Education for Life - Exemplified by Melissa

When Melissa Sullo entered Lackawanna County Prison, she had a bachelor's degree, a background in corrections, and a life derailed by addiction. She was there for 30 days — long enough for Outreach's reentry staff to make a lasting impression. After release, Melissa followed through. She utilized Outreach’s workforce development services for employment support, where Outreach case manager Stephanie helped her update her resume and navigate the real challenges of job searching with pending criminal charges, no reliable childcare, and the demands of single motherhood.

The job listings alone were a revelation. Melissa stated, "It blew my mind — it was better than any other agency or service I had seen. They had a lot of leads, especially for people with pending criminal charges." But employment was just the beginning. Outreach also connected her to housing support, educational guidance, and the Family Engagement Program, which helped her reunite with her children and learn to parent while in recovery.

"The Outreach staff helped me immensely," she recalls. "They were probably the best service offered to the inmates. They connected me to agencies I didn't know were available — and they listened to my story and my needs."

Melissa is now pursuing a Master’s Degree in Business Administration while working full-time as a Mission Support Coordinator at the Providence Pregnancy Center, helping other women navigate the same crisis she once faced. She can be a resource to them, providing transport to appointments, sobriety resources, life skills, and mentorship.

Her long-term goals are equally ambitious: buy a house, finish the MBA, pursue a PhD in a research-focused field, and build a lasting career in service. Her 15-year-old daughter just landed her first job. "Teaching my children how to navigate life — that's one of the biggest things that fulfills me."

"My life has just grown into such a beautiful thing. I'm meeting all my goals and objectives. I'm achieving dreams. I'm not ashamed of my past any longer. I am so thankful and humble for everything I've received from this community." - Melissa Sullo 

At the core of every program Outreach offers lies an element of education. Education changes lives, and allows our participants to grow and thrive long after they complete a program. Outreach's strength is the ability to form trusting relationships with vulnerable individuals and families, provide holistic programming, and help participants navigate and connect to additional services. It is through offering resources for life skills, literacy, employment training, parenting, early childhood education, youth mentoring, behavioral health supports, wrap-around case management, and more. Outreach builds strong families and strong communities.

Melissa is an amazing example of the type of impact your support can have on an individual. Outreach’s programs would not be possible without support from the community we serve.