Tamika A. Jones-Nwalipenja

Tamika will create and implement an innovative Performing Arts Program for young single mothers, ages 16-21, at Journey Home. The program will use the creative power of art as a tool to heal, restore, reconcile, and overcome the struggles many single mothers face today. Through this program, the young women will write their own life stories that will then be transformed into dramatic theatrical pieces to be written, directed, and performed by the young women themselves with artistic guidance from Tamika. The women will perform these pieces at the end of their program. Tamika's own experience of using art as an escape and release when she was a younger single mother of two children inspired this program to encourage young women to transform their internal fears into creative expressions of personal empowerment stories, taking control of their fears and passing this wisdom on to their children. This program will also educate the general public about the challenges and inner strengths of single mothers, other women.