By admin 
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — A new home is now open in Charlotte to help formerly incarcerated women get back on their feet.
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An international organization, aptly named A New Way of Life, runs the property, which can house six women.
“Before I moved here, I was living in an unstable home and out risk of becoming homeless and I had no hope,” said Sofia Jones.
Jones was the first person to move into A New Way of Life’s first home in Charlotte and in North Carolina as whole.
“Just having a bed and just an area I can call my own and decorate however I want means a lot,” she said.
It’s not something she’s used to, after being arrested at 18 years old.
“When I got the green light for me to move here, I was so happy because it just changed and I finally had hope,” said Jones. “Just living here, my hope has grown only larger every day.”
That hope is inspiring Jones to get her GED and her housemate, Lataurus Exum, to get a job.
“It gives me strength and it’s motivating and it makes me determined to want to be successful,” said Exum.
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These ladies say the problem with a lot of reentry programs is they don’t help you transition back into society. But their house offers a lot more than just a place to sleep.
“We have rules that we have to go by, and we have chores that we have to do,” said Exum. “It’s just like living in a house with a family.”
The day starts with a morning meditation, followed by any appointments and job interviews and a homecooked meal each night. The goal is to relieve the women of the burden of food, shelter and other necessities.
“I tell them, this is your time to rebrand yourself,” said Dante Butler, the organization’s director of housing for the southern region. “What happened in the past, it’s irrelevant. It doesn’t matter. Look forward and work on that.”
There’s a waitlist to get into the house, which is why program leaders are already looking to buy other properties in Charlotte.
Once the women start working, they pay a percentage of their income to live at the house. They’re allowed to stay as long as they want.
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