Amy is a smiling young woman in her mid twenties. If you ask her, she’ll tell you her childhood wasn’t that difficult. The details, though, tell a different story. Amy was raised by her grandmother and her aunt in Bronx, NY. “I grew up in a bad neighborhood, “ she remembers. “A lot of killings, a lot of drug activity. I saw a lot of craziness.”

When Amy was in high school her grandmother became ill. With her mother and father gone, and her aunt working long hours to support the family, Amy took on the responsibility of caring for her grandmother. “I didn’t want to see her suffer so much,” Amy recalls. “She always asked me to stay home and help her.” Amy started missing school on a daily basis to care for her grandmother. Eventually, this led to Amy dropping out of school to provide full-time care, at the age of 17.

One year later, in 2008, after a long struggle, Amy’s grandmother passed away. Amy was devastated by the loss. “My grandmother raised me. It’s still hard to think about that.”

“I didn’t want to see her suffer so much.” 

In the years that followed Amy helped her aunt at home, caring for her young nephew. Her aunt had been financially supporting the family for Amy’s entire life. Amy wanted to start working and contributing financially, so in her early twenties she went back to school to get her GED. Unfortunately, she would not finish the program. Her aunt informed her that she was moving out of the Bronx and could no longer afford to house Amy. Without a job or a place to live, Amy checked into a homeless shelter.

“My grandmother raised me. It’s still hard to think about that.”

After several months in the shelter system, Amy’s case manager referred her to ACE. She immediately signed up and started making the most of everything that ACE had to offer. “I got real credentials from ACE, like my OSHA,” she says. “They helped me with my resume and coached me on my interviewing.” ACE also helped Amy through all the steps to renew her security guard license.

At the same time as things were looking up at ACE, Amy became romantically involved with a man who seemed to be kind and caring. He had a stable home, where he lived with his mother. A few months passed and they made the decision that Amy would move out of the shelter and into his apartment.

Amy maintained her progress at ACE,  gaining work experience sweeping streets and continuing in classes and trainings. After 3 months she started going on interviews and after four months she received good news: she had been hired as a security agent. “It felt great to get hired and earn a paycheck. My aunt was really happy.”

“It felt great to get hired and earn a paycheck.” 

About the same time as being hired, Amy got life changing news. She found out she was pregnant. “I was scared to tell my family,” she recalls. “I thought they would be upset, but they were happy for me.”

This news, however, came at a time when her relationship was in a bad place. Tragically, over the course of their year-long relationship, her partner’s kind demeanor had changed. At first, she had noticed him becoming more and more aggressive, and then he became fully physically and verbally abusive.

“He was hitting me and cursing at me. He was so controlling, saying ‘I can throw you out anytime and you will be back on the streets.’ I was scared. He had thrown me down the stairs. Kicked me in the stomach. It was the most difficult time of my life.” Knowing the environment was too unsafe now that she was pregnant, Amy got out of the relationship.

With nowhere to go, Amy had to find time during the work day to make appointments to get her housing in order. She found a room to rent, but her job let her go because of the work she missed while searching.

Despite the setback, she refused to give up. Taking advantage of ACE’s lifelong support services, Amy met with ACE staff for follow up support, job search resources, interview attire donations, and even toy donations for her unborn child. Less than a month later, she found a full-time job in a new security position.

“I was scared to tell my family, I thought they would be upset, but they were happy for me.” 

After six months of exemplary work, Amy was granted maternity leave and had a healthy baby boy. “He loves people,” she says, “he is always laughing and smiling when he is meeting people. I still have my security job and I am raising this little one.”

Amy has now been employed consistently for over a year. “For those in the program now,” she says, “I know it’s difficult. Keep moving forward and keep going for your dreams. To the donors and friends that contributed to provide her with the opportunities at ACE, she says, “Thank you. Without you, ACE would not be possible. My biggest goal now is to go back to school, to become a nurse or aid, and show my son that his mom is dedicated to doing great things.”

It takes hard-work, dedication and courage to overcome the extreme circumstances that Amy faced. Partners like you make the entire journey to independence possible. As our city faces a crisis of homelessness, please help these men and women achieve their goals of economic self-sufficiency by making a tax-deductible contribution today.