Angela S

"The key is to prevent everybody needing welfare.  The key is to get people off welfare.  You don’t want this to keep being a repeated cycle. It seems like it’s a repeated cycle, and it gets worse."

See Angela and her son Jahzaire on ABC Nightly News with Diane Sawyer. The story featured documentary footage shot by Jahzaire

Angela was featured on Ebru Television, an international news agency with viewers across the globe, and her writing and photography were featured on Media Voices for Children.

Angela is a thirty-two and a mother of two boys, aged four and ten. She receives SSI-disability because she was shot in the abdomen when she was a teenager and she supports her family with her SSI check, a small amount of cash assistance and food stamps. She also braids hair for extra cash because rent payments eat up eighty percent of her income. Housing is one of Angela’s biggest concerns-- she had been on a waitlist for a housing voucher for ten years before finally receiving housing assistance.

Angela has survived many challenges in her life—she’s been shot, stabbed, raped and was homeless for several years. She’s still struggling to move forward with her education so that she can start a career and be able to support her family without worrying about how to stretch out her SSI check for the month. She has earned an associate’s degree in health education and is working towards a bachelor’s degree in health behavior.

Angela is training to become a S.E.L.F group leader and will be facilitating support groups for mothers involved in the Center's different programs. She is also a vice chair of the Witnesses to Hunger advisory board.