Community Spring Insights
Mask On, Mask Off: The True Face of Incarceration
I have a cyst on my brain and suffer debilitating migraines at times. When I was in prison it took months and months of leaping hurdles and red tape just to simply get some over-the-counter Excedrin. That was the best they would offer, and I had to fight like hell for just that.
Others weren’t even that lucky. There was a man, Ted…
COVID-19 Exposes Food Accessibility Deficits In Alachua County
COVID-19 has shined a light on problems that our community has struggled with for a long time. For example, the survey Community Spring conducted as part of the Grassroots COVID-19 Recovery Campaign revealed that 27% of responding Alachua County low-income households did not have consistent access to food in May and April. This suggests…
Access to Fair Credit is a Pathway out of Poverty
My financial hardship pretty much started at birth. I was born to a mother who was only 15 years old, and who was sent to prison by the time I was three. I also became a mother at 15, and I started working full-time to care for myself and my baby while still in high school (which, might I add, I graduated from on time - no small feat!). At the age of 16, I was already on baby number…