From Personal Pain to Helping Others
Elaine Voigt says her son went to prison for defending her against an abusive husband. He was fifteen years old at the time and, what could have been a charge for juvenile domestic violence instead became eleven years in prison for assault on a police officer, attempted murder of a police officer, and driving without a license.
“I came out of the laundry room with a basket of clothes,” Voigt says, “and my husband was upset that dinner wasn't on the table, and he cold cocked me and broke my nose.” She said that her son, after seeing what happened, fought back and drove his mom to the emergency room. When they arrived, Voigt says her son was arrested on site and his life turned upside down.
This is the reason why Voigt says she created My Journey Home twelve years ago. Its mission is to provide understanding to those who have been left behind when a loved one goes to prison as well as facilitating reintegration for ex-felons back into the community. She says she’s been able to help thousands and thousands among the formerly incarcerated, from helping them with resumes to clearing outstanding warrants .
These days, she spends her time in a small office in downtown Reno, continuously helping others. On a recent fall morning, a handful of people milled around, checking emails and eating cookies she provided, waiting for the coffee to finish brewing. “If they're locked up for any amount of time they have a mark on their shoulder,” Voigt said. People “don’t want to hire them.” She realizes there are issues with the legal system that do not help ex-felons when they enter back into the community.
Richard Burton was waiting to use one of the computer’s and brewing coffee. He is grateful and glad there are organizations like My Journey Home to help him reintegrate back into the community.
From Coffee to Resumes, Jobs and Housing
Being the sole employee of My Journey Home, Voigt is able to help many ex-felons with things obtaining identification as well as getting their Social Security cards. Voigt also does not think twice about using her phone number and email address as placeholders allowing ex-felons to navigate through the process of reintegrating into society.
She says she has helped over 12,000 people and does not take any salary herself. Her organization is primarily funded by a ticket-to-work program which supports Social Security disability beneficiaries. Through this program and funding, she is able to get ex-felons who are trying to get back on their feet including some who are homeless a job. Voight recently helped a woman with MS who had previously been an auditor get a job with a casino and an apartment. Her doctor said her MS immediately got better.
Through her organization, they are sometimes able to jump the hurdles society puts in their way, find work and a home. “They’re paying taxes, they’re paying into the community,” Voigt said of her success stories. “They’re invested in the community, they’re not going to take from it.”
The affordable housing crisis here in Northern Nevada has worsened many people’s plight. “The biggest hurdle we find is that they can’t pay the deposit,” Voigt said. She is working with the City of Reno on a new program where the deposit on an apartment can be waived for a My Journey Home client and the application fees reimbursed if someone has a job and can afford the monthly rent.
She says she helped someone else who had been wrongly denied Section 8 housing due to a DUI, which was more than seven years ago, and wasn’t a drug charge. “Sometimes, they just need someone to step in for them,” Voight said.
She says she works every day to get people who have made mistakes but are now improving themselves, to get back on the right track and become functional members of the community. Previous clients who can now hire people in their jobs now turn to her current clients with offers for drivers or warehouse workers.
“We all make mistakes,” Voigt said, but “if we can get everybody in the community doing positive stuff, it’s going to be a positive community.”