by RC Miller, reporter
OMAHA – Located at 24th and M St., Generation Diamond sits tucked away providing not just a place to take care of basic needs like food and water and a hot shower but resources to help find a job and housing. Blanka Mejia, the founder of Generation Diamond, helps people get the proper documentation they need to apply for jobs such as state IDs, birth certificates, social security and soon tattoo removal. Many of the people leaving the prison system are sent out with nothing and nowhere to go said Blanca.
Currently the non-profit helps anywhere from 24 to 50 people per day, and has survived on support from the local community and federal grants. In the short four years that the non-profit has existed they have already had great success, said Blanka Mejia.
“We had a man at the very beginning that was charged with drug dealing but he was in probation, and now he has really liked the Mexican culture so he got married with a Mexican girl and now he has a baby and has a position as an electrician,” said Mejia.
In 2019 alone, 384 people were released directly from the Nebraska Department of Corrections and without a proper foundation to return, many could re-offend and end up back in prison. Coupled with the current pandemic and economic decline, things have only become tougher for the formerly incarcerated. Luther Guss, a former convict, can attest to what it’s like not having the support on the other side.
Guss said, “I come out here nobody could help me, the guy that helped me you know I’m going to say it again and I hate to say it like this but I wouldn’t feed a dog on the floor that I had to lay and sleep on but she helped me.”
According to the Prison Policy Initiative, a non-profit based in Massachusetts, the formerly incarcerated face homelessness at a rate of seven times higher than that of the general public.
Generation Diamond is now asking for further support from the community in the form of donations of money, food, clothing and volunteers so that they can help more people and expand the number of staff. Those who wish to donate can go to generationdiamond.net.
