My name is Jhody Polk and I am a community peace builder and legal empowerment practitioner in Gainesville, Florida. Since my release from incarceration in 2014 I have been able to achieve launching a nonprofit organization, graduating from college with an AS degree, as well as I was awarded the Peacebuilder of the Year award and the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Legacy award in 2019. I am also a 2018 Soros Justice Fellow. Despite all of my accomplishments, I am still struggling to support myself and family. None of my accomplishments were able to remove the impact of generational poverty or the reality of me being a formerly incarcerated woman of color and a single mother in Florida. I have had to move 3 times within the last year in pursuit of safe/affordable housing. I also do not qualify for social services because I do have income, although I do not make enough income to cover my bills and provide our needs, which places me deeper in debt every month. I am currently $2,500.00 behind in my bills as well as needs for me and my 2 children. I have spent the last 13 1/2 years helping others and trying to pull myself up from places and labels that I once had no control, but I'm tired and I am asking for your help. Your donation today can help me stabilize me and my family. I can no longer keep holding my breath. I have been able to do it alone for the last 3 years, but with COVID 19 I am unable to seek additional income to help support us.  I have dedicated my life to the empowerment of vulnerable, isolated, and incarcerated communities, but I am also a member of these communities. Please help me help myself.  I am not asking for a handout, but I really need a handup! Your gift will allow me to not only get my head above water, but it will enable me to be able to save and manage my needs and expenses without fear.