“I made it!” says Tracy Gomillion, 53, with a big smile on her face, sitting in her own apartment after a day of working as a concierge in downtown DC, right by the White House. “It’s been a long journey, not too long, but long enough.”
In 2019, Tracy says that her “mental health plummeted” and she lost her job and then her housing. She spent the next couple of years sleeping “here and there,” often in her car. She feels lucky that she happened to get on a housing list that placed her with New Endeavors’ transitional housing program.
She came to NEW determined to get her life back.
“Because NEW gives you two years of housing, I didn’t have to feel anxious. I knew I had time to do the things I needed to do,” she says, sitting at her very own dining room table. Tracy started working with a case manager at NEW, Ms.Hinson, and found the support she needed. She enrolled in school. She started a part-time job which quickly became a full-time job. She worked on her mental health with professionals. She started rebuilding relationships with her family.
“I felt safe at NEW, first and foremost. Everyone was helpful and supportive. Even the clients there were supportive,” she says. “It was almost like a sisterhood. I admired the women who were faced with a lot of hard stuff. We all had things we were dealing with, but to see the women come together and do things like crochet or watch a movie together, just trying to make the best out of the situation, it motivated me.”
After one year and 7 months at NEW, Tracy was able to move out into her own apartment. She is still working, was recently promoted and received a raise. “Being homeless is lonely,” she says. “I didn’t like that feeling. I didn’t want to be a statistic.” Before 2019, Tracy always had a job and a place to live, but she was also a single mother who put her own needs second. Now, with a new place, a job, and a healthy mind and spirit, Tracy is looking forward to doing things for herself. Her long-term goals include earning a college degree in interior design and figuring out how to decorate her apartment. “I’m going to start with the kitchen,” she says, “and I am thinking of using the colors red and teal.”
As for advice for the other women at NEW, she says, “Don’t give up. NEW Endeavors is a stepping stone. It’s a resource. Use all the resources you can. And stay focused. Do what you have to do to move on. You have two years to get your life together.”