Graduated and Homeless

Colleen was born in 1955, in Coral Gables, Florida. After her parents divorced when she was 5, Colleen grew up living with her mother and her grandparents. In high school, Colleen was a straight-A student who competed in debate and played flute in the marching band.

Colleen applied to only one university: Northwestern. After being accepted, she enrolled to study speech education and performance studies. Following her junior year, Colleen took six years off to earn money working as a waitress. But she returned to school and graduated from Northwestern in 1982 with a degree in performance and communication studies.

After graduation, Colleen opened her own catering business, then went on to a successful 20-year career in nonprofit management. But in 2010, Colleen became unemployed after the closure of the nonprofit center she was running. Colleen suddenly found herself looking for a new direction in life. She had a $60,000 severance package and didn't need to find a job again immediately. So, Colleen and her partner of 15 years spent two years and most of the money traveling. But then, her 15-year relationship ended.

In the summer of 2012, a former classmate contacted Colleen on Facebook. He knew she had experience cooking and wanted her help him lose weight. He invited Colleen to move back to the Miami area and be his part-time personal chef. In exchange, he offered Colleen her own bedroom and bathroom in his home. She accepted. Colleen at first enjoyed living close to her childhood hometown and devoting time to cooking, her lifelong passion. But gradually, Colleen's former classmate became controlling. He forbade Colleen from visiting her friends. He made unwanted sexual advances.

In October 2014, Colleen told her former classmate she was moving out. He exploded into a violent rage and pushed her into a palm tree.

The trauma of her abuse has obscured the details in Colleen's memory, but somehow, she arrived at a Miami medical center. She spent three days hospitalized, heavily sedated and recovering from severe bruises and shock. After her release, Colleen went to a shelter for domestic abuse victims in Deerfield Beach, Florida. Three weeks later, the shelter staff—recognizing that Colleen had a college degree and work experience and was capable of supporting herself—offered to buy her a plane ticket anywhere in the country. Colleen chose Evanston.

Colleen arrived at O'Hare Airport in Chicago on December 3, 2014. Lacking both money and ties to the area other than Northwestern, she found herself without a place to live. So, Colleen stayed at multiple shelters and used her monthly disability paycheck to spend some nights at hotels. She lived for a few weeks on Chicago's South Side with a Northwestern friend and his family. But Colleen often felt her presence was a burden on her friend, who has two severely disabled sons. So, Colleen spent some nights on the streets.

For several weeks in February, March and April of 2015, Colleen had a bed at Hilda's Place, an Evanston homeless shelter. But the insensitivity of staff members she says she experienced made living in the shelter intolerable for her. In particular, loud voices caused PTSD-related flashbacks of her abuser. So, when Colleen was asked to leave Hilda's Place for violating the curfew policy by spending two nights at a friend's house, she left readily.

Because Colleen has not been homeless for a full year, or homeless multiple times, she's not considered "chronically homeless" by local support organizations like Hilda's Place. However, in encounters at support organizations and on city streets, Colleen has befriended many of the approximately 97 chronically homeless individuals in Evanston. Unlike nearly all of these individuals, Colleen has a college degree and no history of mental health problems or substance abuse issues.

Colleen's daily routine provides her with many opportunities to build "bridges" to other people in Evanston's homeless community. She often starts her day by visiting with homeless friends in Panera, which allows patrons to drink water and use restrooms without making purchases. Next, Colleen typically walks to St. Mark's Episcopal Church, where she chats with acquaintances over a free breakfast offered on weekdays. Then, Colleen often goes to sit in Whole Foods or the Evanston Public Library, where she frequently encounters more homeless friends resting or using the library's computers.

After a free lunch and more socializing at another Evanston church, Colleen often returns to the library, where'she can use a computer to look for jobs and housing. Or, Colleen goes back to Hilda's Place, where—although she's no longer a resident—she can use the shelter's facilities to shower, do laundry, store some of her belongings or consult with a caseworker. Colleen is grateful that Hilda's Place offers her these resources. But she says she's extremely frustrated with the shelter and other area homeless shelters because they don't provide emotional support.

At night, after dinner at Hilda's Place or one of the churches, Colleen often goes to Northwestern's University Library. There, she generally tries to get a few hours of sleep in one of the chairs of the periodicals section. When the university library closes at 3 a.m., she often goes to the 24-hour Burger King on Clark Street. The manager there allows homeless people to sleep in the booths until 6 a.m. Sometimes, though, Colleen spends nights in what she calls Evanston's "cubbies"—lobbies, buildings or other quiet places where she can get a few hours of relatively undisturbed rest.

Colleen is actively looking for a job, but homelessness has made it exceptionally hard for her to find one, despite her more than 20 years of professional experience. Colleen struggles to maintain a professional appearance when wearing donated and secondhand clothes and carrying the bags that don't fit in her locker at Hilda's Place. Her lack of regular Internet access makes it hard for prospective employers to contact her. And, from short nights of interrupted sleep at Burger King and elsewhere, Colleen's often so exhausted that she can't concentrate during interviews.

Despite her difficulties in finding stable housing and employment, Colleen's optimistic about her future. She recently reconnected with a lawyer friend from Northwestern, who's taken charge of reclaiming Colleen's possessions from her abuser's condominium. She's befriended many low-income and homeless people in Evanston, as well as the people who welcome and support them. And she takes a positive attitude towards her homelessness.