Our Journey Through

Our Journey Through's (OJT) founder and president, Shirley Ford, created OJT after observing the struggle of many families, particularly those led by single parents.  Mrs. Ford recognized the challenges single parents face in achieving their own goals while attempting to provide a stable, supportive environment for their children. She realized that single parents need not only affordable, safe housing; but also, quality childcare, financial planning skills, and continuing education. OJT was created to meet all of these needs.

Our Journey Through's (OJT) mission is to mentor and teach single parents seeking a pathway to success and an affordable safe-haven from which they can grow and reach self-sufficiency.

Our vision is to help single parents  thrive and become self-sufficient, confident achievers and leaders in our community. OJT will achieve this vision through our mission to teach critical life skills single parents in a healthy, empowering environment. OJT offers a transitional program that integrates safe and low-cost housing, multiple skills training, and supportive services critical to the success of single parents and their families.

The primary goal of our program is to enable and teach single parents how to sustainably improve the quality of life for themselves and their family. The parents served by OJT will learn to identify their goals and develop and implement a plan for achieving those goals. They also will learn specific skills that will position them to obtain higher paying jobs and, if they choose, achieve the American dream of home ownership. When parents embrace life-changing skills, they often want those same lessons and opportunities for their children.