Tiffany works tirelessly to help families in extremely vulnerable situations, and does it all with grace. She’s the Family Support Programs Manager at Family Promise of Jacksonville, a nonprofit mobilizing local resources to help homeless families. She started as a part-time employee six years ago and has since played a huge part in the increase of capacity in housing families—reducing the number of days families resided in the shelter program by an average of 28%! Tiffany is a guiding light for many in their darkest days, and we commend her for doing such important work—particularly in these trying times.  

The Basics:

Hometown: Norfolk, VA
Current city: Jacksonville, FL
Alma mater: Florida State College of Jacksonville
Degree: Physical Therapist Assistant (Currently pursuing)
Very first job: Hostess at Holiday Inn Oceanfront Restaurant (age 15)
Hustle: Family Support Programs Manager, Family Promise of Jacksonville; Holistic Wellness Creative

The Interests:

Babe you admire and why?
There are too many! I have to honor the first woman I witnessed give it all to others, leaving little for herself: my mom. I watched her navigate an abusive marriage that contributed to low self-esteem, yet always instilled in me to lead with forgiveness and do what’s right. My mother passed away from pancreatic cancer in 1999. In my journey of “becoming,” there are women that have been pivotal. Katie Ross, Donteacia Seymore, Shannon Rice-Muruli, Roxy Hall, Shannon Nazworth, Dawn Gilman—these are women that either through one interaction, or a cultivated relationship, were just who I needed at the time. Boldness, courage, space, opportunity, affirmation—these are some of the things these women gave to me.

What’s your ideal weekend morning?
My weekend mornings aren’t quite going as desired. Ideally, I’d be focused on my wellness studio. There, I’d be mixing up facial masks and creating space for women to self-care while Solange plays in the background. 

What book(s) have you’ve gifted the most and why?
Poke The Box, by Seth Godin. It was gifted to me, and my youngest son—who was eleven years-old at the time—picked it up and kept it. It became my favorite book at that point! It’s an easy read, and you can grab a few nuggets and come back to it later.

What’s the best advice you've ever been given?
Stop. Think. Is what I’m about to say going to produce results or consequences?

Favorite place you’ve traveled to and why?
I’ve been to Alaska, New Orleans, Mexico, Grand Cayman and the Bahamas, but none have been my favorite place! The place I feel led to is San Basilio de Palenque, Colombia. In my heart, it’s my favorite place—although I haven’t been… yet!

The Hustle:

Tell us about your hustle.
I began working with Family Promise of Jacksonville as the part-time lead shelter case manager in December 2014. Today, as Family Support Programs Manager, my responsibilities are to coordinate temporary shelter for families through a rotating network of 18 local congregations. The innovative national model of Family Promise is to use underutilized private spaces in churches to shelter families overnight. Aside from the unordinary shelter space, the niche for Family Promise is that we “keep the family unit together.” There is no splitting up of teenage sons or husbands from wives. Volunteers at each congregation coordinate nightly meals and overnight hosts, and each family is provided their own personal sleeping space. During the day, guests store their personal belongings, shower, do laundry, and essentially take care of their daily needs at the Family Resource Center. I then help develop a case plan that we use to address immediate barriers and navigate towards permanent housing and stability, focusing on a custom approach in the areas of childcare and education, healthcare needs, employment and career training, budgeting and affordable housing.

What does your typical day look like?
In the course of a day I could be in case meetings, transporting moms to visit childcare facilities, house-hunting with families, speaking to potential community partners, or working on programming projects. This year, we added another case manager and a part-time assistant to allow us to further increase our capacity. I recently shifted to lead Rapid Rehousing Manager for a special project in collaboration with our local continuum of care agency, Changing Homelessness. In this new position I’ll be working on identifying and coordinating housing for our communities who are most medically COVID-vulnerable and/or chronically homeless.

How do you practice staying composed in emotionally-charged professional situations? Is this something you’ve learned through professional and/or academic training?
Through experience, I’ve learned that people remember how you treat them even more than what you say to them. We face some difficult situations and conversations through this work, during which I always remind myself of a few things: One, I used to be on the other side of the desk. Two, I'm not far from or exempt from being on that side again. Also, be kind. Even if you’re right in a situation—be gracious. If you’re wrong, take accountability for that and be transparent. There are a few times that clients have reached back out to me after a difficult situation and unfortunate case closure, or even come back for help in a crisis. It’s in those times that I know they came back because they felt safe to do so.

How does your community impact your work? Specifically, is it difficult locating external resources for your patient if the need arises? What can we do to help?
The community impacts this work by building and making affordable housing available and attainable! Ability Housing, a local nonprofit, is leading the way of providing quality affordable housing. Their focus is on chronically homeless individuals, low income and working class families, prioritizing those that are homeless. A way that people can help is to connect to our local CoC, Changing Homelessness and support housing initiatives by Ability Housing Inc.

What’s one of the best or most worthwhile investments you’ve made in your career?
At this point in my life and in my career, the most worthwhile investment I’ve made is truly being honest with myself, and truly self-reflecting. It took work, vulnerability, questioning, and a lot of inward thinking. This is a practice that I can see manifestation of in some of my day-to-day decisions.  Also, my lived experience. Having lived experience in this field offers perspectives that simply can’t be ‘taught.’

How has being a woman impacted your professional experiences? What can we collectively do to support and empower women in your industry today?
I’d like to see more BIPOC women in executive positions in this field. I think community-wide, we do have a diverse group of frontline providers serving the community. Clients can look at us and see someone that looks like them, but I would like to see support for smaller initiatives that focus on a direct service to lifting women from poverty— grants and mentorship being two examples. As a woman of color, I’ve experienced many microaggressions that have actually just become a part of life for black women. There hasn’t been a distinction between my personal and professional life in that regard.

In the last year, what new belief, behavior, or habit has most improved your career?
In the last year my intentions surrounding self-care have improved my work. I feel like I’m fulfilling my purpose and working through my next steps in life, which has given me hope and the inspiration I need to pour into others.

How have your job, roles and industry differed from what they looked like before the pandemic?
During the pandemic, it quickly became normal for people to work from home. That was never really an option for shelters and shelter staff. Families were still homeless. Families were hidden in their vehicles, in hotels, and couch-surfing. All of the shelters were at capacity, some were restricting people to stay onsite—and understandably so. Because of the nature of our staff and volunteers having a lot of personal contact with others, we had to make adjustments. We implemented CDC precautions and provided hotel rooms for our shelter guests through the generosity of our donors and host congregations. Families were already struggling prior to COVID, but due to the statewide moratoriums on evictions, we saw that a lot of families were able to stay put. Now, we’re seeing the effects of tenants not really understanding their rights, getting back to work and trying to play catch-up. It’s difficult when tenants have, in some instances, daily late fees that have accrued on their rent. People are really doing the best they can. Family Promise of Jacksonville applied for grants to assist families in the community that were financially impacted by COVID. With those grants, we were able to cover utilities, transportation costs, past due and upcoming rents to alleviate some pressure off of families and singles. Many haven’t even received unemployment benefits, as well as had very limited knowledge of community resources. I am proud of the way our local agencies have stepped up and show up—even at the risk of their own health. We’re all doing our best.

Are you involved with any other careers, side projects or organizations? How do you balance this alongside your day-to-day responsibilities?
I am a licensed esthetician practicing holistic skincare, which I leaned into in 2017 to try to manage my extremely oily acneic skin. I wanted to manage my acne by addressing the root cause and reducing my dependency on suppressive products. In March of this year, I found a cute little storefront that I was just about to sign a lease for, but then COVID hit and everything was shut down. Pivoting, once again, I’m currently creating a self-love and skincare consulting program that teaches holistic techniques that have helped me. I’m also in my second year as a board member of Ability Housing. The mission of Ability Housing is to provide quality affordable housing leading with the belief that housing is a human right, not a privilege. I’m also wrapping up as a Fellow with the Nonprofit Center of NEFL Board Service Fellowship for the 2020 cohort. I look forward to my next Fellowship placement with a youth-focused community organization.

Who are some women in your field that you look to for inspiration?
Professionally, I’m inspired by women like Kimberly Govan of The Nonprofit Center of Northeast Florida. As a WOC in this field, Kim has held space for me in ways she isn’t even aware of. Sometimes just being your authentic self can empower someone else. Personally, I’m inspired by the incredibly resilient women I meet while serving—oftentimes they’re clients-turned-sisters. They’ve endured some really uncomfortable, inconvenient circumstances in life, but focus on the bigger picture. They saw themselves beyond what they were experiencing. You really need that type of vision to move forward. 

How do you rest, recharge and find inspiration?
If I don’t have my Sunday, it’s difficult to do Monday. I recharge by listening to NPR Tiny Desk concerts on YouTube. If I can get into something skin-related—practicing facial massage for lymph work, taking a cycling class or working on my wellness studio—these things give me life.

Career and/or life advice for other babes?
Something I heard at a leadership summit years ago stuck with me to this day: “You were Created by the Creator to be Creative.” My advice is to tap in.

Connect with Tiffany:

Instagram / Email

This interview has been condensed and edited.

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