A client of Rock Island-based Project NOW was honored earlier this week at the Illinois Association of Community Action Agencies (IACAA) convention in Springfield.
May is designated as Community Action Month, and Project NOW is one of 1,000 agencies across the country working every day to create opportunities and transform the lives of their neighbors making communities stronger and helping families thrive across the U.S.
Project NOW is a member of the National Community Action Partnership and the Community Action Network, which was born out of the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964. It exists to eliminate the causes of poverty and alleviate the negative conditions wherein poor families live.
Project NOW offers supportive services and advocacy in housing, homelessness prevention, education, skill development, economic security, justice, and healthcare, through meaningful relationships and partnerships. The agency provides services in Rock Island, Mercer and Henry counties.
“Each May, during Community Action Month, we reflect on the impact Project NOW and our network has had on families,” Project NOW executive director Dwight Ford said in a Tuesday release. “Last year alone, we served roughly 13,000 individuals and families in our three-county service area and over 15 million across the country with immediately needed services such as shelter and food, and also long-term solutions like education and job placement.”
Rock Island man honored by state group
At the state convention this week Project NOW’s client Tyrone Holloway was honored with the “Achievement in Housing Stability” award.
Project NOW first met Holloway after he was released from prison. After serving 40 years, he needed a new beginning and it started with finding a place to live. He lives in one of Project NOW’s affordable housing units in Rock Island and has been thriving, the release said.
He’s fully integrated into the life of his community. Holloway has become a value-added member of a local church, where he donates his time and expertise. He assumes responsibility of keeping his community clean and free of litter. He commits his personal time during inclement weather to clean sidewalks of snow and ice.
Ford said affordable housing is difficult without barriers and Holloway, because of his past conviction, had additional challenges finding a new home.
Providing dignity, self-sufficiency
However, Project NOW is an agency sensitive to people living with past records and it has given him an opportunity to anchor himself with decent, affordable housing. Ford says having a place to lay your head at night allows a person to pursue economic self-sufficiency.
“His rental home provides dignity, and it honors him as a person,” Ford said. “He has taken steps forward with his new opportunity that leads to his productive citizenry. This would not be possible without Project NOW giving him this opportunity.” Holloway says if it were not for Project NOW, he does not know where he would be right now.
Holloway has enrolled in GED classes at Black Hawk College and now serves as a Board Member of Fully Free, exercising his leadership. Fully Free is a statewide campaign to end permanent punishments for those getting out of prison.
Holloway said that Project NOW gave him a chance to have his freedom back. He says whereas other property owners refused to rent to him because of his background, Project NOW welcomed him.
Project NOW works daily to embody its mission to strengthen communities by helping people help themselves and one another. For more information, visit its website.
