By: sandrakozlowskiSubscribe Channel: Contest Winners Location: Olympia, WA Friday, Dec 10 , 10 at 11:47 PM

Conchetta House is a local non profit started by my boys and I to help other single parent families, who are making the brave choice to return to college and are at risk dropping out due to financial hardship, gain subsidized housing.

Being a single parent myself,and now unemployed, it has been more important to me than ever before to help other single parent families be rewarded for making the right choice to move out of poverty through education. My boys and I have had garage sales, with the boys selling their own toys, to start Conchetta House.

We knew that this was an important mission, and when we found single parent families living in their cars and trying to go to school, we became determined to make a difference, and help families become safe. My boys and I are giving everything we have to making this dream come true.

During the day, I am looking for a job, and at night I am advocating for single parent families to find a way to complete their education through housing, life coaching, financial coaching, and parenting.

The goal of Conchetta House is two fold. First, we believe that by investing deeply into families, we can help them move from poverty to self sustaining after graduation. Secondly, we believe that the best role model that a child can have to go to college, is to watch their parents graduate.

We are a non profit that is started by single parents for single parents. Our budget is literally on a wing and a prayer, often times coming out of my own pocket to cover expenses. Yet I am compelled by this forgotten group of brave people,people just like me, single parents who believe in education for themselves and for their children.

Here is also an article on us:

http://www.theolympian.com/2010/09/26/1382140/houses-that-are-homes-and-a-road.html

I am hoping to triple the amount of families that we serve in to both Pierce and Thurston counties in 2011, and to positively impact families lives for generations to come.

I did not start this to be “get a job” , this is an act of devotion and love for my great grandmother, Conchetta , who believed that single parents were special and needed support and community. Conchetta House is built on love and hope.

And in some small way, I hope that I will be able to finally finish my degree and be the shining example to my kids that the families are to thiers. Thank you.

That’s why Sandra Kozlowski, 48, of Olympia began Conchetta House, a new nonprofit that provides free housing for single parents trying to earn a college degree.

The program caters specifically to students who are homeless, or are at risk of dropping out of school because they can no longer support their families.

“We have found families that were living in their cars who were trying to stay in school,” Kozlowski said. “One brave family was moving shelter to shelter to stay in school – never knowing where they were going to sleep at night.”

The program began just two months ago, and now houses five families with apartments in Renton and Auburn. But eventually, organizers would like to serve more families throughout the region.

“There’s definitely a need,” said Conchetta House board member Russ Alman, 41, of Olympia.

Kozlowski has been the senior vice president in charge of sales and marketing at Alman’s company, Alternative Marketing Connections in Olympia. But Alman said he got involved in the nonprofit because he believes in its mission.

“For a single parent, you get in that Catch-22: You want education, but you can’t afford it,” he said.

“A key to breaking the cycle of generational poverty is getting an education, and getting access to better employment and passing that onto your children and teaching them the value of an education, too.”

LED BY A ‘FIRECRACKER’

Of course, Alman said he also signed on because he’s familiar with Kozlowski’s work and he knows Conchetta House is going to be successful.

“Sandra is a firecracker; she’s very passionate about things that she believes in,” he said. “She’s not the type of person who’s going to give up on something. She’ll keep going and going.”

Koslowski named the program after her great-grandmother, Concetta Piscitello. (A typo in some legal paperwork is why the nonprofit features an “h” in its name, Kozlowski explained.) And in many ways, the concept of Conchetta House is more like a visit to her late great-grandma’s home: It’s a place where families can find comfort, safety, help and advice.

“She gave up her dreams of being a nurse so that she could take care of us, many generations of our family,” Kozlowski said of Piscitello. “Grandma never let us give up, and that’s really the courage I want to share with the families: to never give up, and to keep working no matter what the cost.”

Figuring that it would be easier to start small than spend years working to buy a house for the nonprofit, Kozlowski hit the road to garner support for her project. She shared her idea with college administrators, landlords, housing authority officials, business owners – even a few politicians.

The program was launched after two landlords in Renton and Auburn offered to waive the rent on their apartments for two months. That gave Kozlowski enough time to round up some emergency housing assistance to help keep the families in the units, and plan future fundraising events for the nonprofit.

Marie Harrison, 46, and her two children are among the first families to benefit from the free rent. Before Conchetta House, the family had been homeless for nearly four years.

“We were all over the place,” said Harrison, who is in the paralegal criminal justice program at Highline Community College. “When I got with Conchetta House, I felt so secure; my kids felt so secure. It took a little while for us to settle down because it was like a roller coaster what we were going through.”

HOW IT WORKS

Students who are accepted into the program are required to attend resident meetings, help raise money, and follow several rules, including paying their own utilities and renters insurance.

Residents also are expected to go through credit counseling, develop a household budget, and look for more resources to support their education and careers.

“She checks our attendance to make sure we’re attending class regularly,” said Conchetta House resident Dana Riel, 31, who is in the administrative assistant program at Highline. “As long as you follow the rules, and keep your grades up, you can stay in here until you’re finished with school.”

Just like her great-grandma, Kozlowski provides plenty of emotional support and peer counseling for the students.

“I’m not a social worker, I’m just one step ahead (of where they are),” said Kozlowski, who has made several of her own attempts at college while raising children on her own. Right now she’s taking online classes from the Art Institute of Pittsburg, while working three-quarter time and taking care of her three children who are still at home. But she’s had to drop out of other college programs in the past.

“I am just a single mom,” she said. “We don’t have big money backing us. I’m just one woman who believes.”

It’s no surprise the residents have bonded quickly with Kozlowski.

“I told her she was our angel,” said Riel, who almost dropped out of school after having a fallout with a family member in the house where she was previously staying. “If it wasn’t for her (Kozlowski), I don’t know where we’d be.”

“She’s a jewel,” added Harrison. “Anytime that I’m stressed out, or if I get afraid or fearful, she will come all the way from Olympia to help me … or we’ll talk over the phone. I’ve never, ever had that experience with anyone or any agency. I love her so dearly, I really do.”

A FLOOD OF NEED

Once word started to get out about Conchetta House, people were “coming out of the woodwork” to apply for it, according to Deana Rader, director of Women’s Programs at Highline Community College.

“Affordable housing is very limited, especially here in South King County,” she said.

Because it caters to homeless and poverty-stricken families, Conchetta House is the type of program that can help colleges retain a population of students who are at a greater risk of dropping out, Rader said.

“Just like Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, if their fundamental needs of food and shelter aren’t met, they’re not going to be successful at school,” she added.

Now that the program is off the ground, Kozlowski is focused on putting her marketing skills to use to raise money to continue and expand Conchetta House into other communities.

She would like to establish housing in Thurston County that could serve students from The Evergreen State College, Saint Martin’s University, South Puget Sound Community College, and the Eastside Beauty and Barber College.

The organization raised about $2,000 at a Sept. 16 auction; that money will be used to help pay rent to keep the current families in the apartments, she said.

Plans are under way for a Conchetta House fundraising dinner in the Olympia area in November, Kozlowski said.

In the long-term, Kozlowski hopes that local businesses will “sponsor” families by pitching in for their rent, providing professional mentors, and providing internships and job placement for the students.

But for now, the operation will need to be sustained with donations and community fundraisers.

“What we’re going to have to do is fundraise month to month,” Kozlowski said. “And pray.”