Next Chapter

Mission

Next Chapter empowers women and their children in our community to thrive. Next Chapter provides pregnant women, single mothers and their children who are experiencing homelessness in Pierce County a safe and supportive place to live while they address their barriers to housing and become self-sufficient.

Description

Next Chapter has provided a proven pathway out of poverty and homelessness for pregnant women, single mothers, and their children in Pierce County since 2018. We work with this vulnerable population, who are experiencing homelessness or at risk of homelessness, to transition from lives of poverty and dependency to lives of hope and self-sufficiency. We do this by providing them with temporary shelter, case management and rigorous life-planning courses which equip them with both the confidence and the skills to manage on their own with a stable job and a permanent home.

We have recently secured a long-term lease on a former motel property in South Tacoma. This location allows us to triple our shelter program capacity and has the potential of helping up to 40 mothers and 120 children out of homelessness every year. Among our greatest needs at this time are a security gate, playground equipment and a storage shed for donations and a place for families to store their belongings while they are with us.

95% of mothers Next Chapter serves are survivors of domestic violence. Over 75% of the mothers we serve are Black, Indigenous and people of color, who are statistically at higher risk for miscarriage, stillbirth, and most disturbingly mortality. Specifically, "black women are three to four times more likely to experience a pregnancy-related death than white women" (National Partnership of Woman & Families, 2018). Next Chapter makes it a point to embrace, engage, and educate this population.

Secure Shelter
For the unhoused mothers and children in our program, secured shelter is the first step to providing a hand up. It is imperative to provide a safe and stable living environment before a mother can tackle her barriers to becoming self-sufficient.

Credit Counseling
The first thing Next Chapter does when mothers enter our program is identify credit scores, teach them how to address any issues, how to build those numbers up and keep them up. Accountability is key in this process and mothers become empowered as they see how quick, simple steps can make such a significant difference.
In under three years Next Chapter has worked with mothers in our program to collectively raise their credit scores by 3500 points, assisted 32 mothers in establishing a checking and savings account and assisted 46 mothers in paying off a combined total of over $26,000 in previous debts to collection agencies.

Financial Literacy
Thanks to our partnership with Columbia Bank we provide financial literacy classes that teach our mothers how to budget and how to save. No matter one's income, financial literacy is critical to becoming self-sufficient and setting an example for future generations. A majority of the mothers we serve enter with no bank account. For someone who has been in a cycle of poverty, the idea of opening a bank account can be intimidating, but also empowering once a mother sees that account with her name on it.

Homeownership
Homeownership is within reach. There are numerous programs that provide opportunities to first-time homebuyers. We have a licensed real estate agent on our board whose company, Windemere Abode, is committed to educating and working with our mothers to address their barriers to owning their own housing. Rental housing might be a first step, but we continue to work with our mothers after they secure such housing to take them beyond - so they can literally own their future.

Rental History
While credit score and financial literacy are the core components of self-sufficiency, Next Chapter also helps our mothers with the tools to address their rental history. Many of the mothers we serve are not aware of the negative marks on their rental history. This is often linked to the domestic violence situations they have encountered. We also assist our mothers with the communication tools on how to approach prospective landlords and honestly explain their rental history. Next Chapter has assisted mothers in identifying how to pay off eviction judgments. Having our mothers take full accountability of their past debts to previous landlords has been a great step in securing their future housing stability. Further, Next Chapter provides classes on rental rights & responsibilities so our mothers are well prepared when they secure housing. Next Chapter has helped secure housing for 46 families...