Starting Life Off on a Stronger Foot
People become homeless in myriad ways with vastly different experiences depending on their location, health, and connections. Lakendra, in her early 20s, moved from Memphis to Minneapolis with her three little boys in hopes of finding a safe and stable home. Lakendra was also eight months pregnant. Going into a shelter, pregnant, is not what Lakendra thought would happen when she made the move to Minneapolis. But, housing was too expensive, especially since she was unable to work due to her pregnancy.
Once Lakendra settled into Families Moving Forward, we were able to refer her to St. David’s Program which assists parents with children under the age of 5. This extra support, along with parenting classes we provide through our program, was able to help Lakendra with challenges of parenting, education about child development, and helped strengthen her relationship with her boys. Lakendra welcomed her sweet baby boy, Kaven, into this world in the summer of 2018. During the remainder of her time in shelter while house searching, she was really able to focus on her newborn and actually be present with him at all times, which was something she didn’t have the luxury of doing with her other boys. Lakendra was able to get placed into a Rapid Re-Housing Program that assists her family with paying rent for a few months. This program will help Lakendra significantly by allowing her to move into her new apartment, make it a home, finish her leave spending time with her new baby, and get back to work. This fall, Lakendra signed her very first lease, moving into her new home with her boys in the northwest suburbs.
Photo by John Walsh.
