When Ebony was first referred to Community Progress Council (CPC), she was ready to get down to business.
“They asked me, ‘What are my goals, what do I need, what do I want to become of me,” Ebony said. “I want my kids to finish school and be better than me.”
New to the area, Ebony’s first steps were to enroll her older children, 12 and 7, in school. From there, she worked with her Coach at Community Progress Council to apply for early childhood education for her 3-year-old son, enrolling him into CPC’s Head Start.
“He is doing so great,” Ebony said, even in the first few months. “He’s speaking more, knows to hold a conversation. And he learned to potty train.”
She also enrolled in the ACT Parenting Class offered by Community Progress Council, focused on positive parenting and child development, which Ebony says was a lot of learning and a lot of fun.
“When I finished that class, I said, ‘Yeah, I did something good,’” Ebony said.
Her son’s Head Start classroom, run by CPC but housed within York City School District, allows her three older children to be in the same place, making things a bit easier as she also coordinates care for her newborn son. Her Coach at Community Progress Council also connected her with CPC’s Women, Infants, & Children (WIC) program to provide supplemental food and nutrition education.
With her children settled, Ebony focused on work, moving from a dishwasher position to a role at the front counter of a restaurant.
With the full-time hours, she’s working to catch up on her bills, and was able to secure a more stable home that she now rents from a co-worker. Her Coach is helping her find resources to furnish the home.
“It was very hard for me, staying at peoples’ places,” Ebony said. “I used to depend on people, but now I can fully depend on myself.”
When she thinks about her Coach and the team at Community Progress Council, they’ve kept her motivated and believing in herself.
“Those ladies, they pushed me,” Ebony said. Things I thought I couldn’t achieve, they said, ‘Ebony, if you want that, you can have that. If you need anything, we can help you.’”
“Now, if I need help, I know who to go to. I have a coach who is willing to help me with every situation there is.”
Ebony is focused on her future, continuing to make a home and strengthen connections in her community. But when she pauses to look back at the challenges of doing so in an unfamiliar place, she says she’s “most proud of the people behind me.”
“Without CPC, I don’t think I would ever make it.”