Ariana’s Story
Before her daughter was born in 2024, Ariana McClendon’s closest family members were over 2,000 miles away in arid and sun-soaked Southern California. Though, it was originally her family that brought Ariana to North Carolina.
During her junior year of high school, the entire family made the cross-country move from California to North Carolina. While her family moved back to the west coast, she chose to stay in Charlotte after high school and put down roots.
It takes an immense amount of inner-strength and courage to be a young adult starting out on your own, so far away from everything and everyone familiar. For Ariana, becoming a mom has only amplified her strength.
Sandra’s Story
“I looked out and I was like wow — outside of the window from the shelter we were living in was the hospital where I gave birth to my son,” she remembers. “I never knew when I was there, when I had him, that I would ever need this kind of help.”
Sandra was born in Central Africa, in the Republic of Congo, where she grew up as the fourth of eight children in a tight-knit family. Today, her family stretches across continents. For more than a decade, Sandra has been building her life in North Carolina. Here in Charlotte, thousands of miles from where she spent her childhood, Sandra is part of a new, smaller close-knit family comprising herself and her three children.
Becoming a mom impacted Sandra’s life more than anything else. For her, motherhood is the thing that expanded her view of the world and of herself the most.
“I think differently,” she says of motherhood. “Bigger than what I was thinking before.”
Being a mom is also the thing that motivates Sandra to get up and keep going, even when the math doesn’t add up and the path forward isn’t clear.
Lonesha’s Story
In spring of 2015, as the trees and azaleas were beginning to bloom, Lonesha Cornelious was preparing for her life to change. Just 24 years old and at the dawn of adulthood, she was struggling to imagine her future, to find her place in the world, and understand her own value.
Terri’s Journey Home
On a quiet street in North Charlotte, Terri walks with her four daughters to the bus stop each morning. As the sun rises over their first real house—a place with a yard that needs mowing, front steps to race up, a well-loved basketball hoop in the driveway, and rooms for each child to play—she still finds herself pausing in disbelief.
Nika’s Story: “I Felt Mighty When… I embraced mental health support”
Five years ago, Nika began a remarkable journey. As a single mother working long hours at a fast-food restaurant, she connected with Charlotte Family Housing after an eviction. During the program, she set ambitious goals: repair her credit score, build savings, advance in her career, and work toward homeownership.
Tabetha’s Story
Seven children were depending on Tabetha – and she needed a solid place to land.
A crane operator and a single mother to four of her own children, as well as her sister’s three children, who she is now raising, Tabetha first came to Charlotte Family Housing in 2023.