Project CommUNITY: Option To Success celebrates 11th graduate in 11 years
A Louisville organization focused on helping young women transition from foster care to independent living is celebrating a major milestone.
Inside a townhome in the Parkland neighborhood on Louisville's Future Rise Campus, young women aging out of foster care will soon have a place to call home.
"These units are four-bedroom townhomes so they will have two mothers in there," said Kristy Flippins Bartlett, Option To Success founder and CEO.
Bartlett says caring for foster children runs in her blood.
So when she lost her corporate job, she turned her family mission into a program serving young women across the state.
"It is something that has been passed to me generationally because my grandmother was a foster mother. My mom was as well and we've always just cared for the foster care family," she said.
This year, the organization celebrates a big milestone: 11 graduates in 11 years.
"A lot of times when they come in the residential, they are behind in credits. And just getting them on that path because I feel like you need at least a high school diploma to even just, you know, continue on in life and this year, on our 11th year of being open July the 1st, I will have my 11th grade. So that is amazing," she said.
Miriam Scharkley, 18, says life experiences left her with an uncertain future.
"When I first got here, I kept telling everybody I have nobody, I have nothing, no support, no anything," Scharkley said.
But thanks to Option To Success, that's changed. Scharkley says the support system there has given her stability, guidance, and a renewed sense of purpose.
"So they've done a lot for me, helping me find a job, stay connected with my job. You know, showing me how to budget everything. I got career coaches for me and everything. It's the support that I've always been looking for," Scharkley said.
Her roommate and friend, Maleeyah Hawkins, says the program gave her a sense of security and the confidence to build a future on her own.
"Roof over my head, food in the fridge and I don't have to worry about being on the streets," Hawkins said.
COO Jaqueeta Warfield says that's what the mission is all about, creating future without judgment of the past.
"It gives a fresh start," Warfield said.
Option To Success says its new Rise campus development will allow them to serve more women and children in Kentucky.
