2000 Roses / Families of Incarcerated Loved Ones
(Dallas, Texas)

2000 Roses is a program dedicated to helping individuals reenter society after years of incarceration. Founded in 1992 by Executive Director Kelly Wiley and Program Director Alonzo Harris, 2000 Roses now manages a 14 bed transitional facility for women and an upscale “Rose Garden” resale shop.

Kelly Wiley and Alonzo Harris visited Delancey Street for the first time in 2001, and became enamored of the idea of replicating the model in Texas. While 2000 Roses had become a local leader in transitional housing and had opened a retail store, it had yet to envision the idea of providing the kind of comprehensive educational, entrepreneurial and residential design which has made Delancey Street so famous – and so successful. Wiley and Harris sought to take their program and reinvent it as a Delancey replication, with an eye toward long term, comprehensive solutions for people whose lives had been shattered and for whom short term and piecemeal services were inadequate.

In 2002, 2000 Roses strengthened its profile by partnering with Families of Incarcerated Loved Ones (FILO), a leading non-profit in criminal justice and reintegration training and education, which recently moved its offices from Austin to Dallas. The mission of FILO is to address the multiple challenges facing the spouses, caretakers and children of incarcerated people.

After many visits to Delancey Street, Dr. Mimi Silbert and the Eisenhower Foundation agreed to select 2000 Roses as a replication site. With the assistance of Delancey Street and the Eisenhower Foundation, 2000 Roses is turning the “Rose Garden” resale shop into a business training school and is developing a business plan for another business training school, a construction and remodeling company. The home that has been serving as a transitional living facility for women is now undergoing serious changes, from foundation work to all new plumbing. In addition, Fran Harris is making a documentary about the impact of drug and alcohol addiction, based on an idea by Alonzo Harris.