More than reentry.
It's about rebuilding a life.
Breakthrough the Roadblocks is built around a simple belief: people need more than a second chance. They need practical tools and pathways to make that chance count.
To help formerly incarcerated individuals overcome reentry barriers by connecting them with practical resources, personal development, coaching, education, community support, and opportunities that help them successfully rebuild their lives.
We envision communities where returning citizens have meaningful opportunities to become productive family members, employees, entrepreneurs, mentors, neighbors, and community contributors.
The roadblock behind the roadblock
Finding employment is important—but employment alone may not solve every problem. Someone may have a job but no transportation. Someone may have transportation but no stable housing. Someone may have housing and employment but still struggle with finances or damaged relationships. Someone may have resources available but not know how to access them.
Breakthrough the Roadblocks looks beyond one individual problem and helps identify the roadblocks standing between where someone is today and where they want to go tomorrow.
Rebuild Trust
Restore credibility through accountability, honesty, consistency, communication and positive action.
Regain Respect
Develop character, integrity, confidence, responsibility and positive decision-making.
Renew Relationships
Strengthen relationships with spouses, children, parents, family, friends, mentors and community.
Increase Income
Build pathways to financial stability through employment, education, career planning, financial literacy, skilled trades and entrepreneurship.
From Incarceration to Impact
"My past is part of my story, but it does not define my future."
Elder Clarence Jordan — Founder, Breakthrough the Roadblocks
Before & After
The Past
Hardship & Prison
Faith & Calling
Ministry & Character
Education
Degree & Purpose
Every step of this transformation is proof that a roadblock does not have to become a dead end.
Breakthrough the Roadblocks
A Resource Guide for Life After Incarceration
By Clarence Jordan
The journey begins
My name is Clarence Jordan, and I know firsthand that rebuilding your life after incarceration is not easy.
My journey began in New Orleans and included hardships at an early age. I experienced foster care, poverty, instability, and challenges that shaped the way I viewed life and the choices I eventually made.
As a young man and father, I found myself traveling down the wrong road. I became involved in the drug lifestyle, made decisions that carried serious consequences, and was ultimately convicted and sentenced to 12 years in prison.
Prison could have been the end of my story. Instead, it became the place where I began changing the direction of my life.
The breakthrough started within
During my incarceration, I had time to examine my decisions, my character, my responsibilities, my relationships, and most importantly, my relationship with God.
I realized that if I wanted a different future, I could not continue being the same person. Transformation required more than simply wanting to get out of prison. I needed to change the way I thought, lived, responded, planned, and made decisions.
My faith became an important foundation in that transformation. I began to understand that although I could not change my past, with God's help I could change the direction of my future.
Getting out of prison and successfully rebuilding your life are two very different things.
Life after incarceration
When someone walks out of prison, the sentence may be over—but the roadblocks often aren't.
These are not theoretical questions to me. I have lived them. I understand what it means to carry the consequences of past decisions while trying to convince people that you are no longer the person who made them.
A roadblock does not have to become a dead end.
Turning experience into purpose
Over time, my experiences became more than a personal testimony. They became a responsibility. I began mentoring, encouraging, and helping others understand that successful reentry requires more than freedom. It requires information, resources, relationships, accountability, opportunity, faith, preparation, and a plan.
I saw people coming home determined to succeed but struggling with housing, transportation, employment, finances, education, family relationships, technology, and personal development. Many were not asking for someone to do everything for them. They simply needed to know: "Where do I start?"
That question became part of the inspiration behind Breakthrough the Roadblocks.
A message to someone coming home
Your past is real—but so is your future. You will encounter people who remember who you were. You may encounter doors that will not open. You may experience rejection. You may have relationships that take time to repair. You may have to start with less than you hoped.
But you don't have to allow those roadblocks to determine where your journey ends.
Take responsibility for yesterday. Make better decisions today. Prepare for tomorrow. Keep moving forward. And when you reach a roadblock—find a way to break through it.
— Clarence Jordan, Founder