Meet the People Behind the Mission

We are a mission-driven team advancing second chances by leveraging innovation and technology empowering individuals impacted by the justice system to reclaim their future and thrive in work, life, and community.

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Our Story: Rebuilding Lives Since 2012

Our Story: Rebuilding Lives Since 2012

Founded in 2012 by Teresa Hodge and Laurin Leonard, Mission: Launch began as a civic-tech initiative focused on empowering returning citizens through innovation. Rooted in personal experience with incarceration, the organization quickly evolved to address broader systemic barriers from workforce discrimination to digital exclusion. Over the years, we’ve launched community hackathons, built career pathways and engaged inclusive employers to create lasting change. Today, Mission: Launch is a national leader in reentry and second-chance hiring, equipping people with records to reclaim their futures, contribute meaningfully and thrive in the workforce and beyond.


We turn lived experience into lasting infrastructure connecting people to skills, opportunity and dignity.


Founded in 2012 by Teresa Hodge and Laurin Leonard, Mission: Launch began as a civic-tech initiative focused on empowering returning citizens through innovation. Rooted in personal experience with incarceration, the organization quickly evolved to address broader systemic barriers from workforce discrimination to digital exclusion. Over the years, we’ve launched community hackathons, built career pathways and engaged inclusive employers to create lasting change. Today, Mission: Launch is a national leader in reentry and second-chance hiring, equipping people with records to reclaim their futures, contribute meaningfully and thrive in the workforce and beyond.


We turn lived experience into lasting infrastructure connecting people to skills, opportunity and dignity.


Our Mission

Our Mission

To build digital infrastructure that ensures justice-impacted individuals can thrive by co-creating reentry solutions, delivering transformative programming inside prison, and producing ethical data that drives systems change.

To build digital infrastructure that ensures justice-impacted individuals can thrive by co-creating reentry solutions, delivering transformative programming inside prison, and producing ethical data that drives systems change.

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Our Vision

Our Vision

A future where criminal records no longer block access to education, employment, or stability and where every person returning home has the digital tools, community support and workforce pathways needed to succeed.

We envision a society where justice-impacted people are not just included they help design the very systems that support them.

A future where criminal records no longer block access to education, employment, or stability and where every person returning home has the digital tools, community support and workforce pathways needed to succeed.

We envision a society where justice-impacted people are not just included they help design the very systems that support them.

Who We Are

Who We Are

Mission: Launch is a maryland based nonprofit with national reach turning lived experience into lasting infrastructure for second chances. Founded by a directly impacted mother-daughter team and supported by a dedicated team, we leverage innovation, technology and community to help justice-impacted individuals reclaim their futures and thrive in work, life, and beyond.


Mission: Launch is a maryland based nonprofit with national reach turning lived experience into lasting infrastructure for second chances. Founded by a directly impacted mother-daughter team and supported by a dedicated team, we leverage innovation, technology and community to help justice-impacted individuals reclaim their futures and thrive in work, life, and beyond.


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MISSION: LAUNCH, INC Coalition History & Timeline

A comprehensive journey of collaboration, innovation and impact tracing key milestones in our mission to support returning citizens and promote social justice through technology and advocacy.

Join Our Movement

Join Our Movement

Join Our Movement

2011

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023

2024

2025

DC Open 211 – Social Services Access Platform

DC Open 211 is a spin-off of a project that has ties to San Francisco and New York. Built by Greg Bloom formerly of Code for America, with a team of folks, it is designed to help all residents (not just returning citizens) find the critical social services support they need

DC Open 211 – Reducing Recidivism Through Service Access

DC Open 211 is still being incubated but if launched it will serve as a foundational tool for various other tech projects (pain point: there is a gap between service providers and returning citizens, finding the right information at the right time is critical to reducing recidivism)

Fair Chance Employer – OHR-Funded Hiring Solution

Fair Chance Employer is a closed source solution funded by Mission: Launch, Inc. as a result of the DC Office of Human Rights (OHR) attending the hackathon in preparation for the release of “Ban the Box”

Ban the Box – Anti-Discriminatory Hiring Tool

Ban the Box is a national campaign to end discriminatory hiring practices, whereby employers cannot inquire into a person’s arrest/conviction record until they are prepared to provide a conditional offer for employment (pain point: this gives returning citizens a fair chance to interview but there is not a lot of compliance and research software options available in the open market so OHR came seeking a solution)

2011

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023

2024

2025

DC Open 211 – Social Services Access Platform

DC Open 211 is a spin-off of a project that has ties to San Francisco and New York. Built by Greg Bloom formerly of Code for America, with a team of folks, it is designed to help all residents (not just returning citizens) find the critical social services support they need

DC Open 211 – Reducing Recidivism Through Service Access

DC Open 211 is still being incubated but if launched it will serve as a foundational tool for various other tech projects (pain point: there is a gap between service providers and returning citizens, finding the right information at the right time is critical to reducing recidivism)

Fair Chance Employer – OHR-Funded Hiring Solution

Fair Chance Employer is a closed source solution funded by Mission: Launch, Inc. as a result of the DC Office of Human Rights (OHR) attending the hackathon in preparation for the release of “Ban the Box”

Ban the Box – Anti-Discriminatory Hiring Tool

Ban the Box is a national campaign to end discriminatory hiring practices, whereby employers cannot inquire into a person’s arrest/conviction record until they are prepared to provide a conditional offer for employment (pain point: this gives returning citizens a fair chance to interview but there is not a lot of compliance and research software options available in the open market so OHR came seeking a solution)

2011

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023

2024

2025

DC Open 211 – Social Services Access Platform

DC Open 211 is a spin-off of a project that has ties to San Francisco and New York. Built by Greg Bloom formerly of Code for America, with a team of folks, it is designed to help all residents (not just returning citizens) find the critical social services support they need

DC Open 211 – Reducing Recidivism Through Service Access

DC Open 211 is still being incubated but if launched it will serve as a foundational tool for various other tech projects (pain point: there is a gap between service providers and returning citizens, finding the right information at the right time is critical to reducing recidivism)

Fair Chance Employer – OHR-Funded Hiring Solution

Fair Chance Employer is a closed source solution funded by Mission: Launch, Inc. as a result of the DC Office of Human Rights (OHR) attending the hackathon in preparation for the release of “Ban the Box”

Ban the Box – Anti-Discriminatory Hiring Tool

Ban the Box is a national campaign to end discriminatory hiring practices, whereby employers cannot inquire into a person’s arrest/conviction record until they are prepared to provide a conditional offer for employment (pain point: this gives returning citizens a fair chance to interview but there is not a lot of compliance and research software options available in the open market so OHR came seeking a solution)

Meet our team

A traditional hackathon is a social coding event where programmers, designers, and developers collaborate to solve problems and compete. It’s equal parts focused on social networking as well as ideation and solution-focused. Our unique methodology of convening hackathons brings traditional event formats with an essence of community and proximate leaders first. 

Our team is a dynamic group of technologists, community builders, researchers, and reentry advocates working at the intersection of justice and innovation. United by a shared commitment to equity and inclusion, we design ethical tools and systems that expand opportunity for people with records. Every team member brings unique expertise and together, we’re building infrastructure that drives long-term change.