A New Haven-based nonprofit, which assists formerly incarcerated people in obtaining employment and job skills, will soon open up a location in Bridgeport’s East Side neighborhood.
The organization Emerge Connecticut, Inc., is expanding years after a similar effort was announced in Bridgeport, which has one of the highest incarceration rates in the state.
Alden Woodcock, the executive director of Emerge Connecticut, Inc., says Bridgeport is a natural choice for its second site.
“The transportation from Bridgeport to New Haven has always been a challenge,” Woodcock said. “We have had crew members from Bridgeport, but they need to have a car because taking the train is just a little bit too expensive back and forth.”
The new center in Bridgeport is located at 440 Arctic St. and is set to open next month.
City leaders and Emerge crew members gathered Thursday for a ribbon cutting complete with balloons.
Woodcock says the location will be focused on Bridgeport’s needs and the site was planned out with input from the local community. City officials say the center would complement the existing efforts of city rehabilitation programs.
Toshirea Jackson is the director for the Mayor’s Initiative for Reentry Affairs (MIRA). Jackson attended the ribbon cutting. She said MIRA will assist with paperwork for permitting, and funding from the city. MIRA, she said, would also help with community outreach.
Jackson said Emerge Connecticut helps meet a need in the city, where many residents getting out of prison find it hard to get jobs.
“When you come home based on your charge, you may have to pivot,” Jackson said. “And most guys that come home, they want to do construction, they want to do truck driving, they want their CDLs. And most also want to be entrepreneurs.”
The center is set to open years after a similar effort was announced, according to WSHU, The Bridge on Main located next to the superior courthouse on Main Street. The site has yet to open, but Chris Landino who heads the development for the project said the site is expected to open by the end of 2027 and expects construction to start soon.
He said he supports Emerge Connecticut's mission.
"We think the world of them, it's great," Landino said.
Woodcock said the site expansion also meets a key goal; getting more philanthropists and business in Fairfield County.
“The other thing to consider is that Emerge, unlike most nonprofits, we generate our own revenue through our construction and landscaping services,” Woodcock said. “So even if people can't necessarily contribute to our mission; financially, hiring an Emerge crew, giving them an opportunity to earn a paycheck and work these jobs, that helps too.”
Bridgeport is seeing more redevelopment in recent years, but the city also suffers from high incarceration rates according to previous reporting from CT Mirror.
Emerge Connecticut, Inc. helps address recidivism, according to Woodcock. Emerge states on its website only 11% of members reoffend. It also provides mental health support.
Two of those members are Jermaine Smith and Kendal Carter, from Bridgeport.
Smith got out of prison in April, after serving more than five years. Carter was released in February after serving eight months. Getting a job helps with their basic needs, but staying out, Smith said, takes more than that, and he credited Emerge with helping him.
“Jobs don't change people,” Smith said. “But when you change your way of thinking, that's what changed everything else.”
Carter said Emerge provides help; but it also provides something else.
“When you come home, sometimes you get blackballed,” Carter said. “They don't want to hire you. They give you a chance here to do better for yourself.”
