Believe in Progress

Transforming Lives Through Empowerment

At Trust. Live. Succeed. Community Integration Services, we are dedicated to empowering individuals and communities. Our mission is to inspire success, create opportunities, and foster a culture of trust and growth.

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Mission

Trust. Live. Succeed. is a nonprofit organization committed to making a positive impact on society. Our focus is on empowering individuals with a history of incarceration to reach their full potential, fostering a sense of community, and driving meaningful change. Through our programs and initiatives, we aim to create a better tomorrow for all.

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Our Impactful Projects

Empowerment

Empowering individuals through education and skills training is at the core of what we do. We believe in providing the tools needed for personal and professional growth, paving the way for a brighter future.

Community

Building strong communities through inclusivity and support is essential. We work towards creating spaces where individuals feel valued, respected, and empowered to make a difference.

Sustainability

Sustainability is key to our initiatives. We strive to create long-lasting impacts that benefit both current and future generations, ensuring a sustainable and thriving community.

Housing Navigation

We walk alongside you in your search for independent and supportive housing. We will help you get connected to the financial supports to get into housing and help you navigate budget planning to sustain that housing.

Employment Support

As we work to build a network of employers that will consider individuals with incarceration histories, we will work with you to find the right position. We'll help you build a resume off of real-life skills and help you seek realistic and likeable employment opportunities.

Family Reunification

Many individuals who have been incarcerated in the past have struggled to keep their family units together. Children can be removed from loving parents and the battle can be quite extensive to repair those bonds. We hope to help you navigate the complicated legal system that can bring your family back together.

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Terrell’s Success Story: From Bus Pass to Business Owner

When I got out of prison, they gave me what they call “$40 and a bus pass”, like that was supposed to be enough to start over. No plan. No real support. Just, “Good luck out there.”

My prison case manager didn’t offer much help, and I was left to figure things out on my own. I knew one thing for sure: I didn’t want to be a burden to anyone. I wanted to stand on my own. I scraped together enough to rent a room near the courthouse (not exactly a dream location), and started working fast food jobs just to stay afloat, paying rent, covering court fines, keeping my phone on, and trying to stay in touch with my daughter.

It was a grind. I bounced from job to job, slept at friends’ places when I had to, and put my credentials as an electrician on the back burner because survival came first. Honestly, it felt like running up a down escalator in socks.

Things didn’t really shift until I met a case manager who actually cared. She connected me with TLS Community Integration Services, and that’s when things began to change. TLS helped me access resources that made a real difference. I moved out of the halfway house, got stable, showed up to court with a plan, and started knocking out my fines. More importantly, I started fighting to be present in my daughter’s life.

Over time, I got my own place, found a job that aligned with my trade, and eventually launched my own company. I even learned how to fix my own truck. Now I’ve got full custody of my daughter, I’m building healthy relationships, and I’m creating the life I always wanted.

It’s been 7 years since I came home, and I haven’t looked back. No new felonies, no returns to long-term facilities, just consistent, honest progress.

TLS didn’t walk the path for me, but they gave me the direction, the support, and the belief I needed to move forward. Now I’m part of the community, giving back, and helping others break their own cycles.

My daughter’s got a dad she can count on, and I’ve got a car that starts most days. That’s a win in my book.

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TLS Community Integration Services hopes to help individuals who have been struggling with housing and stable employment since their release from an incarceration setting.
Your donation will help us make an impact for an individual working to rebuild themselves within their own life.

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How it all Began

I started working with prison populations in 2013 and in case management in 2017 specifically with individuals experiencing homelessness, living in shelters, encampments and sidewalks coming from all backgrounds.

In prisons, I found many individuals who were returning to the system since childhood and releasing to unstable housing conditions, committing crimes to make ends meet. In my work in homelessness I came across individuals with recent histories of long term stays in state facilities as well as short term overnight stays in county jails.

All of these individuals shared a common factor of an oppressive system that benefited from their struggle.

Having seen this population from both sides of the double razor wire fencing I started asking questions, seeking out service gaps, and doing what I could to fill those gaps in the positions I was in. I then determined that these available services would never be enough to make a real impact on our communities.

Many agency funding contracts have gaps around this sort of service. I have found that there would need to be a specific program to provide targeted services to the individuals that fell within these service gaps.

My theory was that individuals would need to have client driven, wrap around services to feel a true full realm of support in order to regain trust within the system, live out their life their way and succeed at life through their own vision.