeah, our independent living program is just an opportunity for folks who feel like they want to remain on campus. Again, you know, it's a sober living environment. It's a safe place and they know us here, right? They've been here for 90 days and so they still receive those wraparound services. So if they want to talk to their counselor, if they're still, you know, working their recovery plan, all of that is here. And quite frankly, it's a studio apartment, essentially, and you can't

Jason & Mindy Hoover (24:34.766)
beat the rent, you know, most of them, if they've gotten their jobs, they're saving up for something. And so this is just a great place for them to either save up for their new apartment once they're ready to be out on their own or if they want to get a house or whatever the case may be. So we love our for the floor guys. A lot of them have been here for a couple of years now and just really

Enjoy what Dismiss offers for them. You know, we pride ourselves on saying that Dismiss is family. And I will say the minute that, you know, we have any resident walk through the door, that is absolutely the feeling that they get. You know, we make sure that we call everyone by their names. That typically doesn't happen, you know, when they're in prison and we say hello. And a lot of the guys, you know, for me being on the non-programming side of things, you know, I'm not interested in what happened before they came to.

to Dismas House. I want to get to know them for the person that they are today and be a part of their journey and their transformation. so it's just amazing to see and we get to see the longer term effects of Dismas House with our fourth floor guys. Now in the fourth floor, that's it's at 14 beds or 14 rooms? 16. 16 rooms. now do they pay any type of rent?

Yes, they do. It's on a sliding scale based on how much they earn. so we have found that the residents here that have a violent felony record really have a very hard time getting above $16 or $17 an hour. So they're going to pay $175 a week, where some of the others who have

they may have drug charges or non-violent charges, they usually are paying $200 a week because they're able to get $20 an hour or more. Most of them don't break $25. So if we look at what the area of medium income cap is for a single adult, they would have to be making almost $27 an hour to be, you know,

Jason & Mindy Hoover (26:55.392)
Surviving. don't even want to say comfortable. It's just survive in another state and a different environment. It's really important as part of our program is that we help them break that cycle of poverty. It takes three years to get out of that cycle of poverty and we try to really collapse that for them by having subsidized housing, subsidized all the programming is free.

We subsidize their food. We subsidize their transportation. We do as much as we can so that they can get ahead because they still, I mean, I don't think people realize how much they have to pay. So parole is $40 a month. And if you're going to be on parole for six or seven years, that's $40 going out every day. Your child support starts up again on day 61. You have, you know, your

We provide the first 30 days for free, but on day 31, we need to make sure they're ready to work so that they don't fall far behind in fees and we can make sure they're paying $165 a week to have a program bed. And so we do everything we can to help them get there and provide all of the supports they need that are free. They really, they don't need a

dollar when they come here except for cigarettes. here is provided. Soap in the shower is provided. Shampoo is provided. So they can really get ahead. Laundry is free. Now, I think it's also a testament to that we will collaborate and partner with Fair Chance employers, Second Chance employers who are really going to treat the men that we serve well. You know, they're going to give them our career paths.

They're going to give them benefits insurance and they're going to pay them a living wage, if not more. And so all of these components really set them up to be self-sufficient in the end. was going to be my next question, where the community partners that you guys work with, with finding jobs for the people at your facility and also the businesses that come in to do things to support you financially or to teach classes like you had mentioned with the finance classes.

Jason & Mindy Hoover (29:17.646)
So who all comes comes in and steps in I guess to help you guys out. Well, I'll talk about one that you don't even think about is HCA comes over and teaches cybersecurity. This population because they haven't been into laptops and cell phones and that don't realize they are very, very vulnerable for phishing and scammers. And so we have some who've lost every nickel they came to us with because

they didn't understand that. So we have that class taught by HCA and we're so grateful for it because it makes a huge, huge impact. Or what dating looks like now with online dating and fishing and scamming and all that stuff. Yeah. And then another thing is some of them come to us and they're medically frail. usually

Our most common untreated ailment from coming from incarceration is hernias. Because that's an outpatient surgery, it's not considered medically necessary for the time that they're incarcerated. So when they get to us, they can't work. So we have a partnership with the Urban League who will pay for their monthly fees, their weekly fees for up to four weeks.

while they're recovering from a surgery that's usually provided by Vanderbilt Shage Food. So Vanderbilt has been just a great partner of ours. And Urban League has been a great partner of ours. And Project Return has been a great partner. And then we have- All the food partners, the National Food Project, Second Harvest. Yeah, and I'm always forgetting- Charlotte- one generation away is dropping off food. And then we have just people in the community who bring-

men's clothes to us. Victory Supply is also great to us. They gave us winter coats this year for our residents. They also provide the shower shoes and some of the sweats for us. Some of the local hotels, when they're changing out their pillows, these are really nice hotels that they'll bring over their gently used pillows to us. So we have a lot of different organizations that are really helping us out.

Jason & Mindy Hoover (31:38.752)
I love to hear that. That community is just embracing and helping, helping these people. As we say, it takes a village. does. Amen. Now with like the perception, you know, if the people have, you know, of inmates coming back into society, like you had talked about, you guys have partners to help them find jobs. But of course there's a lot of people who won't consider them. Like what, do we need to do to help advocate for

advocate for these people and to help them be seen differently? Like what do we need to do as a society to give these guys another chance? Well, I think the first thing we need to do is accept that that sentence was the punishment. And unfortunately, some employers are still wanting to punish them because they won't hire them.

yes it's like well you know the so that they don't look at that this person said thirty years you they may have done secondary murder it's a horrible crime it has terrible victims on it but we have to make room for this person because if we marginalize them they're just going to end up in and out of the system and we don't want that you know we we have to find our our compassion and i

there is no one more aware of the crime that they committed than the residents here at Dismiss. But all they're asking for is, just accept me, please find a way to accept me back into the community. know, we all make mistakes. Yeah, we've made, and some of them are horrible. Yeah. But we need to, if we don't help them, they're going to do more harm and we want them doing more good. And they're capable.

extremely capable of doing good. That's why we invite the community in. We do community dinners Monday through Thursday. It's just a really sweet way for the community to just have a meal with our guys and have a normal conversation and de-stigmatize what someone who's been previously incarcerated looks like or acts like. And then it also helps them as they reintegrate as well. So they may be shy or they may be used to people treating them a certain way, especially when they were in prison. so to have

Jason & Mindy Hoover (33:58.926)
someone in the community come and have a conversation and share a meal and show that they care really goes a long way. Now you said you invite the community? Oh, yeah. That's neat. So is that like open to anybody? Yeah. You can sign up on our website to come in and serve a dinner Monday through Thursday. Every week? Every week. Okay. And if anybody wants to help us over the holidays, they can. So

We had a pretty full house over Thanksgiving and I'll be doing Christmas Day with the residents. So some of them, you know, are working and they can't really go home and some of them don't have a family to go home to. then some of them bring their families here. Yeah. So we have a very lovely event with the residents where we just share a meal and share stories and just show everybody some support and some love. love that. That is dear.

That's amazing. now is there like an age limit as far as like kids or anything coming in? No, no, we don't take sex offenders on our campus. So we really encourage it. have one, we try to get the dads reunited with their kids. We have a program for the non-custodial parents and we happen to have a little three year old here that's on campus when his dad is here.

At least twice a week. He doesn't spend the night, his dad takes care of him. So everybody knows him. He's just the sweetest little boy and he loves pushing any buzzers or bells or elevator buttons. So if you're going to get on the elevator, you're going to see every floor. I may have been that kid once or twice. We all were born with it.

All So you guys had mentioned earlier that you do get so many wonderful donations and support from the community. What are y'all's greatest needs? Like, is it like tangible things that you need donated? Is it monetary donations that you're really needing? What keeps you guys afloat? Well, my answer will always be monetary since I'm the VP of development. We could always use financial support in my world, but

Jason & Mindy Hoover (36:20.812)
Really, I think the in-kind donations go a really long way as well because we go through all those things so fast, and it's not cheap anymore, right? So it's like the bathroom supplies, the toiletries that they get when they first get here, it's the clothing, it's the bedding. Yeah, and so we do have an Amazon wishlist, but if...

If companies have a group of employees and they want to do something, we just encourage them to do a toiletry drive, winter coat drives. You can also just say, we're going to help you stack your pantry. So we're going to do a peanut butter, jelly, and canned soup drive. Because all of those, it's not any one big thing. It's 100 little things.

know, toothbrushes, I don't know if you bought one lately, but they're not cheap either. so anything we can do to make sure that their money is, that they're being able to get out of poverty and pay the fines and fees and whatever they need to pay before they can get their life started. So whether it's an in-kind or a monetary donation, it all.

makes a difference, but there's little things that go a long way. have a former resident who comes to give haircuts for free out of the kindness of his heart. And some of these guys need haircuts, right? They're trying to get their first job since they've been released. And who doesn't want to look dapper on their interview day or their first day? Who doesn't want to keep up their grooming, right? So a nice haircut.

Well, and something simple like that gives them confidence. And Jason, you are so right. That is really what we are working on is their path to self-sufficiency is around building confidence again in their skills because they haven't had really a kind word for however long they were incarcerated. I think we hear a train coming through.

Jason & Mindy Hoover (38:35.214)
Wow. It's right behind us. literally like, sorry. You know what? That reminds me of my dad. Uh, you know, my dad passed away last year and, but every time he heard a train, he, he, he, uh, retired from the railroad. He said, well, there goes another paycheck. So every time I hear a train, think of that now. So anyway, back to me. can't believe you heard that. I mean, it is like literally right there, like, like on the other side of this TV that we're staring at 40 feet away.

So I'll tell you what, for people that want to get involved, whether it be donations, the Amazon list, which I think that's fantastic, to serve or just to connect and show up, what's the best way for them to do that? All of our information is on our website, so can go to Dismiss.org. We have a volunteer page that really lists out all of the volunteer opportunities.

And there you can sign up for community dinners. And then we have an in-kind page as well that lists everything that we're currently looking for that we do keep up to date with the links to our Walmart wishlists, our Amazon wishlist as well. And then of course there's the donation page where you can see all the things that we've got going on, a few campaigns especially for this year, our 50th year. And then I think the most important page is people just wanna sign up and learn more about us and be in the know. We have a monthly newsletter that goes out.

We are on every social media you can think of so people can keep up with us that way, receive our monthly newsletter. And then we have our stories that we share. So we have blog posts that we have. And so we have a stories page. They can hear about all the great things that are happening and really be more in tune with the success of each guy. And we do program previews the third.

Thursday of every month that you can also sign up for if you want to come on campus and there'll be a resident that is a part of that luncheon. It's a free lunch and you can come on campus and get a tour of the campus, meet one of the residents and learn about our story and have just like a luncheon around what we do. That's great. All right. So we may have to sign up in a tandem. Yes. like that. We'd to have you. thank you. Thank you.

Jason & Mindy Hoover (40:56.558)
Yeah, this is this sings to our hearts. Mindy and I have we're very judicial minded and want to be sure that people are are welcomed back. Those that want to be reformed. And, you know, we both believe in the core of everybody. You know, there's a good person. And life just doesn't go your way. Let's just put it that way. It doesn't go your way. And you make decisions, good or bad.

And I love that there are programs like this. There are people like you that are helping them, you know, restore that hope, restore that love in these people that, you know, that have, you know, experienced a dark place in life. So I have loved this discussion. Before we wrap up, is there anything else that we haven't touched on that you would like to share with our audience?

I have two things. One is that we haven't talked about when they're ready to leave the campus. We actually have a housing coordinator who is now their advocate. So we didn't have that in the past. It's one of our newer positions. just like we're finding the fair chance employers, we're finding the fair chance housing network and developing that for them so they won't be taken advantage of by a landlord who's going to insist on

a three month security deposit and a first month's rent. That's impossible. Can you imagine if somebody asked us to pay four months rent or four mortgage payments? Yeah. that's one. And the other thing that I'm going to throw over to Jesse to talk about is we have fundraising events that are really a lot of fun. And we'll have one this spring. have just really, really good.

for people suggesting that. we have our spring fundraiser that's called Whiskey, Wine and Whiskers. It's a fairly new event. It's going to be in its fifth year, fourth year in May. So May, my gosh, 17th. Is that a Saturday? We'll have to get you the date. So we have whiskey vendors and we have wine vendors and people can bring their dogs, hence the whiskers portion. And it's really just a fun.

Jason & Mindy Hoover (43:16.942)
time for people who want to get introduced to Dismas House, but maybe not come to a sit down event or a more formal event. So you get tastings, you get to hear music. We've got an info booth there. We do a sign auction as well. And it's just really a couple hours of tasting with your friends, food trucks. This past year we did at the Horton Soboro and that's where we'll be again.

in May and we look forward to it every year. So stay tuned for that. And then in our fall, in the fall we do our annual fundraiser, which is our forgiveness luncheon. And so this year for our 50th anniversary, we changed that to a wonderful gala evening affair. And we tweaked it with some live auction items. sold a couple of trips and we introduced a new kind of giving component this year that will continue.

into future luncheons. So those are our two big events. We're currently in a year-end campaign. So we kicked that off this week with Giving Tuesday, and that'll go through the end of the year. So for this year, it'll just be a culmination of our 50th anniversary. So our theme for the year has been a legacy of changemakers. So you're not only from folks who have gone through the program and have graduated and have been impacted by our work, but also

from volunteers, from board members, and from the people that are involved and why. Why they love Dismiss as much as we do. That sounds amazing. Definitely if we're in town in May, definitely we'll want to partake in that. Yeah, you get to show off your little four-legged family Oh my God, we do competitions too. I forgot to mention that.

We do like a best dress competition for the pups and then we do what we call a pup strut. Do you have one for Crazy Wild Child? Because I've got one of those. It's an indoor outdoor venue and obviously they allow pups, but we also have what we call the Paw T Zone, which is a little gated, fenced in area so the pups can be off leash while they're in the Paw T Zone.

Jason & Mindy Hoover (45:37.582)
That's awesome. love thinking of everything. Oh my goodness. can, Mindy, I think Jason's going to be making dad pun jokes all day. I mean, you know, what else do you expect? Right. Exactly. You know, it's got to, we have a family chat, uh, on our texting, you know, chat group.

And now they never even respond. They used to respond with like a hit, you know, face palm or something. you don't get a thumbs up. don't even get a thumbs up anymore. anything. We just look at it and go, OK.

We appreciate it. We appreciate it. sometimes our daughter is the only one that don't go on Jason. It shouldn't be that way. Yeah, that's nice. you. Great. I'll just start sending it to them. There you go. Well, Kim and Jessica, I have thoroughly enjoyed having you two on today and just hearing everything that you guys do for the community. I mean, it's really incredible. And if we could just take

what you guys do and stamp it into every prison across America, I really think we would have incredible change. So thank you for what you do and just being the light for everybody that comes through your program. It is so desperately needed. And I know that all the families that you guys have served and you've worked with just feel.

10 times more than what I feel just listening to all the good that you guys do. This is, it's just incredible. I, for the bottom of my heart, I believe in the mission in, uh, just reforming and as a Christian, I believe hope again. Yeah. We all have room to grow and to change. And so thank you. Thank you. Thank you. was delightful to be, um, with you, matter Nashville. Absolutely. Love this interview.

Jason & Mindy Hoover (47:34.732)
You guys are so important. know a lot of times it's a thankless job. So thank you. I do appreciate you. And I'm sure many, many others do as well. You're making lives better. You're changing people's lives. It just, there's so much that you're impacting. Thank you for doing what you do. All right. And that is, that's going to be a wrap for today's episode.

to everybody listening, thank you for tuning in. if this has touched your heart in any way, please go to their website, dismas.org, that's D-I-S-M-A-S dot org, and see what you can do to plug in or give back to them. Mindy and I, we are definitely going to take you guys up on maybe coming by and stopping by.

And if nothing else, definitely the, the May event. But if, if anything speaks to you, please go to that website and sign up and get involved. All right. Well, we love you, Nashville. Have a blessed week and always remember that you matter. And that brings us to the end of another episode of you matter. Nashville. We hope today's show has left you feeling as uplifted and inspired as we are.

Remember, the spirit of Nashville lives in all of us and every small act of kindness echoes throughout the community. A huge thank you for listening and even being a part of our You Matter community. If you love this episode, please share with friends and leave us a five-star review. It helps us reach more listeners and spread the love. And if you know anyone that is looking to make a move to Middle Tennessee area, we are real estate professionals known as the Hoover Team, and we would be honored to serve them with excellence. Until next time, keep making a difference Nashville. You matter more than you know.