Reentry Programs in Cleveland

Last Updated on: May 4, 2026

Finding real help after jail or prison can be hard, especially when you need housing, work, identification, treatment, food, or legal help all at the same time. Cleveland has several reentry focused programs, housing services, recovery programs, job help organizations, and emergency resources that can help people with a criminal record get stabilized.

Notice: You may also find our “Reentry Survival Guide for Felons” helpful in addition to this page.

List Of Reentry Programs in Cleveland

Also See: Reentry Programs In Ohio

North Star Neighborhood Reentry Resource Center

Address: 1834 East 55th Street, Cleveland, OH 44103
Phone: 216.881.5440
Best For: People coming home from jail or prison who need a central place to start
What It Offers: North Star helps people with criminal justice backgrounds connect to community resources throughout Cuyahoga County. Services may include employment help, job classes, computer access, GED classes, ID and birth certificate vouchers, benefits enrollment, transportation information, life skills classes, healthcare screenings, reentry events, and referrals to other agencies. North Star is one of the most direct reentry resources in Cleveland.

Cuyahoga County Office of Reentry

Address: 4261 Fulton Parkway, Cleveland, OH 44144
Phone: 216.698.3437
Best For: County level reentry information, referrals, and connection to North Star
What It Offers: The Cuyahoga County Office of Reentry supports reentry efforts in the Cleveland area and points residents toward North Star and other community resources. This is a useful contact for people trying to understand what local reentry services are available through the county.

Towards Employment

Address: 3301 Saint Clair Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44114
Phone: 216.696.5750
Best For: Job training, job placement, and employment support for people with barriers
What It Offers: Towards Employment helps people prepare for work, connect with employers, and build a path toward better long term employment. This is one of the strongest employment focused resources in Cleveland for people who need help getting hired after incarceration or after dealing with other serious barriers.

True Freedom Ministries

Address: 2005 Cypress Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44109
Phone: 216.202.3636
Best For: Faith based support, prison ministry, addiction support, and community connection
What It Offers: True Freedom Ministries works with people affected by incarceration, homelessness, addiction, and other difficult life situations. It may be helpful for people who want faith based mentoring, support, encouragement, and connection to a recovery minded community.

Volunteers of America Ohio and Indiana

Address: Cleveland area services vary by program
Phone: 216.541.9000 for the Cleveland Veterans Resource Center
Best For: Reentry services, veteran support, housing support, and residential programs
What It Offers: Volunteers of America Ohio and Indiana provides criminal justice and reentry services, housing programs, veterans services, and related support programs. Program availability can vary by location, so call first and ask which Cleveland area programs are currently accepting people.

Halfway Houses and Transitional Housing in Cleveland

The Salvation Army Harbor Light Complex

Address: 1710 Prospect Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44115
Phone: 216.781.3773
Best For: Substance abuse treatment, sober housing, transitional housing, and emergency shelter referrals
What It Offers: Harbor Light provides treatment and housing related services in Cleveland. The Salvation Army also lists Project Share as a men’s sober transitional housing program through Harbor Light, designed for men working toward permanent housing.

B. Riley House

Address: 2121 West 117th Street, Cleveland, OH 44111
Phone: 216.795.5585
Best For: LGBTQ plus friendly recovery housing and substance abuse treatment support
What It Offers: B. Riley House provides recovery focused support for people dealing with substance use and mental health needs. It is known as an LGBTQ plus affirming recovery environment and may be a strong fit for people who need safe, supportive, recovery oriented housing or treatment.

Front Steps Housing and Services

Address: 2554 West 25th Street, Cleveland, OH 44113
Phone: 216.781.2250
Best For: Housing stability, permanent supportive housing, mental health support, and substance use recovery
What It Offers: Front Steps helps individuals and families facing housing instability with housing support, case management, mental health counseling, substance use services, peer support, and supportive housing. It follows a Housing First model and is especially useful for people dealing with homelessness, behavioral health needs, or long term housing instability.

My Recovery Day

Address: 4500 Lee Road, Building H, Cleveland, OH 44128
Phone: 216.978.9902
Best For: Recovery support, sober community, and peer encouragement
What It Offers: My Recovery Day is a nonprofit recovery support organization in Cleveland. It may be useful for people who need encouragement, sober community connection, recovery events, and support after addiction or incarceration related struggles.

Housing Solutions in Cleveland

Front Steps Housing and Services

Address: 2554 West 25th Street, Cleveland, OH 44113
Phone: 216.781.2250
Best For: People at risk of homelessness or dealing with chronic homelessness
What It Offers: Front Steps offers housing stability support, eviction prevention, rental assistance connections, utility assistance connections, case management, mental health services, and substance use support. People with a felony record who are homeless or close to losing housing should contact them and ask about eligibility.

The Salvation Army Harbor Light Complex

Address: 1710 Prospect Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44115
Phone: 216.781.3773
Best For: People needing shelter, sober housing, treatment, or housing related referrals
What It Offers: Harbor Light provides recovery focused services and housing related support. Men looking for sober transitional housing should ask specifically about Project Share and current openings.

United Way 211 Greater Cleveland

Address: Phone based and online referral service
Phone: 211
Best For: Emergency housing referrals, shelter openings, food, utilities, transportation, and crisis resources
What It Offers: 211 is often the fastest place to call when someone needs immediate help finding shelter, food, clothing, utility assistance, or other emergency services. It is not only for people with felony records, but it can be very helpful during reentry.

For more housing guidance, read our guide to felon friendly apartments and housing.

Emergency Food, Clothing, and Basic Needs in Cleveland

Greater Cleveland Food Bank

Address: 13815 Coit Road, Cleveland, OH 44110
Phone: 216.738.2265
Best For: Food assistance and connection to local pantries
What It Offers: The Greater Cleveland Food Bank can help people find food pantries, hot meals, SNAP application help, and other hunger relief resources in the Cleveland area.

West Side Catholic Center

Address: 3135 Lorain Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44113
Phone: 216.631.4741
Best For: Meals, clothing, basic needs, shelter support, and case management
What It Offers: West Side Catholic Center helps people dealing with homelessness, poverty, hunger, and family instability. Services may include meals, clothing, showers, case management, housing help, and other basic support.

The City Mission

Address: 5310 Carnegie Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44103
Phone: 216.431.3510
Best For: Emergency shelter, meals, recovery support, and life rebuilding programs
What It Offers: The City Mission provides emergency shelter and supportive programs for people in crisis. This can be useful for people coming home with nowhere safe to stay.

Free or Low Cost Healthcare and Mental Health Help in Cleveland

Care Alliance Health Center

Address: 1530 Saint Clair Avenue NE, Cleveland, OH 44114
Phone: 216.781.6228
Best For: Healthcare for people who are uninsured, homeless, or low income
What It Offers: Care Alliance provides medical, dental, behavioral health, and supportive services for people who may not have stable insurance or housing.

NAMI Greater Cleveland

Address: 4415 Euclid Avenue, Suite 203, Cleveland, OH 44103
Phone: 216.875.0266
Best For: Mental health education, peer support, and family support
What It Offers: NAMI Greater Cleveland helps people living with mental health conditions and their families find support, education, referrals, and guidance. This can be especially helpful for people dealing with stress, depression, anxiety, trauma, or mental health struggles after release.

Rigel Recovery Services

Address: 1804 East 55th Street, Cleveland, OH 44103
Phone: 216.417.4213
Best For: Substance abuse treatment, mental health support, and recovery services
What It Offers: Rigel Recovery Services is connected to Oriana House and provides treatment services for substance abuse and mental health needs. It may be helpful for people involved in the court system or people coming home who need treatment and support.

Legal Help and Expungement in Cleveland

Legal Aid Society of Cleveland

Address: 1223 West 6th Street, Cleveland, OH 44113
Phone: 216.687.1900
Best For: Civil legal help, record sealing questions, housing issues, benefits, and employment related legal problems
What It Offers: Legal Aid may help low income residents with civil legal problems. People with old criminal records should ask about record sealing, expungement, housing denials, benefit problems, and employment barriers.

Cuyahoga County Public Defender

Address: 310 Lakeside Avenue, Suite 400, Cleveland, OH 44113
Phone: 216.443.7223
Best For: Criminal case related questions and some post conviction legal issues
What It Offers: The Public Defender may be useful for people dealing with criminal court matters, probation issues, warrants, or questions tied to an active or past criminal case.

Ohio Justice and Policy Center

Address: Ohio based legal advocacy organization
Phone: 513.421.1108
Best For: Record sealing information, certificate of qualification for employment issues, and legal advocacy
What It Offers: Ohio Justice and Policy Center works on justice related legal barriers in Ohio. Cleveland residents may want to contact them or review their resources if a criminal record is blocking housing, work, licensing, or education.

Employment Help in Cleveland

Towards Employment

Address: 3301 Saint Clair Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44114
Phone: 216.696.5750
Best For: People with criminal records who need job readiness and job placement help
What It Offers: Towards Employment helps people prepare for interviews, build job skills, connect with employers, and move toward stable work. This should be one of the first calls for anyone in Cleveland who needs help getting hired.

OhioMeansJobs Cleveland Cuyahoga County

Address: 1910 Carnegie Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44115
Phone: 216.777.8200
Best For: Job search help, resume help, training programs, and workforce services
What It Offers: OhioMeansJobs provides workforce help for Cleveland and Cuyahoga County residents. Services may include resume support, job search assistance, training options, hiring events, and connections to local employers.

North Star Neighborhood Reentry Resource Center

Address: 1834 East 55th Street, Cleveland, OH 44103
Phone: 216.881.5440
Best For: Reentry job classes and employment referrals
What It Offers: North Star offers job classes and employment services for people with a criminal justice background. If you need work but also need help with ID, transportation, benefits, or basic stability, start here.

You can also review our full list of companies that hire felons.

Substance Abuse Help in Cleveland

The Salvation Army Harbor Light Complex

Address: 1710 Prospect Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44115
Phone: 216.781.3773
Best For: Addiction treatment, sober housing, and recovery support
What It Offers: Harbor Light provides substance abuse treatment and housing related recovery support. Ask about detox, outpatient treatment, sober housing, and transitional housing options.

B. Riley House

Address: 2121 West 117th Street, Cleveland, OH 44111
Phone: 216.795.5585
Best For: LGBTQ plus affirming substance abuse treatment and recovery housing
What It Offers: B. Riley House supports people in recovery from substance use and mental health challenges. It may be a strong fit for people looking for an affirming, recovery focused environment.

My Recovery Day

Address: 4500 Lee Road, Building H, Cleveland, OH 44128
Phone: 216.978.9902
Best For: Recovery community, encouragement, and sober support
What It Offers: My Recovery Day provides community based recovery support and events. This may be helpful for people who already have treatment but need sober support and positive connection.

Rigel Recovery Services

Address: 1804 East 55th Street, Cleveland, OH 44103
Phone: 216.417.4213
Best For: Substance abuse counseling, mental health treatment, and court connected recovery needs
What It Offers: Rigel Recovery Services provides substance abuse and mental health treatment services. It may be helpful for people involved in probation, court programs, or reentry planning.

Other Helpful Resources

If you need more than reentry programs, these guides may help:

Also See: Reentry Programs In Ohio

Notice: You may also find our “Reentry Survival Guide for Felons” helpful in addition to this page.

What Makes a Good Reentry Program

A good reentry program does more than hand someone a flyer and send them away. The best programs help with the real problems that usually hit first after release, like housing, ID, transportation, job search, food, clothing, recovery support, and staying on track with parole or probation. A strong program should feel practical. It should help you solve immediate problems while also helping you build toward long term stability.

Good reentry programs also have structure and real follow through. That usually means staff who return calls, clear intake steps, honest answers about what they can and cannot do, and connections to other services when they cannot help directly. The strongest programs often combine several things at once, like case management, mentoring, job readiness, housing help, recovery support, and community referrals. Programs that only offer one small service can still be useful, but the best ones usually help you build an actual plan.

Tips for Choosing a Reentry Program

Call before you go if you can. Ask what services they actually offer, who qualifies, what documents you need, whether they help people right after release, and whether they have waiting lists. This can save time and avoid wasted trips.

Ask specific questions. Do not just ask if they help with reentry. Ask if they help with housing, jobs, IDs, clothing, transportation, recovery, legal referrals, or case management. A lot of places sound helpful until you find out they only offer one narrow service.

Look for programs that connect you to other help. Even if one program cannot solve everything, a good one should know where to send you next. That matters a lot in reentry because most people need more than one kind of support.

Do not judge a program only by its website. Some very helpful programs have weak websites. Some polished websites do not actually provide much real help. What matters most is whether they answer the phone, explain the process clearly, and help people solve real problems.

If a program is full, ask what to do next. Ask if they know another program, another shelter, a workforce office, a church ministry, or a local county resource that may help sooner. One good referral can make a big difference.

Keep your paperwork together. If possible, carry your ID, release paperwork, Social Security card, birth certificate copies, parole or probation paperwork, resume, and any referral forms in one folder. That makes it easier to apply for multiple programs fast.

Follow up. A lot of people call once and stop. Reentry services can be overloaded. Sometimes the difference between getting help and not getting help is calling back, showing up on time, and staying on their radar.

Disclaimer

This page is for general informational purposes only. Programs, addresses, phone numbers, services, and eligibility rules can change. Always verify details directly with the organization before relying on them. Nothing on this page should be considered legal advice.