After 10 years of incarceration, Syrita Steib founded Operation Restoration to support currently and formerly incarcerated women and girls. In just two years, she has grown her organization from just two staff members to more than 20 contractors (most of them formerly incarcerated), who provide any and all support needed by women and girls leaving prison and finding their path.

In the last year, Operation Restoration has provided direct services to more than three-hundred formerly incarcerated women and their children. Among them, 88% identified as Black and 80% identified as single mothers with custody of minor children. Formerly incarcerated women often face insurmountable obstacles after release — including barriers to employment, housing, healthcare, education, and family reunification.

These challenges are immensely complicated and intersect – which is why Operation Restoration provides wrap-around support across case management, housing, education, and job placement. They help women access food and shelter, clothe them, provide transportation, train them in soft skills and help them find jobs.

Syrita is on-call 24/7 as a supporter, friend and mountain-mover. She has been recognized nationally as an expert on the importance of supporting currently and formerly incarcerated women and policy solutions to end women’s incarceration. She was also appointed to co-chair the healthy families committee on Mayor Latoya Cantrell’s transition team and appointed by Governor John Bel Edwards to sit on the Louisiana Justice Reinvestment Oversight Committee and the Louisiana Incarcerated Women’s Taskforce.