Akirah

“I want to show other women that despite their current situations, there is a light at the end of the tunnel.”

Val-sharee

“No one wanted to hear my voice then. I feel like no one cared. My actions were just a cry out for help.”

Alisha

“I felt like my voice wasn’t being heard because it was just me. I didn’t have that support or income people thought I should have so I was being ignored. As a mother, it’s hard. It’s hard.”

Erica

“I’m back in my childhood home and I’m working towards owning it. I still have a ways to go. And I’m working towards it every day.”

Celeana

“If I didn’t make a change for my son and I, we were going to be homeless and I would have a bad record as a tenant. I started taking matters into my own hand.”

Christina

“My children know the struggles we inherit and have been through. It was important to me to give my children a life I never had.”

Carolyn

“I am a survivor who is holding on, and I still have hopes and dreams of becoming a homeowner and entrepreneur of a second-chance shop…I believe in second chances.”

Donna

“As a girl, I was not a priority. Staying unnoticed was a challenge for me. Once in a while, I was able to and that was a good day for me…”

Jennifer

“I searched for assistance and this led to even bigger obstacles…The individuals who could offer change or help created blockages of inequality, injustice, housing, and economic instability. I felt every step I took forward, I was knocked back ten.”

Tamara

“I’ve been able to work towards stability by utilizing programs that invest in women through financial literacy, training, education, and empowerment. My ultimate goal is to create financial security and generational wealth for my family and generations to follow.”

Tracey

”Years later looking up from the carnage of what my life had become I would try to undo what years of devastation did with no clue as to “How”. How to take care of my family or get out of debt. How to make more money or even how to manage the little money I had. This lack of knowing “How” would leave me working hard with little or no momentum stuck in the cycle of poverty tethered to a life I so desperately wanted to escape.”Read Tracey’s full story here.

Taina

“None of the jobs I had were enough to cover my financial responsibilities. Every paycheck was like a raffle, which bill gets paid today. And every paycheck I cried until I had no money left. There were times when I said screw this and treated myself to some retail therapy to help with my depression, the depression that was triggered by my financial insecurity.’

Nicole

“It was on October 23, 2008, that a single life-changing event uprooted my security in ways I could never imagine. It was at this time that my daughter prosecuted her father for sexually molesting her. Not only was this event emotionally pivotal in my life but also financially. I was living below the poverty line without even knowing it. Unfortunately, even though I had two jobs and child support from now my ex-husband these were trying times. I would find out fast how low this line was when my children’s father was prosecuted and I lost all child support.”

Marina

The Experience that I’m just about to share with you is about the cruel reality that my family and I have been subjected to in the USA, for more than 6 years now. About one year after coming to this country with my little children, to be a family with their dad, and when I was still being used to live here, we separated…

…my marital separation meant that I had to start seeing my children supervision and arm guards around…”

Kelley

“I am doing this to save what is left of my family, a home for my children and a way to turn this pile of debt back to normalcy. This is all because you want out, you no longer want to be with me and you no longer wish to be responsible for our home, our children and me. I mistook your abusive ways for love. I thought I could keep you happy by buying you things. I thought that I could buy your love and your respect and that would stop you from treating me like dirt. I still feel like dirt, and I am paying for in the worst way possible.”

Kate

“My son was born into a world of trauma, but he has no idea. Like any good Mother I try to shield and protect him as best I can. I protected us both during my pregnancy when my partner is abusive to us, jeopardizing both our lives. I left that relationship with my son and some serious PTSD. I was barely existing, I relied on my own Mother, a non-profit and the State to help me bridge this difficult time.”

Barbie

“There once was a girl named Persistence. Persistence had many dreams like having a big stable home with enough bedrooms, a white picket fence to keep the danger out, a college education, a career she was proud of, and enough money to explore the world beyond the barriers that kept her confined. However, she faced many obstacles on the road to pursuing her dreams. But that didn’t stop her, Persistence knew that she was special, she just needed enough people to see it.”

Devon

“Every obstacle is an opportunity. When life gives you, lemons make lemonade, look on the Brightside.” Sure, optimism is better than pessimism but how do you expect me to be optimistic after losing four years of my life to a system that failed me?”