By the time Bridgette connected with Mercy Housing, she had fought through recovery from addiction and lived in homeless shelters. Her strength and tenacity led to a job and the ability to move her family into a home of their own. However, soon after, Bridgette was laid off from her job, and her house went into foreclosure.

“I felt like I was breaking a promise to my children,” said Bridgette. “I didn’t know how to explain to them that we might have to be homeless again.”

When a former coworker told her about Wentworth Commons, an affordable housing property being built for families on the South Side of Chicago, Bridgette was just a week away from foreclosure and eviction.

Bridgette and her sons joined nearly 130 residents at Wentworth Commons, where a case manager connected her to an employment program and ultimately helped her find a job as a case worker, assisting formerly incarcerated men and women in their transition back into society.

While life’s challenges don’t end with a job and a safe place to live, Bridgette says that it’s her support system at Mercy Housing that enables her to deal with those challenges as they arise. Now the proud grandmother of four grandchildren, she has formed her own support group, where parents share ideas and support one another.

“I tell people close to me that they are worthy of the best that life has to offer. Coming to Mercy Housing has changed my life.”