“For years, I thought homelessness was just about losing a house. But it’s deeper than that. It’s losing your foundation, both physically and emotionally.”
Nichelle Brannon raised three children as a single mother, and said it was no easy feat. She reflects that “the one constant was instability.” After a series of major traumatic experiences, from a house fire to two major car accidents, Nichelle found herself homeless.
She says she finally found a sense of stability when she came to N Street Village. “From the moment I stepped foot onto the premises, I knew I was going to be supported,” Nichelle said.
Nichelle shares that at the Village she began to rebuild – not just my home, but herself. “For years, I thought homelessness was just about losing a house. But it’s deeper than that. It’s losing your foundation — physically and emotionally – and feeling isolated. But not at N Street Village,” she reflected.
At the Village, Nichell talks about receiving behavioral health support, saying “I sat in therapy and let myself cry — really cry — for the first time in years.”
Nichelle says at N Street Village, she learned how to build her own foundation. “I have chosen to embrace the light and use all the resources that N Street Village has to offer. Dance classes. Guided meditation. The knitting and crocheting. This has all given a very structured and sound foundation to create the life that I am deserving of.”
She says she found purpose at the Village and that staff helped her apply for and receive a permanent supportive housing voucher — something she says she once felt impossible.
“And slowly, I began to thrive again. I learned goldsmithing, started making art again,” she says, adding, “Today, I have safety. I have security. I have community.”
Nichelle is quick to note that “this transformation didn’t happen by magic. It happened because someone funded a bed. Because someone funded therapy.”
The transformation happened, Nichelle says, “because someone believed a woman like me was worth rebuilding.”
Nichelle says she is living proof of what that investment can become.