BUILT FROM LIVED EXPERIENCE.                                   DESIGNED TO CHANGE WHAT COMES NEXT.

RARE was not built from a theory about what people need after incarceration. It was built from the experience of coming home and needing those things firsthand.

RARE's founder returned to the community after nearly six years of incarceration. Like so many people coming home, there were immediate needs, larger goals, and countless things in between. Employment mattered. Housing mattered. Transportation mattered. Identification mattered.

But so did toothpaste.

So did deodorant.

So did having a phone, knowing how to use the technology everyone suddenly expected you to understand, having appropriate clothes for an interview, and being able to get from one appointment to the next.

Some of the smallest things could become some of the hardest things to ask for.

Sometimes, You Don't Have a Dollar

There is one experience that has remained part of RARE's foundation.

Shortly after coming home, our founder needed basic hygiene items—things as simple as toothpaste and deodorant. Asking someone for help was already difficult. Eventually, she worked up the nerve to mention that she needed some hygiene products.

The response was casual:

“Girl, that's just a dollar. Go to Dollar Tree.”

So she smiled.

She laughed it off.

She responded as though she simply hadn't thought of that.

But what she wanted to say was:

I don't have a dollar.

That moment never left.

Not because someone refused to help. Not because a tube of toothpaste changed the course of a life. But because it demonstrated how easily we can misunderstand another person's circumstances.

When you have very little, a dollar isn't “just a dollar.”

When you're rebuilding, a bus ride isn't just a bus ride. A missed phone call isn't just a missed phone call. An expired ID isn't just paperwork. A pair of work boots isn't just a pair of shoes.

And asking for help isn't always easy—especially when you've already had to ask for so much.

That understanding remains embedded in how RARE serves people today.

The Barriers Don't Come One at a Time

Reentry is often discussed as though people encounter one problem, solve it, and move on to the next.

That isn't how life works.

Someone can be ready to work but not have identification.

They can have identification but no reliable transportation.

They can complete training but not own the boots, tools, uniform, or equipment required to start the job.

They can secure employment and still struggle with housing.

They can have an interview tomorrow and no appropriate clothing, no haircut, no working phone, or no reliable way to receive an employer's email.

They can be doing everything they have been asked to do and still be one small expense away from losing an opportunity.

RARE understands those moments because the organization was built from them.

Seeing It From Both Sides 

Coming home was only the beginning of the story.

The lived experience that shaped RARE was eventually joined by years of working alongside other system-impacted people through peer support, workforce development, reentry, advocacy, community leadership, and systems-change work.

And the same barriers kept appearing.

Different people. Different circumstances. Different years.

But many of the same obstacles.

That experience revealed something important: people did not simply need more referrals.

They needed systems of support that recognized how interconnected their lives actually were.

They needed someone to understand that employment could not always be separated from housing, transportation, healthcare, technology, identification, family responsibilities, financial stability, recovery, emotional well-being, or the realities of navigating life after incarceration.

And sometimes, before any of those larger goals could be addressed, somebody simply needed toothpaste.

So RARE Was Built Differently

RARE began with a different question.

Not simply:

How do we help someone find a job?

But:

What does it actually take to rebuild a life?

That question continues to shape our work.

Today, through the RESTORE Economic Mobility Continuum, RARE connects whole-person support with workforce preparation, occupational training, employment, retention, advancement, and long-term economic mobility.

The continuum reflects what lived experience taught us:

Stabilize. Prepare. Train. Connect. Employ. Retain. Advance. Build Wealth.

Because getting someone hired matters.

Helping them keep the job matters.

Helping them advance matters.

And creating a pathway toward long-term financial stability matters.

The goal is not simply employment. The goal is economic mobility.

But Helping People Navigate Broken Systems Isn't Enough

Over time, another question became impossible to ignore.

What if we became very good at helping people navigate barriers—but never challenged why those barriers existed in the first place?

RARE believes both are necessary.

People deserve support navigating the systems that exist today.

Those systems also need opportunities to see, understand, and change the conditions that make successful reentry unnecessarily difficult.

That belief led to the experiential systems-change work that has become The RARE Experience.

Through immersive learning and system simulation, professionals, institutions, community leaders, and decision-makers are given an opportunity to experience how seemingly separate systems collide in the life of one person.

Housing affects employment.

Transportation affects supervision.

Identification affects benefits.

Technology affects opportunity.

Family responsibilities affect everything.

What looks simple from behind a desk can feel very different when you are the person trying to navigate it.

Still Founder-Led. Still Grounded in Lived Experience.

RARE continues to be led by its founder, and the experiences that led to its creation remain deeply connected to how the organization grows.

That does not mean every person RARE serves has the same story.

They don't.

System impact takes many forms, and every person's circumstances, strengths, barriers, and goals are different.

It means something simpler:

We don't dismiss the small things.

We don't assume someone should “just know.”

We don't confuse needing support with lacking motivation.

We don't measure success only by whether someone got a job.

And we try to remember that when someone finally works up the courage to tell us what they need, our response matters.

Because sometimes the need is occupational training.

Sometimes it's housing.

Sometimes it's an ID.

Sometimes it's a second chance.

And sometimes it's toothpaste and deodorant.

This Is Why RARE Exists.

To meet people where they are without losing sight of where they can go.

To equip system-impacted people with the tools, skills, support, connections, and opportunities necessary to build something sustainable.

To move beyond employment toward economic mobility.

And to use lived experience not only to navigate systems—but to help change them.

RARE was built from lived experience.

It is still guided by lived experience.

And we believe the people closest to the barriers must be part of designing what comes next.