Jessie arrived at the front door of New Haven Home Recovery’s CareWays shelter with her 11- and 2-year-old daughters tagging along behind her. She was 26 years old, pregnant with a third child and grappling with substance abuse issues. She had been homeless for three or four years, dragging her girls through from shelter to shelter throughout the city.

A case manager at CareWays got Jessie into treatment for substance abuse, and found a counselor for her 11-year-old daughter, who had been acting out in school, which is not unusual for a child experiencing homelessness. Both of  Jessie’s daughters got involved in the shelter’s SEARCH Program, which provides education and activities for homeless children, and they began to find some enjoyment when a volunteer worked with them on a quilt. Finally, after a few months, a case manager found Jessie a permanent subsidized apartment and she delivered her baby. Now she’s getting by on food stamps, but things are changing. Jessie is working with the case manager to set some brand new goals: a high school diploma, a resume, a job.

The Neighbor-to-Neighbor LifeLine program recently gave New Haven Home Recovery a $15,000 grant to support its CareWays and Martha’s Place Shelters. Lately NHHR has been getting an alarming increase in calls from women who need shelter. At a time when we could face serious budget cuts, the Neighbor-to-Neighbor grant is helping NHHR keep its shelters open to serve women like Jessie who might otherwise end up on the streets or returning to unstable environments. Once we put a roof over their heads, we can establish an action plan to identify all the possible barriers to more permanent housing and all of the available resources to overcoming those barriers, including security deposit programs, rental assistance programs, furniture assistance and behavioral health assistance.

Thanks to the Neighbor-to-Neighbor, NHHR will be able to help more women like Jessie settle in long enough to get back on their feet.