Loleata Griffin’s path first intersected, with CSC in the early 2000s, when her oldest child, and only son, was struggling in high school. Thanks to CSC’s intervention, his behavior and grades improved, and he began to set his sights on post-graduation opportunities. In 2009, he got a job in Baltimore and was celebrating with friends when he was shot and killed by metropolitan police officers. “It was a devastating time, but CSC was there for me,” she recalled. “When they learned about what happened, they reached out, offered their support with all the arrangements that needed to be made and helped me get back on my feet. I still had two young daughters, who at the time were 6 and 4, to raise.” For Griffin, an important part of the healing process involved providing support to other moms who had lost a child to senseless violence. CSC offered me the opportunity to start a parent support group called Crossing the Line. The group sought to raise awareness of the violence in our city, offer comfort to mothers who were feeling the same pain, and support those who needed help saving their sons from the grave,” Griffin said. “Ms. Penny offered me this opportunity knowing that I was hurting from the death of my son. Helping to facilitate this group gave me the strength to live and to be a comfort to others. At times I relived the passing of my son and when the pain became unbearable, I reached out to Ms. Penny who talked me through the sadness giving me the support I needed to show up and help another hurting mom. After three years of running this group Ms. Penny offered me a full-time job at CSC. She asked me to join CSC as part of its truancy team, working to keep young kids off the streets. Being connected to other people was the best medication for me, and I was so excited to join the staff; it was like God answering my prayers.”A decade later, Griffin has made a critical difference through her work at CSC with the Successful Reentry Program, the Family Rehousing Stabilization Program and now as manager of the Truancy Program. “CSC has changed my life. It brought out the me I never knew existed... This city, and all of us, would be lost without CSC.” — Loleata Griffin
Like Griffin’s son, current CSC staffer (and former CSC client) Rubio Gomez found his way to the organization as a high school student. He played on a team in the Columbia Heights Youth Soccer League, which was co-sponsored by CSC and the D.C. Mayor’s Office for Latino Affairs. But the league only ran during summer, and Gomez knew he and his teammates, who came from neighborhoods where resources were scarce and the threat of violence loomed large, needed support throughout the year. “I reached out to Ms. Penny about extending the program, and for the next two years, she gave me money out of her own pocket to help pay some of the team’s expenses,” Gomez said. “She knew it was a good thing that my friends and I were staying disciplined and not fighting.” In 2015, CSC hired Gomez as a consultant focused on managing a year-round soccer program, leading kids in training and leadership mentoring. This led to a full-time job as CSC’s resource specialist – a position he held until recently. Today, as the soccer program continues under a new employee’s guidance, Gomez is transitioning to be a supervisor for CSC’s Safe Passage Program.
“It makes me so happy to see how many kids we’ve helped over the years,” he said. “I only wish we could do even more.”
Loleata Griffin
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