JP Alumni Fellow Story: Portia Jackson

The 2023-2024 Jeremiah Program Alumni Fellows, each many years removed from their time as JP moms, are using their experiences, expertise, and stories to advocate for other single moms and their families. This is Portia Jackson’s story.

I was born to Sandy and Jesse, my mother and father, who resided at the time at 820 Carolina Street, though I never called any particular place “home.” Home was a foreign concept to me. I knew “home” was a place that the families on TV had, but my family was nothing like them and never lived in one place for too long.

The first place that I actually remember living in was an apartment very close to Miller Beach, where there were many children to play with, sand and water to enjoy in the summer, and adults who seemed to love me as much as my mama did. The safety and familiarity that I held dear were short-lived. The warmth of my own room, the connectedness to children and families in my building, and the security of knowing that I lived in a community of people who genuinely cared for each other filled me up as a little girl in an enormous world. My mother left her relationship at that time, so we had to move. This was the first time that I was ripped from my comfort zone, but it was far from the last.

My maternal grandparents’ house was as close to home as I ever got as a child. But, because of my grandmother’s unfounded assumption that I was a bedwetter (I was not), and the fact that I had to sleep on a pallet on the floor every time I spent the night, it didn’t feel exactly like “home” either. As a child, I lived on friends’ couches, cousins’ floors, neighbors’ three-season porches, homeless shelters, rundown motels, transitional housing, and all sorts of temporary spaces. Always longing for permanency.

After 20-plus schools, three states, and several cities, I was FINALLY afforded the opportunity for housing stability: the Jeremiah Program. This was the first place that had my name on the lease, and as long as I followed the rules, no one could take it from me. It was there that I acquired the tools to solidify the three pillars of my foundation for the future: education, community, and safe, affordable housing. I used this foundation to expand my knowledge base and marketability, which allowed me to work in spaces where I could create and provide opportunities for others to build their legacies. The ability to do this has fulfilled me personally and professionally. This kicked off my ultimate goal of being the nucleus for my family in providing safety, sanctity, and love under my roof.

My entire trajectory in life has been to make a safe, permanent place for myself and my loved ones to call home.

Upon graduating from the Jeremiah Program, I earned my A.S. in human services, made lifelong connections and friendships with my fellow Jeremiah sisters, and secured a three-bedroom Section 8 voucher! I moved to uptown Minneapolis in a great neighborhood with great schools and families. This was the first time that I felt truly independent and possessed the tools to continue the journey to stability and happiness with my family right alongside. I was able to start my career as a human services technician and worked diligently to secure my family’s future. This felt like the beginnings of a solid foundation to FINALLY having the stability that I so yearned for since as far back as I could remember.

My entire trajectory in life has been to make a safe, permanent place for myself and my loved ones to call home. And in 2015, I did it! I bought my home, and it has been my family’s epicenter. It is where I bake macaroni and cheese for Sunday dinner, pick names out of a hat on Thanksgiving for Christmas’s Secret Santa gift exchange, and get down playing Spades. There is always space for sleeping (in an actual bed, air mattress, or the huge sectional — NOT a pallet on the floor), eating great food, and enjoying a space that we can all call “home.”

The importance of “home” has had such a profound effect on me that it is the foundation for my career. This is because I know the importance of having a stable foundation that can serve as a base for attaining your hopes and dreams. Throughout my career, I have worked along the entire housing continuum, from emergency homeless shelters to affordable homeownership, to make sure that people in my community have somewhere to lay their heads.

I now work to provide affordable homeownership opportunities to low-to-moderate-income families in the Twin Cities Metro. Supporting people in purchasing their first home brings me great joy and brings it all full circle because I was once them and can feel the importance of “home” exuding from their happy, smiling faces!

Did Portia’s story resonate with you? A monthly gift goes further to support JP families.