The nonprofit Family Reentry under Community Resources for Justice in Bridgeport is preparing its second annual fundraising fashion show.
Family Reentry CRJ provides a variety of resources including domestic violence programs, mentoring programs, behavioral health services, reentry services and a recovery community center.
The fashion show Rise & Bloom will feature the women who are involved in the Family Reentry, CRJ RISE program, which stands for Restore-Inspire-Support and Empower.
This year’s fashion will be the first time Daminga Bush walks on a runway.
Bush said she is looking forward to walking the runway with the other woman and meeting new people at the fashion show.
Bush was incarcerated for 15 months after being charged with larceny.
She joined the RISE program in June and just a couple of months into the program, she said she’s found the support she was in need of.
“This is a great program for women coming out of incarceration. They look forward to getting help, going somewhere to learn how to step back into society,” Bush said.
Meanwhile, Lorna Briscoe will be walking the runway for the second year in a row.
Briscoe joined RISE in May of 2024 and since then she’s built a support network that inspires her to do better.
“Motivation, being consistent, just having, you know, women that have their paths and their, you know, just having goal oriented,” Briscoe said.
On Oct. 9, the women will be modeling “The Leftover Collection” at The FTG Warehouse in Fairfield.
Vernice Holmes, fashion designer and owner of Sixty by Vernice is one of the fashion designers who has been helping the women design the pieces they will be wearing.
“I got involved because I heard some of the stories of how women come out or even how they live in there, their identity is stripped away,” Holmes said.
She described working with the women in the program as one of the most rewarding experiences in her career.
“This is so out of their comfort zone, they are not designers so for them to put together an outfit and then boldly walk down the runway the day of the fashion show, I’m super proud of them,” Holmes said.
Carmen Ortiz, the program’s case manager, said the fashion show serves as not only a fundraising opportunity, but as a chance for the women to regain their identity.
“Empower them to continue to be that mother, sister, partner, friend that they used to be,” Ortiz said.
Since 2020, the RISE program has been funded by one generous donor, according to Ginger Wilke, senior director with Family Reentry Community Resources for Justice.
However Wilke said in light of the program’s low recidivism rate, the nonprofit was able to secure a grant to expand their services in New Haven and Hartford.
“Only 2% of the 365 women that have been part of the program since 2020 have returned to prison, because of that we were able to recently secure a grant to expand RISE into New Haven and Hartford and to fund what we have in Bridgeport,” Wilke said.
Wilke explained one of the reasons RISE has been so successful.
“The biggest word we associate with RISE is the word consent because nothing is mandated, nothing is required, they want because they want to come, they participate because they want to participate and because of that they stay for the 3-6 months of the program, they graduate, and then they never really leave because they’re always apart of the program in some manner,” Wilke said.
