Get involved
The most useful thing you can do right now is help us finish forming. There are other ways, too.
Join the board
A seat on the board of a Florida nonprofit, not a check. Florida requires three directors before we can finish incorporating. Two seats are filled — Javier Contreras, President, and his mother Paola Contreras, proposed Secretary. We are looking for the third: someone outside the family.
What a director actually does
- Attends board meetings (quarterly to start) and votes on real things: the bylaws, the budget, whether to seek a grant, whether the county pilot is going well.
- Signs a conflict-of-interest policy and has none — not a current sheriff’s office, police, or county employee who would decide whether to fund or use this, and no financial tie to a bail bond agent, jail phone or commissary vendor, or attorney referral service.
- Provides one vote that isn’t a Contreras, which matters most for the decisions that would otherwise look self-dealt: the founder’s future pay (currently $0) and any deal that benefits the family.
- Serves unpaid, like the rest of the board. This is governance, not employment.
What we’re looking for
Someone independent of the family, willing to read a budget and ask a hard question, and ideally with something the founder doesn’t have — a lawyer, a CPA or nonprofit-finance background, someone with reentry or public-defender experience, or simply a steady, trusted person in the Gainesville community who believes in the mission.
No prior board experience is required. What matters is judgment and no conflict of interest.
What we ask of you: come to one conversation, with no commitment yet. If it’s a fit, join as the third director. Quarterly meetings, real input, and no money out of your pocket and none expected in.
Other ways to help
If a board seat isn’t the right fit, there are other ways to help. We’re a small, forming organization, so the most useful offers right now are time and expertise: verification calls with agencies, plain-language testing with families who have been through an arrest, legal or finance review, or in-kind support.
There is no donation form on this site, and there is no bank account to receive funds into yet. If you want to help in any way, the simplest path is to write to us.