Riverside House is a non-profit, faith based, co-ed residential re-entry facility operating for 35 years. Our dedicated, caring, and compassionate Team Members provide counseling, Life Skills training, vocational and Pastoral Care services to individuals who have chosen crime and fallen prey to it. We assist individuals in breaking free from the cycles of self-abuse and return them to their families and society to live positive productive lives.
From the Executive Director: Cleveland Bell III
Riverside House Celebrates 35 Years of God Stories of Second Chances
History is defined as the continuum of events occurring in succession leading from the past to the present and even into the future. As Riverside House celebrates its 35th Anniversary, we reflect on where we’ve been, where we are, and where we’re going.
Riverside House began in 1972 under the leadership of Jim Wiegrefe, then Executive Director, in an apartment room of the current Riverside House building. In the fall of 1973, it opened as a joint project of the Riverside United Methodist Church and the Dade County Correction and Rehabilitation Department. In 1977, I was named Executive Director of Riverside House, a 12 bed residential halfway house for men, whose capacity would increase to 20 beds the following year. In 1989, Riverside House expanded its services to include a co-educational program, thus accepting its first female resident. In December of 1994, Riverside House added the Primary Care Substance Abuse program and in February of 1998, the Residential Substance Abuse Program began assisting “Mariel” Cuban INS Detainees in re-entering the community.
Throughout our 35 years of ministry, we have maintained a capacity of up to 120 beds for men and women, and have seen over 6000 residents successfully graduate from our program, as well as reached thousands of ex-offenders through jail groups, out-patient participation, prison out-reach, and inner city activities. What has been achieved in the lives that have been changed was not possible without God’s power, the dedicated, hard work of our board and staff members, and the faithfulness and support of friends, families, business partners, and community supporters like you.
Our Prayer
Our prayer for our residents at Riverside House as well as all who have stumbled and fallen:
Father, take our wrongdoings, our mistakes, our failures and turn them into new opportunities. Let us, like your servants Moses, David, Peter and Paul, receive a second chance so that we too may make a difference in our lives and the lives of those around us.
Amen
