WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — Isaiah Taylor recalls growing up in Woodsville in an extended family beset by violence and drugs. When he sought help for his addiction as a teenager, he felt no one would listen.
After seven years of incarceration for various crimes, Taylor, now 29, has spent the past year and a half rebuilding his life with help from the Hartford Community Restorative Justice Center, or HCRJC, which guided him as he reentered the job market and secured housing, he said. Its volunteers listened and empathized.
“It’s not only breaking the cycle of addiction and abuse, but being a better parent to my kid and being a good partner,” said Taylor in an interview earlier this month at the Listen Dining Hall where he now works.
The Justice Center, first established in 2003, is a nonprofit organization that provides community housing, employment opportunities and basic necessities to those seeking a fresh start.
Many clients are referred by the Department of Corrections, but some visit the office on N. Main Street in White River Junction by their own volition.
The Center currently has five employees and 40 volunteers from the community, Larry Blake Harvey, the Justice Center’s executive director, said. The organization is primarily funded by the Vermont Department of Corrections through transitional housing and restorative justice grants, in addition to other grants and community donations.
Harvey hopes to increase awareness about the work they do and bring in more volunteers.
“We are in a political and public climate where concerns about safety and crime feel more visible, and there is growing pressure on law enforcement and courts to respond more harshly,” Harvey said in an email.
The Center offers a safer, more effective response to harm, said Harvey.
There are programs to ensure mental wellness, including creative classes and Circles of Support and Accountability, or CoSA — which involve meeting with a support system of volunteers devoted to helping clients work through personal issues and plan for the future.
“The evidence is really clear. When the folks who are reentering society or communities after incarceration do not receive support and services similar to what we offer here, recidivism is a high likelihood,” Harvey said in an interview at the Center.
Of the more than 100 clients the center supports each year, more than 90% find employment and stability, and do not reoffend during program participation, according to the HCRJC website. About half of the Justice Center clients participate in its programs as an alternative to jail time for more minor crimes if completed successfully.
As a child, Taylor’s home life involved drugs and abuse, he said. He felt stuck in this environment and remained surrounded by people who promoted a similar lifestyle, leading to an addiction to opiates, heroin and crack cocaine as a teenager.
After spending years in the prison system as a result of drug charges, aggravated assault and burglary, Taylor was released in 2024, hoping for stability. When first offered support by the Justice Center days prior to getting out, he thought it was too good to be true. Promises of housing and work had been made to Taylor before, but always seemed to fall apart.
“I’ve dealt with a lot of trauma, and been let down so much in my life,” said Taylor. “I’ve been through the system and the system is so corrupt that I felt like they were selling me hopes and dreams.”
The Center connected Taylor with Larry Lowndes, the former manager at Listen Dining Hall in White River Junction.
After Taylor volunteered at Listen for a summer, Sherise Simpson, Listen’s community meals manager at Listen, hired him, she said in an interview at the Listen Dining Hall Tuesday. As a recovery-friendly workplace, the organization is all about second chances, she said.
When Taylor first started working at Listen, the Human Resources department gave him an opportunity to explain his record based on information online regarding his past crimes. They listened to Taylor’s story, and he said he felt they trusted that his days of using drugs were behind him.
“I just think it’s good to be honest about it and talk about it because I feel like a lot of people don’t talk about it and that’s kind of the problem,” said Taylor.
After one month as a dining hall food service assistant, Taylor was promoted to senior associate, Simpson said. He also earned two raises this year. She has no concerns about Taylor’s working ability and considers him kind and self driven.
“He cares about the guests; he cares about the food that goes out, about the quality,” said Simpson. “You can’t teach people skills. You can’t teach how to be nice.”
He now lives, with his girlfriend and 4-year-old daughter, in a post-transitional apartment with affordable rent coordinated by the Center, Harvey said. In his free time, Taylor focuses on health and fitness by going to the gym.
The Justice Center also helped Johnathan Gordon, 45, reintegrate into society when he was released from incarceration in 2018, after serving an 11-year sentence. The Center helped Gordon find a restaurant job in White River Junction less than a week after he got out.
Gordon worked with his CoSA of 12 people over that first year to become more open about his past. He said that he had the biggest group of any client because he asked for extra support.
“I wasn’t quite open about my offense or anything. They wanted me to be more open about it,” Gordon said in an interview at the Center earlier this month.
When it came to getting through the hiring process for later roles in White River Junction, Gordon decided to be upfront about his sex crime conviction, oftentimes having a conversation with the manager before even applying.
“It took me a while to figure out how to say it, but I got used to it,” said Gordon.
A criminal record can create difficulty when seeking employment. However, both Taylor and Gordon say they found it effective to let their work ethic speak for itself.
“I’m the type of employee who will show up 10 minutes before I’m doing the work,” said Gordon.
Gordon has worked at the Britton Lumber Company based in Bath, N.H., for about three months. Reached by phone, product manager John Moses, Gordon’s boss, declined to comment on his work ethic.
After his release from incarceration, in addition to finding work, Gordon began living independently in East Corinth and purchased a vehicle. In 2024, he married his husband, Phil Garland.
As of May 16, Gordon will no longer be on parole, meaning he’ll be completely free and unsupervised after 20 years in the justice system. He is interested in volunteering with the Center and, ultimately, finding a job that involves operating construction vehicles. Harvey said over the phone that Gordon already volunteers on a monthly basis, and is often the first to offer his advice and phone number to new clients.
Gordon advises future clients to ask for help and be open. The most important step is a willingness to change, he said, and the volunteers will help from there.
Kitty O’Hara, a Woodstock resident, is the longest-serving volunteer at the Center, having been involved since 2012. Gordon described her as his “strongest supporter” since the beginning of his time there, even teaching him to drive so he could get a license for the first time.
“We all make mistakes, and that doesn’t mean you can’t change,” said O’Hara. “To just dismiss them like they’re throwaway people, I just think that’s such a big mistake. They really can contribute back to society. They just need a little help.”
O’Hara said that those who complete long prison sentences often have never owned a cellphone before and need assistance setting up a bank account and getting a job. The goal is to help people move on by providing those initial resources as well as mental health support along the way.
O’Hara teaches art classes at the Center for any interested clients. The creative projects promote mindfulness and connecting with other community members in a low-pressure environment, O’Hara said.
One student, Jonney Reisinger, 58, has a particular interest in art. As a member of the AVA Gallery in Lebanon, Reisinger had his art on display for a member show.
Reisinger has been with the Center for two years, since completing a six-month sentence. During his first visit, Reisinger wasn’t sure who to trust. Now, he is proud to have created works of art and formed friendships with both volunteers and other clients. He bought a car and works in the warehouse at Upper Valley Produce, and looks forward to seeing what other opportunities come his way.
“It’s so exciting to see that somebody I work with now is a member of the AVA Gallery (and) is showing some of his work,” said O’Hara. “And I look at John (Gordon), and how he’s progressed. It makes you feel good.”
The Center is seeking more volunteers as it expands programming in 2026. The organization plans to add new housing units, as an average of 140 people in Vermont stay in jail longer than their sentences due to a lack of transitional housing, Harvey said. The Center also wants to increase outreach by teaching community members — particularly youth — how to handle conflict and repair harm.
Harvey calls on community members to join the cause by taking an active role in helping respond to harm. Ways to contribute could include mentoring clients, supporting victims of crimes, practical assistance in transportation, job searches, etc., and teaching a special skill as a class at the Center.
Even as he is starting to move on from his past, Taylor said he wants to keep in touch with the people at the Justice Center because of how much they helped him. His job at Listen also gives him the chance to pay it forward.
“I really like being here because I can help people that are in the same position as I was. I see a lot of homeless people my age come in and a lot of people who aren’t working, and I’ve helped a lot of people,” said Taylor. “It feels good to give back.”
Those interested in volunteering on a regular or occasional basis are encouraged to fill out the interest form on the HCRJC website.
CLARIFICATION: Isaiah Taylor recalls growing up in an extended family beset by violence and drugs. A previous version of this story was unclear as to the degree of relation he had to the relatives involved in such behaviors.