Empowering lives, rebuilding
communities
Brotherhood & Connection • Community Events • Youth Mentorship • Advocacy & Storytelling • Peer-Led Healing Circles •
We Exist to Restore Dignity and Hope
Our mission is to empower returning citizens by addressing their mental health needs, facilitating their successful reentry into society, and strengthening family bonds. We envision a future where every returning citizen in Boston has the opportunity for a fresh start, leading to a safer, more inclusive community.
Our Mission
Programs That Heal, Connect, and Empower
Our programs are built on healing, connection, and community. From healing circles, to our brotherhood bowling league, youth mentorship, and storytelling advocacy, each space offers justice-impacted people the chance to be heard, to grow, and to belong. Every program is peer-led and rooted in lived experience—because we know the journey home is hard, but no one should have to walk it alone.
Programs
Our Founder
Joseph “Joey” Bennett spent 22 years incarcerated for a crime he didn’t commit. Since his release in 2019, he has dedicated his life to helping others heal, rebuild, and thrive after incarceration. Through Yardtime, Joey turns his lived experience into a mission: breaking cycles of injustice and creating spaces of hope, dignity, and community.
Joseph Bennett
Founder & Executive Director
"I know how hard it is to come home and start over. That’s why Yardtime exists—so no one has to walk that road alone."
Our sponsors make Yardtime possible—and their impact is written in every life we touch. But the need doesn’t end here.
Too many men, women, and youth are still returning home without the support they deserve. We can’t do this work without partners willing to step up in a big way. If you have the resources, we have the mission. Join us—and help turn second chances into lasting change.
A Street Renamed,
A Legacy Remembered:
Pauline Bennett Way
This September in Mission Hill, history was made. What was once Turquoise Way now proudly bears the name Pauline Bennett Way—a powerful tribute to a mother who stood tall in the face of injustice. YardTime joined Mayor Michelle Wu, Councilors Santana and Mejia, Everyday Boston, and countless neighbors to honor her legacy. We showed up to recognize what justice really looks like: not just in courtrooms, but on corners, in community, and now—etched in the very pavement of Mission Hill.
Back in 1989, when her son Willie was falsely accused in the Carol Stuart case, Pauline Bennett didn’t waver. She held the line with strength, dignity, and truth. Her courage helped carry not just her family, but an entire community, through one of Boston’s darkest moments.
