Every year, the Network honors two outstanding supportive housing tenants at its Awards Gala. In 2013, we selected Johanna Flores of Hour Children and Shannon McEachern of YWCA of Binghamton and Broome County. Learn more about these remarkable tenants below.
Johanna Flores
Johanna Flores of Hour Children
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.”
Shannon McEachern
Shannon McEachern of YWCA of Binghamton and Broome County
Before she even turned 30, Shannon McEachern had experienced life on the streets in New York, California, Colorado, Arizona, North Carolina and Florida.
Ms. McEachern had no home and suffered from an unshakeable drug addiction. Across the country, friends offered her bus tickets and a place to stay. Each city held the promise of a new beginning. But with each city, the same drama unfolded: Her friends couldn’t live with the drug use, and so Ms. McEachern found herself roaming the streets, suitcase by her side, asking strangers for shelter. She’d steal cash for food and sleep in abandoned buildings. A Binghamton native, Ms. McEachern lived this nomadic life for 10 long years.
Those years, thankfully, are over. In 2012, Ms. McEachern moved into supportive housing from the YWCA of Binghamton and Broome County. She has since gotten clean, become a community volunteer and grown into an all-star housing advocate.
“I stand in awe of Shannon,” says YWCA of Binghamton and Broome County Executive Director Carole Coppens. “Many of us with far more privilege don’t have the courage that this woman has.”
Ms. McEachern has blossomed into a capable, inspiring adult. She now meets with a case manager and vocational counselor to develop her newfound sense of confidence. She holds a part-time job at a local library and is working toward going to college for the first time.
“It’s crazy to think where I was 17 months ago and where I am today,” she says. “I feel like I keep getting blessed in so many ways.”
Ms. McEachern has also become an advocate. Earlier this year, she visited the office of U.S. Rep. Richard Hanna and urged him to avoid cuts to homelessness programs. Ms. McEachern told the Congressman that she used to sleep in the very building that now houses his Binghamton office.
Her words stirred Rep. Hanna. The Congressman became the only Republican to sign a letter from Rep. Gwen Moore urging Congress to fully fund homelessness and housing programs.
“It has been my privilege to meet Shannon,” Rep. Hanna says. “I congratulate her on being honored as the 2013 Tenant of the Year. Congratulations, Shannon, today and every day.”
This year Ms. McEachern also became the first tenant to ever present at the Annual National YWCA Conference in Washington, DC. She received high praise for her contributions to a panel on sequestration and homelessness.
Ms. McEachern now serves on the YWCA of Binghamton and Broome County Board of Directors. Her new life, full of everyday triumphs, couldn’t be more different than her decade in distress.
For overcoming enormous adversity and becoming a remarkable advocate for supportive housing, Shannon McEachern is the winner of our Tenant of the Year award.