My name is Andrane Gordon, and alongside Monique Todd, we are the innovators behind HeRise Growth Center — two Black women from Southeast D.C. on a mission to bring hope, structure, and opportunity back home.

We met in 2022, when I became Monique’s virtual assistant. Fast forward to 2025 — she reached out again, offering me a chance to step into a hybrid executive role. At the time, I was working under a respected Ward 8 leader, but Monique saw me differently. She said, “You’re a business owner. You have dreams — and you should be able to work while still building your own vision.”

That conversation changed everything. It reminded me of who I was and why I started doing this work in the first place — to serve the community.

Soon after, we visited D.C., and I felt a deep calling to expand my youth-focused program into something greater: a reentry and bridge housing program for men. Together, we turned that inspiration into action — securing a building and building out HeRise Growth Center, a luxury-style bridge housing model focused on healing, stability, and self-sufficiency.

But as anyone familiar with this work knows, Bridge housing are highly regulated on both the state and federal levels. We’re in the process of meeting every compliance requirement so we can officially open our doors. We’ve already had early conversations with the Department of Corrections (DOC) — they’re excited to send residents our way once we’re fully approved.

Now, we need our community’s support.

Our goal is to raise $40,000 to help us:

• Continue to Providing housing to them men in our facility

• Assist with maintaining ongoing supportive services

• Supplying continental breakfast and last furniture items needed

This is more than a building — it’s a second chance for men who deserve stability, structure, and dignity. It’s an opportunity to show what two determined women from Southeast D.C. can build when the community stands behind them.

Your donation — no matter how big or small — directly supports bringing the halfway house back to D.C.

We’re relying on you — our neighbors, supporters, and believers — to help make this vision real.

Donate. Share. Support.

Let’s rise together and rebuild hope in our city.