Three years ago, Iesha Gray was
a teen-age mother, homeless and pregnant with her second child.
Young, unemployed and under-educated, she drifted from home to home.
"First, I was staying with my boyfriend's mom and then, with
him, but it didn't work our," said Ms. Gray, now 22. "I
was lost. I didn't know where to go because I couldn't go back home.
There wasn't enough room."
But there was room for Ms. Gray at Homespace, a downtown shelter
that offered her and her children a place to stay and a new start
on life.
In four years, Homespace has eased more than 50 homeless, single
young parents, ages 17 to 25 years old, and their children into permanent
housing. The complex at the northwest corner of Dodge and Ellicott
streets accommodates as many as 12 such families in individual two-
and three- bedroom town-house apartments.
Residents stay up to two years and are enrolled in outside job-training
and educational programs. They gain basic life skills from in-house
workshops on nutrition, parenting and preparing a household budget.
At the Homespace Children's Activity Center, their children, too,
are primed for a better life ahead.
"We're trying to equip them with all the skills that are necessary
to succeed when they leave here," said Thelma Roberts, Homespace
executive director. "If we don't invest in these young families
now, this world is not going to be a better place to live."
Homespace started 10 years ago when members of Trinity Episcopal
Church at 371 Delaware Ave. sought to stem the rising tide of homelessness
among local families led by young, single parents. The Rev. Daniel
Weir, a founder and unofficial member of the agency's board of directors,
said welfare reforms have made the matter even more critical.
Homespace "fills a very significant need in the community,
one of many (agencies) that does," Mr. Weir said. "With
changes in the welfare system, it is my suspicion that it will not
be any less needed in the next five to 10 years than it has been
in the last."
Ms. Gray was one of nine Homespace graduates last year. Without
the helping hand she received from Homespace, adjusting to single
parenthood at such a young age would have been overwhelming, she
said.
"I wasn't stable enough to take care of my oldest and the new
baby by myself. I needed a lot of support, and I needed those parenting
classes to help me with different situations," Ms. Gray said
of her 15-month stay at Homespace.
The most valuable lessons she learned were self-reliance and responsibility.
These days, Ms. Gray works at a nursing home and is planning to attend
college in the fall. She and her two daughters, ages 5 and 2, now
have their own apartment on a nice, tree-lined block of East Depew
Avenue.
"It's quiet, not junky; the neighbors are all homeowners and
keep up their properties. Had I not gone to Homespace, I would still
probably be around where there's a lot of drug activity, scared to
go outside and working at a below-minimum job," Ms. Gray said. |
