East Allen Dismas House Recovery Home

About this Recovery Home

East Allen Dismas is a certified recovery residence at 103 East Allen Street in Winooski, Vermont, in Chittenden County, run by Dismas of Vermont. It opened in May 2008 and houses people transitioning out of incarceration in a family-style household.

A Winooski Recovery Home Paired With a Burlington House

This residence and the operator's Buell Street house are separate addresses that share staff, volunteers and resources. Residents of the two come together for programming, special events and holidays. The arrangement gives someone living here a network larger than one household without giving up the small-house scale that makes accountability work.

Living in Vermont's Densest City

Winooski is the most densely populated city in Vermont, packed into about a square mile across the river from Burlington. East Allen Street is a short walk from the downtown circle, and Green Mountain Transit connects it to Burlington in minutes. For a resident without a car, that density is a practical asset: work, groceries, a pharmacy, a meeting and a bus to an appointment are all inside walking distance of the front door.

What Certification Requires of This Recovery Residence

The house holds certification from the Vermont Alliance for Recovery Residences. That obliges the operator to disclose fees and house rules in writing before anyone moves in, to keep a written relapse and discharge policy, to pass an annual onsite inspection, and to accept complaints reviewed outside the house. Since Vermont licenses no recovery residences, that certification is the record a family can check.

Reentry and Recovery Housing in Chittenden County

Dismas of Vermont works with people returning from Vermont prisons, and the organization's stated aim is repairing the relationship between a person and the community they came from. Weekday dinners with staff and volunteers from the surrounding neighborhoods are the mechanism. Residents in good standing who reach three months may apply to the operator's satellite apartments in the Burlington area, which is the intended path out of the house and into a lease.