Empower a Change-Maker: Support for College Completion

MARCH 2025:

Since sharing this gofundme, things have significantly changed. This is no longer out of simply celebration - but very much out of a need for support.

On 2/26 the government terminated nearly all HUD technical assistance, effectively ending 100 percent of my federal contract work, which made up the majority of my income. I have been working with HUD as a federal contractor, supporting communities across the country to end youth homelessness through youth leadership development, and creating community plans to use HUD money for youth housing. This work has been deeply harmed by the current administration, hurting the movement overall as well as many people like me working hard to solve homelessness issues.

I am supposed to graduate after this semester. I am currently enrolled in my last classes. But with this significant loss, I am struggling to figure out how to start a new job while still maintaining my grades in the classes I am currently taking. I do not want to have to postpone my graduation... it would be the salt in the wound that I truly do not need.

My hope is to find enough financial support to just make it through the next 3 months so I can graduate, and use that to propel me forward into a new job that will support myself and my kids going forward.

Please consider supporting us.

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For transparency - Below is my household's typical monthly budget, during this time I will be prioritizing only the essentials like mortgage, utilities, food, etc. The lower on the list the more likely it will be cut out. I am also working to find other resources and supports to offset these expenses but at this time I do not qualify for much because I previously made over the income limits before the termination of all my federal work.

Mortgage 1767.67

Utilities (oil, electric, water) 750

Wifi & phone 120

Dogs food & care 100

Food 500

Health insurance 249

Doctor / Meds 160

car insurance $318.21

Gas & car maintenance 250

House repairs 1000

Kids sports/rock climbing 150

My dance classes 200

Childcare/camp 600

TOTAL 6164.88

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DECEMBER 2024:

I made this GoFundMe to ask my community to help me get over the finish line, to celebrate with me everything that I have done and will continue to do.

Now, I’m asking for your support - not because I can’t do this alone, but because I believe I shouldn’t have to, none of us should. Anyone who's known me knows how hard I've worked to get here in my college and career journey, and how much of my heart I have poured into it, and I am excited to share this joy and huge milestone with all of you.

If you've stumbled onto my GoFundMe but are not yet a part of my community, please read on for my story...

When I was 16 years old, I dropped out of high school. I had moved out and was staying on friends' couches. I didn’t know it at the time, but this was my first experience with youth homelessness, and my life continued to undergo rapid changes and instabilities for years to come, from living outside on the street to later surviving some of the worst times of my life in a family shelter with my first child. When I should have been in college working my way through my Gen Eds and navigating social life as a 20-something-year-old, instead I was learning how to change diapers and navigate shelter systems.

I know now that youth homelessness is a failure of our institutional structures at catching young people before they land on the street, and that despite making the best of my situation, I hadn’t landed there by choice.

This is why for the past 8 years, I have dedicated my time to efforts to end youth homelessness. I began with local advocacy in Boston and Massachusetts, and now work with communities around the country to provide training and mentorship to young people with lived experience of homelessness. I help them to be involved in making change in their communities and support their communities in building sustainable youth leadership models.

In addition to having built my career around my passion for housing justice, I also spend all of my free time doing it too - from volunteering with programs that serve this population to serving on the Housing Committee for my town.

Despite the labor I pour into this effort, at times it has been challenging to prove my worth and my ability as a person with no previous work or college experience and just a GED. In this field, we put a lot of stock in lived experience - but the reality is that without a degree, I have still been held back in a lot of ways.

In 2020, when COVID was changing everything about life as we knew it, I seized the opportunity to begin a journey that I truly never thought would be possible. I enrolled in college at UMass Amherst, in the University Without Walls (UWW) program.

UWW is designed for students like me, who need a less traditional approach to college, usually for older students who did not complete a degree, many who have careers and lives and responsibilities beyond that of a typical college student. The classes are online and on my schedule, which allows me flexibility as a single mother and a business owner to manage my time.

One of the benefits of UWW is that students have the opportunity to write a prior learning portfolio, which is a set of essays reflecting on our life and work experience. This portfolio can earn up to 30 college credits, giving value to the lessons learned outside of a college class for non-traditional students like me. I am in the process of writing this portfolio right now. I am aiming for all 30 credits - and if I can accomplish this, I will finally graduate in the spring of 2025.

I want to use my education to continue making the biggest impact that I can. I designed my Area of Concentration (Equity, Leadership, and Community Engagement) to support the work that I already do. I believe that getting my degree can help me continue to make a difference in the world for other young people who experience what I did, and in the lives of my children to change our story. We're more than just housing statistics.

Your contribution would mean so much to me. Consider it your early graduation gift. Together, we can finish what I started. <3