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Sasha began her life sleeping in a fold away crib in a crowded living room with no place for her toys or clothes, and no schedule to rely on. Sasha’s mom, Maria, was a loving mom who was struggling to keep the small apartment, search for a job to pay the bills, and battling post-partum depression with limited support.
Maria was eager for a referral to the GoodStart Program to help connect to employment opportunities, counseling, and medication for her condition. Through the GoodStart Program, Maria was connected to the counseling and medication that was needed to treat her post-partum depression.
With this assistance, Maria found it easier to reorganize her apartment so that Sasha had an appropriate, clean place to play and sleep. She was connected to resources that helped provide a crib, highchair and more age-appropriate toys for Sasha. In working with a home visitor, Maria was eager to work on routines, schedules and when the time came, toilet training.
Maria faced each challenge with creativity, patience and energy that she did not have upon entering the program. With her home visitor, she created behavior charts for discipline issues, reward systems for toilet training, and recipe books for improved nutrition. As each situation became more manageable, Maria reconnected with Sasha’s father Jose. Now, Jose is a regular visitor with Sasha. Maria, Jose and Sasha attend most of the special groups and programs available to them. They’ve come to Holiday parties, gone pumpkin picking and participate in weekly playgroups. As Sasha approaches her third birthday, the family prepares to transition out of the program feeling more connected to each other and the community. Back to Top
| James has been coming to the Boys & Girls Club since he was 5 years old. During that time he has moved on average more than once a year. His father abandoned the family when he was a small child. His mother is severely drug involved to the point that James no longer lives with her. He has lived with a variety of relatives and in different homes and shelters, including an apartment that burned down. The Club became the constant in his life. He considers the staff and members there his family and calls the Clubhouse Director “Dad” at times. He credits the support and inspiration of the staff for getting him to care about school. They encouraged him to create goals and helped him to realize that college was possible for him. He will be the first in his family to attend college next September. This is important to him as he has 7 younger siblings that he is a role model for as well as the other younger members at the Club that he works with. James is the President of the Keystone Teen Leadership Club and helped to plan Boys & Girls Clubs of America’s 100th Keystone Conference which will have over 2,000 attendees in Washington, D.C. this August. Back to Top | The story of Gabrielle and her daughter, recent graduates from the Family Health Center of Worcester’s Homeless Families Program (HFP), epitomizes the success an individual can achieve when barriers to success are removed and personal strengths are reinforced and utilized as the building blocks for success.
Gabrielle’s path was often difficult, with tough challenges and decisions. Even though her circumstances required frequent relocation from motels, shelters, and otherwise precarious housing situations, Gabrielle remained connected with the HFP. Through the HFP connection she maintained, medical care, accessed much-needed dental care, and stayed engaged in mental health therapy to help her change a pattern of negative behaviors. The HFP team continued to support the family after she and her daughter procures safe, affordable housing and acclimated to their new surroundings. HFP support helped to ground her as she achieved success.
While in the shelter program, Gabrielle worked on the goals she had set with her HFP advocate: to maintain her shelter placement and move forward with her education in order to improve her employment prospects. She was accepted as a full-time student at Quinsigamond College, granted childcare during school hours, and within one semester, Gabrielle achieved membership in the QCC honors program and became a recipient of the QCC Martin Luther King and Phi Beta Kappa Scholarships.
Graduation from the HFP program comes when the family and the HFP team agree the family is stabilized in permanent housing, has successfully met the goals they have set out to achieve and the family is ready to continue to move forward. Within three years of beginning her partnership with HFP – tapping into case management, primary health care support, and housing advocacy – Gabrielle achieved three major life accomplishments. Gabrielle entered college, where she tutors fellow students. Gabrielle also gained employment and secured safe and affordable housing for her and her daughter. Back to Top
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