You can wait on the world to change or you can be the change the world has been waiting to see. Brenda Allen realized that she had to make a change in her life and the lives of others. From working with men in parole, treatment facilities and therapeutic programs, she realized that there was nothing for women. “God had given her a plan” and that was to found a facility focused on women. Her idea was to bring women together from all different cultures, backgrounds and ethnicities, and that is how Life Time Resolutions (LTR) began.
Life Time Resolutions “envisions a troubled woman as a lotus flower” and she starts off at the bottom and continues to grow to the surface to become a beautiful flower. Ms. Allen sees all the women that come to LTR as lotus flowers and by the time they graduate from the program they are “beautiful, beautiful, beautiful flowers,” that have opened up into new life. Life Time Resolutions is a place where women get back what they have lost. They are given opportunities to regain custody of their children and become a family again.
Life Time Resolutions provides supportive housing and clinical services. There is also a unit devoted to the mothers and children ages 5 and younger. The clinical unit focuses on family therapy, domestic violence, sexual trauma and drug addiction. Within the community they also offer a GED program, computer lab, job placement, and community involvement opportunitites.
Ms. Allen does not have a waiting list yet, but Life Time Resolutions community continues to grow. Whenever there is an empty bed a person is assured a place to stay. Women who are accepted into the program range from ages 18 to 74 along with children 5 years old and younger. Children over the age of five are allowed visits. Life Time Resolutions is located in Montgomery, AL, and continues to “strive to make itself one of a kind.”
Ms. Allen participated in the Innovations Forum 2012 in Atlanta at the end of February as a panelist for “Innovations in Ending Homelessness for Women,” along with panelists from Mississippi, Louisiana and Georgia.
For more information, visit http://lifetime-resolutions.com/The-Visionary.html.
What magnificent and thought provoking articles with numerous ideas from across the Southeast. These ideas and practices are logical and feasible solutions for our homeless population. Getting our young students at all levels (elementary, middle, high) and our college students involve in community matters is a positive move for the student, homeless population and the community as a whole. In addition, involvement of our young people is aligned with their education. Teaching our youths and young adults to give back could be a humbling, learning and rewarding experience. Wouldn’t it be great if we had several people that worked exclusively with local schools, colleges and universities to expand on what is already being done? It would be a ‘win-win’ situation.
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