Imagine what it’s like to be a 48-year-old mother of four emerging from prison after serving seven years on two separate drug convictions. Your family is not there to pick you up. You’re completely on your own.
To meet your most basic Maslovian needs, you have nothing but a $25 debit card that a prison official handed you upon your release. You’ve seen all the homeless people in Atlanta; you simply don’t know how you’re going to avoid their fate. If you can’t even support yourself, how are you possibly going to regain custody of your teenage daughter? You’re strong, but you can’t help but sob.
This is the true story of Sabrina Hill, who insisted we use her real name.
From Trauma to Trust
Hill’s post-incarceration journey began at the Metro Transitional Center (TC), a halfway house in Atlanta. The facility itself was only a small step up from state prison, but it was quiet and safe.
With the help of a program she participated in at TC, Hill found the City of Refuge, a faith-based organization in the historic Vine City neighborhood of Westside Atlanta. Hill moved into the City of Refuge’s Welcome Home House, a four-bedroom residence that offered more privacy, a loving church community and skillful social workers and case managers.
A City of Refuge case manager told Hill she would help her regain custody of that teenage daughter. “No one believed it was possible, but we fought hard for months, and we did it,” Hill shared. “She’s 18 now, and she needs me.”
From Trust to Stability
After Hill found City of Refuge, a friend told her about a nonprofit called the Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO). “When I came in to CEO, the very kind program manager [Antwahn Mangum] said, ‘I can see it in your face—you’re stressed. What’s going on?’ I found out that he really cared. He treated me not like a felon but like family.”
CEO is one of the country’s most respected and innovative nonprofits. It got its start as an independent organization three decades ago and quickly set itself apart from other nonprofits by using rigorous research methods to fuel learning and improvement. Today, the organization serves almost 8,000 formerly incarcerated men and women every year, across 14 states. It has established the best track record of success in reducing recidivism of any organization in America.
CEO launched its newest base of operations in Atlanta in 2021, made possible by GreenLight Fund. Based on CEO’s first four years of successful operations in Atlanta, the Arthur M. Blank Foundation provided CEO a grant of $1.5 million in 2025 so it could expand to Atlanta’s Westside.
The timing of that expansion was a godsend for Hill. It allowed her to connect with skilled, caring employees and she started work almost immediately on a clean-up crew with the Atlanta Department of Parks and Recreation.
Even as Hill was working on the parks crew three days a week, CEO was helping her explore other jobs. “The whole point of CEO is to find permanent work,” she said. After three months, CEO helped Hill find and land a job with a mom-and-pop courier service. “I love my job,” Hill shared. “Driving is my thing. I love being on the open road. From being incarcerated, it just helps if I spend time by myself, away from other people, and meditate. It helps me clear my head.”
The job pays on commission, which generally adds up to only about $100 a day. But Hill is getting more than money out of the work. “My boss is great. She’s teaching me the business. She wants me to get my commercial driver’s license, get my own van, and start my own business. Who doesn’t want to be their own boss?”
Meanwhile, CEO is also working with Hill on stabilizing the rest of her life.
From Stability to Self-Sufficiency
With ongoing support from City of Refuge, CEO, and her church, Hill is continuing her process of building her work skills, keeping her youngest child safe, reconnecting with the rest of her family, banishing her lingering guilt, and building true self-sufficiency.
“I could write a book about all that I’ve experienced,” she said. “But I’m not ready to write my story yet. I still have so much I want to prove to myself and to my children.”
You can learn more about the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation at: blankfoundation.org.
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