Homefirst employee draws on personal experience to help empower families dealing with homelessness and asks others to pay it forward

Plainfield, NJ – Jennie Crespo, director of housing and social service, at Homefirst, Inc. in Plainfield, NJ knows firsthand what the families she helps to conquer homelessness feel when at a most vulnerable time in their lives. “My first experience with being homeless was in 1973 the day before Thanksgiving. The kid next door was playing with matches and set the house behind us, which was vacant, on fire. The fire traveled and burned our house and the one next door. My mom had nine kids so it was very hard to place us. We were relocated to the Holiday Inn and then moved to the Salvation Army. We were not able to move into an apartment until January of 1974,” Crespo explained.

It is with this empathy and compassion that Jennie is able to see past how many “people stigmatize the homeless by saying they are lazy, drug addicts, bums, alcoholics, and don’t want to work. I can stand here and tell you that is not true. The face of homelessness is changing and is affecting many poor, middle class, black and white people,” Jennie shared.

Jennie has been a key member of the Homefirst staff for the last 15 years. Her leadership has helped grow Homefirst’s housing and social service programs to 51 homes today. Her professional career has spanned 25 years, serving a variety of special needs populations including; homeless, persons with disabilities, veterans, victims of domestic violence, and people living with HIV/AIDS. Jennie will be the first to tell you her responsibilities at Homefirst don’t constitute her job but rather her calling. “Homefirst lives by its mission and I love being a part of all that we stand for,” she recently remarked.

It may be that Homefirst’s clients sense that Jennie’s reassuring manner and sound advice don’t just come from years of counseling homeless families. Jennie says, “I can truly say I have walked in some of the shoes of the families I serve and I know exactly what they are going through.” She openly discusses the time in her life when she and her family were homeless. The message she wants to share with others is clear: homelessness can happen to anyone and there is no shame in asking for help.

“Why I Serve the Homeless — I came to work at Homefirst because I felt it was my calling to assist and empower people in need. Homefirst lives by its mission and I look forward to another 15 years of doing what I love,” Jennie says.

Jennie’s second experience with homelessness was as an adult. Her husband was employed as a caretaker for a cemetery and his compensation package included housing. In 1987, after nearly four years of employment, he lost his job and subsequently the housing for his wife and three children.

“We decided to move to Pennsylvania because we heard there was plenty of opportunity for work and that housing was cheap,” Jennie said. “I found a part-time job working the grave yard shift and my husband found a part-time job working for the school district. We had money for first month rent but not for security deposit. We went to the local welfare office for assistance. We were eligible but had to wait for the security deposit, but our new landlord did not want to wait and evicted us.”

Her family was devastated to be working and still homeless. This is an issue that still exists today for many families. As of July 1, 2014, the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty indicated that there are over 1,750,000 homeless people living in the United States. Twenty-five percent of them are employed. Forty-four percent of those classified as homeless did paid work over the past month. According to the study, the average monthly income for a homeless individual is $348. “This was devastating. We worked, were getting assistance and still were homeless. I was very depressed.

Thank God we had a great social worker who also happened to be the director of the shelter who saw something in us that she wanted to help. She assisted us with an apartment, a car, and furniture,” said Jennie.

In the ultimate pay it forward, Jennie is part of the Homefirst Inc. family which helped the organization set records in 2013 by servicing nearly 2000 individuals with housing assistance and social services. The organization, based in Plainfield, NJ, took to the forefront in addressing Plainfield’s 15.9% poverty rate. Homefirst strongly believes that the first step to empowering a poverty stricken family is to provide them with safe and affordable housing. The organization provides transitional, supportive and permanent housing to families in need, all of which are managed and owned by Homefirst, Inc.

“The cornerstone of our work is to provide the homeless with a permanent home creating a stable foundation for each family,” says Ellen McGovern, executive director of Homefirst, Inc. “Once a family is placed in safe, decent housing they can afford – Homefirst is able to coordinate service delivery along a continuum of care that includes health care, financial planning, education, quality childcare and other support programs aimed at expanding opportunities,” she added.

Through its Family Success Center, the organization provides programs that focus on parent/child strengthening, financial literacy, employment readiness, and health and wellness. Homefirst also advocates for youth through their Youth Success Center. This program empowers youth to transition into adulthood while building strong peer relationships. Topics of nutrition, healthy eating and cooking are also a concern of the organization. Homefirst developed two community gardens in Plainfield and Scotch Plains that in 2013 produced an excess of 850 pounds of fresh vegetables, fruit, and herbs that were distributed to 150 families in need.

“We are a small staff and rely heavily on our partners and volunteers for support,” McGovern noted. The organization partners with religious congregations, community groups, service clubs, local businesses, foundations, government agencies, and private citizens in and around the Union County area that support their mission. As a result of these partnerships, Homefirst created an annual event entitled, “An Evening of Thanks” to give recognition to the volunteers and partners who tirelessly help families in the community and to raise awareness and resources in support of the Homefirst mission and essential services and programs. This year’s “An Evening of Thanks” will be held on October 30, 2014 at 6pm at the Galloping Hill Golf Club in Kenilworth, NJ. For more information about this event and how you can support it contact Kathy Higgins at Kathy@homefirstinc.org or visit www.homefirstinc.org.

About Homefirst, Inc.

Homefirst Inc. founded in 1986, began as a small shelter program and three years later expanded into homeless prevention services. Soon after, Homefirst embraced the national Housing First model and began providing housing and family support services. To date, Homefirst has acquired and renovated 51 homes of transitional, supportive, and permanent housing and provides comprehensive homeless prevention emergency assistance and family support services. To learn more about Homefirst, Inc. and its services or how you may help support their mission, please visit www.homefirstinc.org.

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