Candice Norwood

Reporter

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When Carmen Ortega left prison in 2018, she knew that she needed a major life change. For more than five years, Ortega struggled with addiction and cycled in and out of incarceration, unable to secure a steady job or housing that would help keep her afloat.

“In between me coming out, coming in, coming out — I was, for four years straight, homeless. Every time I came out of the jail, I didn’t have nowhere to go,” Ortega, 52, told The 19th. “That is the biggest problem that we have when we come out of prison or jail. Because you don’t have that support, you go back to what you know.”

Ortega describes herself as a “go-getter” who is kind and full of joy. But during those harder years, she could feel the Carmen

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