The Crawlspace

In 2015, before my three littles arrived, I was working in downtown Atlanta. Every day on my walk to the office, I passed people asking for help. I started keeping loose dollars in my pocket to give away. One day, mid-stride, a question stopped me: how far does a dollar really go? Weird question, but I sat with it. The real question underneath it was, “Why do you hand out dollars every day?”The answer was pretty simple. I was helping people out a little because I didn't know how else to assist.

So, I started looking for answers. And because apparently all I do is talk to myself, another question came to me: what have you always done when you couldn't get through the front door? My answer? Go through the window, an attic, a crawlspace. That's when something clicked. The people I could be most useful to weren't necessarily the people I encountered on my daily walk to the office. It was the people I didn't see. The ones sleeping in their cars with gym memberships, those who were couch surfing, living in hotels or transitional shelters, and trying to figure out what comes next.

Sometimes, the only thing that's standing between us and where we want to be is information. Information that's hidden in plain sight, buried in fine print, or scattered across multiple websites. So, I stopped handing out dollars (not really, but you get the idea) and started handing out maps too. If I found a resource, I shared it. If I learned something useful, I passed it on. If I discovered a better path, I made it easier for someone else to follow. Over time, that became a mission.

Today, that mission lives through Jo-Anne's House. Whether I'm helping someone understand their credit, navigate housing challenges, or make sense of the financial system, my goal is still the same: show people the door so they don't have to spend years searching for a crawlspace.