Cheryl was adopted and grew up in Washington, DC. Her parents both had good government jobs and they were a musical family. Around the age of 12, Cheryl realized that her father was abusing her mother regularly in their basement. One day she tried to get help from a neighbor, but they said it was just what couples did.
Cheryl begged her mother to leave her father, but her mother refused. Cheryl started drinking and using drugs to mask the pain. When Cheryl was 16, her mother passed away. A year later, her dad moved back to Dallas, TX, leaving Cheryl to fend for herself at the tender age of 17.
After 30 years of living on and off the streets, abusing alcohol and drugs, Cheryl found her way to N Street Village. She says, “they gave me a hug…they gave me back me.”
Cheryl credits the N Street Village community for helping to grow into the woman she is today.