Meet Alecia

Like many of the women who walk through our doors, when Alecia called the YW she needed help and she needed help fast. She was facing an impossible decision: Stay with her abusive partner or be forced into homelessness for herself her and two young boys.

When, over the phone, a Women’s Advocate said they could set up a room for her and her children, Alecia could finally feel safety and peace for the first time in months.

Alecia and her two boys were greeted at the Culp St. emergency shelter by warm beds, nutritious meals and 24 hour support from a Women’s Advocate on the cold winter day they walked into the YW in early 2019. The Niagara Falls shelter was a refuge for Alecia for three months before she was ready to move towards independent living again. From the emergency shelter, she moved into the YW’s Off-site Transitional Housing program in March 2019 where she and her boys finally had a place of their own.

Over the next year and a half, Alecia worked with her Transitional Support Worker, Jennifer, to create and achieve goals. Her time in the Off-Site program was about prioritizing herself, becoming independent and financial budgeting. Despite the barriers of stepping out on her own, Alecia steadily and repeatedly reached goal after goal, including acquiring affordable housing through the Niagara Regional Housing program.

Alecia and her boys officially moved into their apartment in early December 2020. With the support of her Transitional Support Worker, Alecia was able to access community resources to help her through the steps of pre-employment.  Now, as she home schools her boys through the pandemic, she will soon be ready to find employment and continue creating and achieving her goals.

“Alecia really did the work to move through our programs and get to where she is right now,” said Jennifer, Alecia’s Transitional Support Worker. “I am really proud of her and I hope she is patting herself on the back for her accomplishment”