YWCA Helps Homeless Families Start Over

COLUMBUS, Ohio—In Columbus, the YWCA expects the number of homeless families in Central Ohio to increase.

That’s because relatives tend to step in during the cold winter months—but in the summer, the homeless are on their own, NBC 4‘s Tanya Hutchins reported.

Nadia Williams said her family lived in one room three years ago after she was laid off from her job at an apartment complex.

“They laid off all the jobs because they were closing down. So once they laid off the jobs, I couldn’t find me one quick enough that would support me and my children,“ Williams said.

Williams turned to the YWCA family center, where the goal is to find families a home in three weeks.

The facility provides on-site child care, a playroom and an employment resource center.

The employment resource center also has a phone with individual voicemail, so employers never need to know that the families are in a shelter.

“Even if you need clothing for jobs, we have that too,“ Williams said.

Williams eventually found a job working with the family center as a family support specialist.

“It gave me empowerment to know that even though I made a bad choice as a parent, there’s always somebody out there that can help you,“ Williams said.

Now, Williams is helping other families, passing along what she learned.

“A lot of things that we did here, I still do at home and as a parent. I didn’t do that back then when I was here. I learned how to do it and it just keeps you having family times going on,“ Williams said.

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