BRIEF HISTORY

THE NEXT DOOR, INC.
Nashville, Tennessee

The Next Door, Inc. is a nonprofit organization dedicated to serving women in crisis, equipping them for lives of wholeness and hope.

At its downtown Nashville location at 128 8th Avenue South, The Next Door  provides transitional living and recovery support services to women who are coming out of incarceration, rehabilitation centers, or domestic violence shelters.

At Freedom Recovery Community, The Next Door’s  permanent housing component at 2100 Clifton Avenue, women and their children may receive housing and support services in a safe and secure setting.

In the Spring of 2002 a small group of women, who were interested in the use of a vacant building in downtown Nashville, began meeting to discuss and pray about ways to use this building to serve the less fortunate.  A community survey of over thirty government and private agencies revealed that one of the largest unmet needs in Middle Tennessee was in the area of transitional housing and services for women ex-offenders. 

Discussions with the landlord of the building led to an agreement to lease the facility to the newly formed agency, which was formally incorporated as the Downtown Ministry Center on March 4, 2003.  By November 2003 the agency had received tax-exempt status under section 501c3 of the IRS code.

The program called The Next Door was the plan devised to address the physical, mental, and spiritual needs of women coming from incarceration. After a visit to the warden at the Davidson County jail, where they heard about the exit door called “Roll-up One,” founders of the Next Door chose a name to describe the place which would be the next stop for residents who leave prison and begin their journey from prison to productive citizenship.

In November 2006 the name of the organization was officially changed to The Next Door, Inc.

The first women residents of The Next Door arrived in May 2004, and since that opening more than 400 women have been served by the agency.  Although the program has the legal designation of The Next Door, Inc., the women who live there say, “We just call it ‘Home.’ ”

In recognition of the common need among residents for mental health and addiction counseling, The Next Door addresses these needs in an integrated model to deal with the co-occurring disorders. A professional team of counselors, case managers, nurse practitioners, masters level social work interns, mentors, and job coaches complete the staff to provide comprehensive coverage to residents’ needs.

In addition to individual and group counseling, residents attend Bible Studies and life issues courses on three evenings during the week.  Assistance is also given to help residents find and keep employment and to improve job skills.
  
Updated June 2007