Support Nearly 3,000 Homeless Women in DC

Since November 2015, GlobalGiving donors have raised $21,365 for this project and $76,664 overall for homeless and low-income women in Washington, DC. It is only though the generous contributions of donors like you that Symphony was able to find the mental health support she needed after struggling for many years.

At N Street Village, Symphony Terrell is known for her exuberant personality—it’s something she loves about herself now. A resident in one of our permanent supportive housing programs, Symphony came to the Village a year ago through the Patricia Handy Place for Women emergency shelter.
“I know that I’m very bubbly and the people here, they love my bubbly personality,” she says. “They love me. Like, they love my smile, they love when I wake up in the morning and they hear my voice. Everybody knows when I come downstairs, I’m brightening up everybody’s day. I like when people like me for who I am.”

Symphony’s boisterous nature wasn’t always seen in a positive way. People complained that she was too loud. “I don’t mean to be loud,” she says, but she has ADHD and Bipolar 2, which she manages with medication. As she grew, her family didn’t understand her mental health issues, and in school she was often suspended for behavioral issues—she had frequent angry outbursts stemming from traumatic experiences she doesn’t like to talk about.

“Growing up, I moved from this program to that behavior program,” she said. “It’s just been difficult. And my family don’t understand that me not having the support of my family is hard for me.”

Symphony’s mother has her own challenges with a substance use disorder. This past summer, they lost her mother’s mother— Symphony was particularly close to her grandmother and misses her deeply. She keeps her late grandmother in her thoughts as a source of inspiration. Over the past year, Symphony has worked hard to overcome her anger and negative attitude. “If my grandmother was here, she’d be like, ‘Symphony, I’m proud of you.’”

The support she has received from the Village community has been integral to her growth.

“This is a supportive place, very supportive,” she says. “They help you with a lot of things, as far as your mental health is concerned. I can go to [staff] and actually say what I’m feeling, and they understand. It’s a very understanding community.”

Symphony enjoys the variety of classes including knitting, nutrition, and others.

“My hope for the future is to maintain a job, to get my own place, and basically to stay stable,” she says. “That’s all I want and that’s what my grandmother wanted me to do. Stay stable, be on my medication and just be Symphony. Be my lovely self.”

We are so grateful for the continued support from generous donors like you that strengthen the Village. It is only though an amazing community of supporters that women like India Frazier, whose story is included below, are able to find safety and a broad spectrum of services in an atmosphere of dignity and respect. India is a 2024 Steinbruck Award Honoree.

India's pride and joy is her 12-year-old grandson. She glows as she talks about him-he's an A-B student who pushed himself to learn to read. "My grandson saved my life," she says. "I'm so freaking proud of him. My hope is that I live long enough to see my grandson grow up and be a good man."

Their bond was sealed when India lost her only daughter 10 years ago to an overdose. "She died in my arms and it crushed me." Her grandson, just two years old at the time, was with her.

This wasn't the first time India had lost someone close to her-when she was in her final year of high school, her mother was murdered. She spent a year at Howard before transferring to Virginia Union University. As she struggled with her mother's death, her budding basketball career slipped away-as shooting guard, she averaged 28 points a game in high school.

The years following her daughter's death took India down a dark path. "I was the product of an addiction and I put myself in some crazy situations." She engaged in dangerous activities and, as a result, was incarcerated for two years. Upon her release five years ago, India entered a two-year transitional recovery program at N Street Village.

"I ended up at N Street. It was new and exciting. You had love all around you. You had people who didn't want to break you down but wanted to build you up, make you want something different in life. That's what N Street is about, for real."

When the transitional program ended, India had trouble finding an apartment because of her past incarceration. N Street Village staff found a place for her, and she now lives in one of our permanent supportive housing programs.

"I had to go through an emotional rebuild when I was locked up as well as being here" at N Street Village, she says. "I had to strip myself of certain things. And every day say to myself, 'I love you. People love you.' You've got to make changes."

She tells newcomers to N Street Village to come in and be ready to make positive changes. "Because N Street will heal you if you open yourself up to it. You're someplace that you can really receive the help you need. That's what I got when I came through the door and went upstairs. And I want to give it to the next person."