We recently connected with Kanneya Ussin and have shared our conversation below.

Kanneya, appreciate you joining us today. Can you talk to us about serving the underserved.

Mission Rebirth’s purpose is to support the formerly incarcerated, the justice involved, and the homeless/vulnerable populations. Mission Rebirth aims to meet people where they are and help them recognize their full potential, restore their lives, and uncover new possibilities to becoming self-sufficient. Our goal is to give them a second chance at living life and showing them that their past does not define their future. We strive to help through linkages to shelters, transitional housing, rental assistance programs, primary care for wellness, drug and alcohol addiction services, & behavioral health appointments, We also help with education, workforce development training, and transitional services all in 1 building to create a 1 stop shop feel due to transportation barriers in our target market.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Mission Rebirth was established in Louisiana in 2020 with the goal to make sure men and women who have been incarcerated or had adverse justice involvement do not feel alone and forgotten in the reintegration of society. I know firsthand how being falsely accused of a crime can turn an individual’s life completely upside down. Especially if one has never been in legal trouble before, navigating the judicial system alone is frightening and intimidating.

During the time of awaiting a court date, which took over 1.5 years, I was denied jobs and life insurance because of an arrest with a pending charge. I had no access to a private attorney since they wanted over $10,000 and public defenders were overworked and underpaid. Therefore, once her case went to court, I took a plea deal in order to avoid jail time since I was unable to properly prove my innocence. People who have never been in trouble with the justice system before have trust in the process and the way society explains it works. However, as many of us have come to see over the years, we know the judicial process cannot always be trusted.

In the midst of this devasting situation I found hope. As part of my sentence, I had to complete community service. It was during this time that I decided to work for a few nonprofits in the area that specialized in working with women who were formerly incarcerated. I then saw firsthand the struggles that were faced by the women as they were released from jail/prison with no family to go to, no clothes, nowhere to live and some without custody of their children.

I started to help women outside of the volunteer work I was doing as many of them did not know how to set up an email account, send an email, write a resume, or do a simple job search. A lot of them were also lacking in education. In that moment of helping other women, I found my calling. I saved up money to create my own nonprofit and be able to help these women reintegrate back into society and show them how to navigate a system that threw them away.

This is what makes Mission Rebirth different, we aim to educate and guide now serving men & women through different processes, so they have access to the tools they need to better their lives. To date Mission Rebirth has assisted forty-eight (561) me & women with a multitude of services. Our program, Bridging the Gap, provides support in the areas of employment, education, life skills training, basic computer skills, money management, and mentoring. At Mission Rebirth, we don’t tell people WHAT they need to do, we show them HOW to do what they want to accomplish.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

When I started my non profit it was during the pandemic. I had lost my job as an Executive Administrative position from my own situation so I was on unemployment looking for work. During this time I was able to get a small office for $350 monthly as a starter office (the internet and phone was included). It was scary because I knew non profits do not make a monthly revenue without grants, donations, and sponsors which I had none of those.

I literally trusted God that I was doing his work and didn’t want to ignore my calling. I was dealing with my own legal battles yet still wanted to help other people with theirs. I stepped out on faith and opened my 1st office in March of 2021, opened a 2nd office in Oct. 2021, then a 3rd office in March of 2022 all due to my business expanding rapidly. I was getting clients left and right mostly by word of mouth as I didn’t have a marketing budget with limited income. Within a this time span I grew to 561 clients as of Oct. 2022. As a result, I just got a suite to have all of my offices in 1 place with more square footage just to fit my clients in it.

Keep in mind that due to my own personal justice involvement I didn’t want to ask for money or handouts. I was ashamed of being judged. I also got a full time job that allowed me to pay for my overhead and living expensed, once again trusting the process, trusting God. I do not have the funding for staff payroll yet, I mainly have volunteers for certain functions of this work. But I work 7 days a week to get the job done.

To know what all I went through and to see clients smiles, success stories, and the trust they have for me and my work is the most rewarding part of my job and motivates me in my own life. My clients have been referred to me from the public defenders office, the DA, the hospitals, shelters, the Mayor’s office, and rooms I never even been in which I am forever grateful. I was always taught that you should always let your light shine and one day the right person will see it. I know my time is coming as long as I trust my journey.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

I feel the most effective strategy for growing clientele outside of your basic marketing methods is word of mouth. If your intentions are pure, you are not judgmental, and you are relatable then I feel people will naturally gravitate to you. It also builds trust. Some business owners become behind the scenes of their business and hire staff to run it but I think being hands on, letting them know that you can relate, and them see your resilience overcoming your own situation helps them to have hope or to motivate them to doing better. As I came from a customer service background, I am really big on communication and treating everyone with respect. Showing people that you genuinely care and want to see them succeed and that they are not just another number helps gain trust and loyalty to your company. One person can refer 5 or more new clients just from these things alone.

Contact Info:

• Website: Missionrebirth.com
• Instagram: @Mission.rebirth
• Facebook: Mission Rebirth