We are a family of three, living in the Columbia area. I have one little girl who is 3 years old, and one boy who is 13. I decided to relocate here for better opportunities for me and my family— for job purposes, for my son, for schooling purposes, and just for a better quality of life. I worked with the Baltimore Regional Housing Partnership to find my home, and I’ve been in my current neighborhood for going on three years now. I love it, I actually love the neighborhood that I’m in at this time. It is a laidback neighborhood, very nice people. It’s a very nice neighborhood, kid friendly, and a lot of different opportunities. It’s a totally different place from where we lived before. There are more opportunities here, it makes you feel safer. There are more opportunities for me and my kids. There’s a variety of parks that we can take walks in and feel safe, it’s the total opposite of our old neighborhood.
We’re comfortable in our community and my kids are doing awesome in their current schools. They are actually excelling in their classes—they’re getting good grades. My son, the 13-year-old, he’s in the 8th grade, and he’s getting good grades, he’s getting A’s. This is compared to when we were in our old neighborhood, he was bringing home C’s all the time, or D’s. Now he’s a straight-A student, he’s into various programs, mentoring programs, and he also plays football and basketball, and before, he didn’t have any of those opportunities. Out here he’s also learning about financial literacy; he’s taking a class on financial literacy, so he just opened his first bank account. He’s doing great, he’s excelling here in Columbia, and he wouldn’t have had that opportunity in our old area. Since we moved to Columbia, I have a different outlook on life. I’m able to accomplish some of the goals that I had set aside in our life before. Since I moved here, I got my commercial driver’s license, and I drive the buses here in Howard County. I also go to school at Howard County Community College—like I said, it just gives you the mindset to want to do more when you get away from the negative environment.
In addition to support from BRHP, my family supports each other, so we use the support system of being home as a family, talking as a family. My son also has support in his mentoring program at school, also his principal and his counselor, they support him. And me, I’m supported by my family. There is a lot that I can say that I would like people to know about the Housing Choice Voucher program and the housing mobility program. I think it’s a very good program for people who are trying to, you know, get an opportunity to do better for themselves and their kids. These programs helped my family tremendously in all aspects of life. I feel like they help families to be able to excel and be able to get opportunities that they wouldn’t have anywhere else.
