Featured Nonprofit: Genesis Home

by Shannon Moriarty

Published October 07, 2008 @ 01:45PM PT

Genesis Home doesn't look like a homeless shelter. Located in Durham, North Carolina on a tree-lined street in the city's Cleveland-Holloway neighborhood, just outside the central business district, it's is a big, yellow house with colorful murals wrapping around the bottom of the building. In the hallways, bright handprints of former residents- young and old- line the hallways.

Inside the house, twelve families co-exist in the shared living room and kitchen area. Families reside by strict rules - a 9:00 p.m. curfew, mandatory house meetings, chores, and case management - but many find that they're better than the alternatives.

Take Claire. Two years ago, she lost her job as a maintenance worker at a local church. With no income and no savings, she and her seven year-old grandson, Paul, lost their apartment and began living out of her Jeep. She'd use service station bathrooms to wash Paul for school. They'd sit in the library at night to do his homework. The experience was humbling and traumatic for both of them.

Or take Nadine, a single mom with a steady job, a nice apartment and a 401K. When a bout with serious illness required multiple surgeries over the course of a year, she had to do whatever she could to hang on to her home. She cashed out her savings and sold her possessions, but with medical bills piling up and no way to pay the rent, Nadine and her daughter wound up homeless.

Popular culture would have us believe homelessness is the result of drug abuse or mental illness. While that may be true for some, it's not the case for families served by Genesis Home.

The word "homeless" doesn't typically conjure up the image of a child. Yet this is the reality among the residents of Genesis Home. Last year, 65 percent of the people who lived at this shelter were under the age of 16.

Genesis Home was created in 1989 by representatives from various churches in the community. During the 1980s, the U.S. saw an unprecedented rise in homelessness. Durham joined hundreds of other communities from across the nation that responded by expanding grassroots efforts to meet the rising demand for emergency shelter and services. Groups of concerned citizens, like the founders of Genesis Home, created organizations that continue their work today, trying to meet the needs of vulnerable men, women, and children.

At the time of its creation, Genesis Home was the only place in the city where homeless families would not be forced to be separated by gender, staying together in one room. Over the years, the organization has added programs to meet the ever-changing needs of the Durham community. When it became clear that homelessness was becoming an issue for foster children who were "aging out" of the system (i.e. turning 18), Genesis Home created an independent living program to serve them. Since the widespread adoption of Housing First initiatives, the shelter has embraced this best practice to remain current with the national trends.

Genesis Home represents what is great about the community it serves. It's a symbol of the impact concerned citizens have when they mobilize to address a local crisis. Today, nearly 20 years after opening its doors to those in need, Genesis Home continues to provide a safe respite for homeless families and children as they prepare for independence in permanent housing. 

From 2006 through 2008, I served as the Director of Development at Genesis Home. To learn more about Genesis Home, or how you can get involved, contact the organization. 

Do you work at a fantastic organization that is serving the homeless? Is there one in your community that you support and admire? Consider recommending this organization to be the next featured nonprofit on change.org!