Categories: Network Events
10.10.2013
Tenant of the Year at the Network's 2013 Awards Gala
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Johanna Flores bounced back in a big way.
Years ago, as a 19-year-old single mother in Tijuana, Ms. Flores was desperate to find a job to support her son. She met a man who offered her money to smuggle a suitcase full of diamonds from Mexico to New York. With hesitation, she accepted.
But it turned out that suitcase carried five kilograms of cocaine. Ms. Flores made this discovery at the JFK Airport, along with a swarm of police officers. She’d spend the next four years in prison.
More than a decade has passed since her arrest. Today, Ms. Flores is a full time employee of Hour Children, a college student, a housing advocate, a mother and a role model to formerly incarcerated women everywhere.
“At first all I did was cry. I wanted to die,” says Ms. Flores about her incarceration. “Then, one day I stopped crying and realized I had to face reality.”
She learned English, took courses and worked at the prison nursery. But she still had no prospects after release: no friends, no money and no home. So when Hour Children, a nonprofit that provides housing and services to incarcerated women, threw out a lifeline, she grabbed it.
Hour Children offered Ms. Flores supportive housing, help reuniting her with her son and help for both of them in adjusting to their new life.
“At first it was very hard,” Ms. Flores says. “He didn’t interact with other kids. I had to take him to the hospital because he refused to eat.” With help
from a therapist offered by Hour Children, Ms. Flores’ son was able to work through his issues.
Ms. Flores’ desire to work and give back was evident. The organization hired her, first as Hour Children Executive Director Sister Tesa Fitzgerald’s assistant and then as the Director of the Hour Working Women Program. Ms. Flores now works full time to help women like herself—those recently released from incarceration—find employment. She also became a spectacularly effective housing advocate. Ms. Flores regularly visits with elected officials to share her story and discuss the benefits of supportive housing. By 2015, she hopes to have a bachelor’s degree in business from the City College of New York.
“Johanna embodies the best in what it means to be engaged in life to the fullest as a woman, mother, employee, tenant, advocate and friend,” says Sister Tesa.
Ms. Flores can scarcely believe how her life has transformed since her release from prison.
“The moment I learned about this award. I jumped up and down and started screaming,” she says “I was homeless when I was released from prison. And now, tenant of the year? This means so much to me.”