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The $100,000 grant the organization received a few years ago from the Arizona Department of Corrections is nearly spent. The department refers clients to the program.

"I've understood that we can continue the program until February or maybe March," Quezada said.

Operating beyond that will require another grant or large donation.

Jaqueline Perea, an operations manager for Chicanos Por La Causa, said the agency has been applying for other grants to continue the re-entry program but has had no luck so far. It's difficult to get funding for re-entry programs, she said.

So far, the program has helped 116 people released from prison find steady jobs and homes. The organization provides basic computer training, assists with preparing resumes and offers counseling to prevent alcohol and drug abuse.

On the weekends, Quezada leads the men and women in the program in a volunteer effort to fix dilapidated homes in the Maryvale area of west Phoenix.

Frantz Beasley, 36, is one of the former convicts who credits the program - and Quezada - for putting him on track to a better, healthier life.

Beasley was released from prison in July 2009 after serving nearly 9 1/2 years for armed robbery. He now has a job with a developer in Phoenix, proudly noting that he has been promoted three times.

"My parole officer is the one who said, 'Make sure you contact Chicanos Por La Causa.' And Eusebio is the first one who contacted me," he recalled.

Crime was an outlet for poor self-esteem and the problems Beasley suffered at home growing up in south Phoenix.

"Victimization of the community is just kind of a byproduct of what's going on inside yourself," Beasley said.

Beasley said he wanted to stop the cycle when he watched the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on TV.

"I just remember seeing people helping other people," he said. "I'd just never been that sort of person."

Quezada has experienced the same anxiety and uncertainty Beasley and other former prisoners feel when they're released. Quezada served seven years in an Arizona prison for aggravated assault, a sentence he completed in 1992. In 2000, he was sentenced to nearly 20 months in prison for unlawful use of a vehicle.

His experience behind bars resonated with Sophia Franco, 42, of Phoenix, who last month completed about 10 months in prison for forgery.

Franco is hunting for work. She's determined to stay out of prison to care for her four children.

"If Chicanos Por La Causa is going to help me do it, I think it's great," Franco said. "This is something I need in my life, because I'm going down the path to making that change in my life."

Franco said she has held onto hope, and Quezada's encouragement.

"I've been seeing him almost every single day," she said.

Last week, eight men celebrated their completion of the re-entry program with a modest graduation at the Chicanos Por La Causa office near Central Avenue and Buckeye Road. Allen Bryant, 59, was one of them.

He started the program in July after serving nearly five years in prison for theft. With the organization's help, he said, he found work as a janitor, has an apartment and attends church.

Quezada offers one thing Bryant never has had in his life: unconditional support.

"He'd tell me to stay focused. When I needed somebody, I always could talk to him, night or day," Bryant said.