A Family finds a place to call home…
After years of abuse, Tanya found the strength to leave her 11-year relationship with her children's father. With no other supports in the area, she was forced to stay in a hotel room with her children. At the time of leaving, she had no real family to turn to after growing up in foster care.
She struggled to afford everything on her own, without the partner’s assistance, and he refused to help unless she moved back in with him. Tanya came to FCR and was accepted into our Rapid Rehousing HUD Rental Assistance Program. With the help of her FCR DV advocate, she was able to find a place to call home in an area away from her abuser, but this was just part of what she needed.
Tanya is a working mother. She works full time and is in the process of finishing school. Finding childcare has been the biggest barrier to her being able to continue working and attend school. She did an intensive search to try to find affordable daycare or camp, but due to COVID, most places were already at full capacity. After calling numerous places, two slots for her children were found but the cost- $10,000 – was a deal breaker. She did not know what to do next. She reached out to her DV advocate for help.
FCR has a long-standing relationship with the YMCA, so her DV advocate placed a call to the Director of YMCA Camp to see if they could help this family with childcare. After speaking to the Director and Scholarship Department on her behalf, Tanya will only need to cover 10% of the cost of childcare. The YMCA also generously gave both Tanya and her children 100% off of YMCA memberships for one year!
Tanya said, “This program has been so amazing for me and my children. I never thought this would be possible because of the extreme cost. To come up with a first/last/security deposit on my income, it would have taken me years to do on my own. This program has been a blessing. We now have safe housing that I can afford to pay for on my own thanks to the assistance from FCR. My children are in camp! I will always be grateful for FCR and the work they do.”