Editor’s note: This is part 2 of a three-part series on Family Promise of Gwinnett, a program which helps homeless families return to a normal life. This part focuses on how Stephanie Potra began to deal with the trauma of being a homeless teen, and we meet current Executive Director Carol Love.
LAWRENCEVILLE — Stephanie Potra, an immigrant from Mexico, was living the American dream.
She had family, friends and a nice home. She could walk to school, and was enjoying learning English and assimilating into life in the United States.
Then the Great Recession hit. When Potra was 13, her father lost his job, and soon after that, her family lost their house. They went from an “idyllic” neighborhood to living in an extended stay hotel and from there into emergency shelters in church basements.
Those church basements were part of a bigger plan. Her family was working a program through an organization called Family Promise which combined free shelter with an intense financial reckoning meant to return homeless families back to their regular lives.
But Potra hated every bit of it. While her parents were re-climbing the mountain back to financial security, Potra was tumbling into depression and rebellion with side trips to school suspensions and juvenile court — culminating in teenage pregnancy.
Her parents worked the Family Promise program to success, but Potra’s resentment at the upheaval homelessness had caused in her young life only grew, and her downward spiral continued long after her family was back in its own house.
