Empowerment Zone Reentry Initiative (EZRI)
Annual Impact Report

Reporting Period: August 1, 2024 – July 31, 2025
Service Area: Overtown, Miami-Dade County, ZIP Code 33136

Target Populations: Justice-impacted individuals, unhoused persons, returning citizens, and high-risk community members
Age Groups Served: 18 – 70+

Organizational Overview

Empowerment Zone Reentry Initiative, Inc. (EZRI) provides trauma-informed, culturally responsive support to justice-impacted and unhoused individuals throughout Miami-Dade County. Our mission is to reduce recidivism by supporting successful reentry, strengthening families, and building safer, healthier communities. EZRI is rooted in Overtown, a historically Black neighborhood long impacted by economic disinvestment and criminalization, and we remain committed to health equity and community empowerment.

Expanded Walk-In Services

Ongoing: August 2024 – July 2025
Location: EZRI Office, Overtown
Population Served: Over 1,600 unduplicated walk-in clients
Key Services Provided:

• Mental health and substance use counseling
• HIV testing, PrEP/PEP education, and prevention supplies
• ID restoration: assistance with birth certificates, driver’s licenses
• Transportation support and housing navigation
• Case management and referrals
• Access to computers, telephones, snacks, water, meals, hygiene products, safe-use kits, and Narcan (with training)

Health Council of South Florida Grant – HIV Outreach Events

March–May 2025
Partnership: Care Resource
Events Held: 9
Outcomes:

• 174 rapid HIV tests conducted
• 290 individuals engaged (goal exceeded)
• Distribution of hygiene kits, fresh fruit, water, food vouchers, NARCAN, safe use kits
• Psychoeducation on PrEP, PEP, and HIV prevention
• Community canvassing and follow-up outreach

Safe in the 305 Grants – Community Street Outreach

October 2024-January 2025  and April–July 2025
Funding Agency: Miami-Dade County Office of Neighborhood Safety
Target Audience: Unhoused residents, returning citizens
Reach: 1200 individuals
Outcomes:

• Hygiene and food distribution at 10 outreach events
• Registration of 10 individuals with the Homeless Trust
• 4 direct housing referrals
• Delivery of ID support services including:
  • 7 driver’s licenses reinstated/issued (including 1 CDL)
  • 1 court-required traffic school completed
  • 10 birth certificates secured

Project 33136 – Reentry Planning & Community Engagement

Partner: University of Miami, Department of Sociology and Criminology
Focus: Strengthening reentry for individuals returning to Overtown from FDC custody
Activities & Milestones:

• Collaboration with South Florida Reception Center (FDC) to shape reentry intake processes
• Development of a customized intake form
• Street-based needs assessment survey (designed and launched) 400+Overtown residents completed the survey from September 2024 thru November 2024.
• Monthly meetings with a newly formed Community Advisory Board
• Foundation laid for a pilot reentry linkage program in the next phase
• Entered into MOU with Care Resource who will provide immediate access for medical dental, psychiatric and HIV Care for returning citizens.  Additionally, Care Resource will meet with EZRI clients at the EZRI office monthly to provide immediate care.

CHARM Grant – HIV Health Literacy Zine

Award Amount: $5,000
Purpose: To develop an HIV prevention zine tailored to individuals with histories of incarceration, unstable housing, and IV drug use
Progress:

• Zine co-created with community members
• Content written in accessible, culturally relevant language
• Designed as a tool for outreach and health engagement

ViiV Healthcare Grant – HIV Care Continuum Navigation Program

Award Amount: $78,000
Program Period: October 1, 2024 – September 30, 2026 (Year 1 of 3-year funding)
Target: Recently incarcerated individuals living with or at risk for HIV
Goals:

• Engage 100 returning citizens in HIV/PrEP services
• Deliver rapid HIV testing and assessments
• Provide intensive peer navigation to HIV prevention/care
• Offer mental health counseling and reentry case management
  Milestones to Date:
• Hired and trained a Peer Navigation Specialist with lived reentry experience
• Initiated outreach and education protocol development
• Began program data collection for evaluation (in partnership with Dr. Katherine Nowotny)

Training Future Professionals

EZRI proudly serves as an internship site for:

• NOVA Southeastern University’s Mental Health Counseling Program
• Florida International University’s School of Social Work
  Interns gain direct experience working with justice-involved populations in mental health, case management, and community engagement.

Client Success Highlights

• A 74-year-old HIV-positive unhoused man received critical medical care and temporary housing after intensive outreach and case management
• A young mother and domestic violence survivor is now actively engaged in counseling and substance use treatment, working to reunify with her children
• A returning citizen secured housing after EZRI assisted with birth certificates for her children, a requirement for her lease application

Summary of Reach

• Total Walk-in Clients Served: 1,600+
• Street Outreach Contacts: 1,200+
• Individuals Provided with ID/License Services: 18
• HIV Tests Administered: 174
• Outreach Events Held: 19
• Graduate Interns Trained: 4

Looking Ahead

EZRI will build upon the momentum of the past year by:

• Expanding ID restoration and transportation access services
• Launching the reentry pilot program under Project 33136
• Publishing and distributing the HIV literacy zine
• Scaling up our peer-led HIV navigation program under the ViiV grant
• Deepening community and institutional partnerships

We remain committed to ensuring that every individual returning home or living at the margins has access to compassionate, comprehensive care—and a real path forward.