Kathy Confer, Instructor, VIEW (Virginia Initiative for Employment not Welfare) Program—operated by KRA Corporation for the Norfolk Department of Human Services—gave her GED class a writing assignment on goal-setting. Participant Dawn Franklin wrote about her 5-year struggle with homelessness, and her goal of having a place to call “home”.
Dawn had ended 10 years of unemployment by landing a job with the Hunton YMCA, a KRA/VIEW Partnership organization, but had not yet saved enough money to secure permanent housing; she was still moving from house to house, which was taking a heavy toll on her, and an even heavier one on her 2-year old son.
Kathy spoke with her about the Norfolk Homeless Action Response Team (HART), and collaborated with Dawn’s Career Agent to submit a referral, and to prepare the paperwork HART required. The effort was successful, and Dawn was able to move into her own apartment—ending her cycle of homelessness, and increasing her job stability.
Dawn expressed to the KRA/VIEW staff “that they were a God send, and that being able to say she was going home after work was is a joy, one that some might take for granted, but one that she never will.”