Covenant House Georgia (CHGA) Executive Director Dr. Alieizoria Redd and Morris Brown College(MBC) President Dr. Kevin James have come together to develop an innovative program to address the gap in educational opportunity for youth who are facing homelessness and trafficking in our community, supported by the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta via a grant from Eldon Wayne Williamson Scholarship Fund. 

Dr. James learned of a population of his students who were experiencing homelessness and began to seek stable housing solutions in the community, leading him to CHGA. CHGA provides housing and supportive services for young people experiencing homelessness and escaping trafficking through a continuum of programs that emphasize the individual’s personal goals and vision for their future.

This partnership provides young people escaping homelessness a chance to ambitiously dream and actively pursue their educational objectives. This fall, the program saw seven young people enroll at MBC to pursue a bachelor’s degree. CHGA provides supportive services and housing to ensure these young students remain on track to complete their degrees, which they will do in four to five years debt-free and fully prepared to enter the workforce upon graduation. The innovative program will disrupt the cycle of generational poverty and instability for these young people, changing the course of their lives and increasing access to education for generations to come.

CHGA is committed to developing and implementing programs that provide its young people, 93% of whom are people of color, with direct and timely access to resources and opportunities from which they have been excluded. Education is one of the many areas in which their youth face disadvantages, but it is also one of the strongest pathways out of homelessness as a direct correlation exists between education and income level. With 3,300 youth on the streets of Atlanta, the need for CHGA’s services has never been more critical.