yoga six chicago

[music playing] beverly dawson: idecided to open up a transitional home for womenbecause if you help a woman, you help a whole family. really, you help a nation. and that was the goal ofmine to strengthen women so that they could takecare of their children. first, i used to look atthe university as just architecture, and the hospital,and the emergency room,

and that was it. but my infrastructurefor my organization is strong due to the acceleratorprogram, grant writing, all kinds of classes. leadership, coaching,you name it. they have reallymade my core strong. and so with a strong core,i'm able to serve my clients better. i'm able to grow myorganization, and expand.

one of my successstories is a young lady who was kidnapped at 14years old, and placed into sex trafficking. she was taken allover the country, sold all over the united states. also, she went tothe penitentiary. she had children everywhere. all over the united states. and i took her in.

and while being there, shefound all of her children. she got a high school diploma. she started her own business. she's my first entrepreneur,which is a cleaning service. now she has so manyclients that i'm trying to talk her intogoing to an entrepreneur class where she can starthiring people. the project that iwant to work on next is a diversion programfor at-risk boys.

i just cannot see myselfcontinuing to live here and do work withoutsupporting the youth. so i'm going to starta diversion program. start off small withsix boys, and hopefully be working withthe court systems where that i canget those that first start getting in troublewith misdemeanor crimes. and instead oflocking them up, they can send them toprosperity house.

and the name of theprogram is our sons. so it's not just my son,it's all of our sons that i'll be workingto help to save. and make sure that they grow up. it's a major endeavorwith the support of the university, which they'vealready started giving me. it's going to happen. this is truly somethingthat a university will come out intothe community,

and pick a small littleorganization like mine and strengthen me and help me tohelp people that people usually don't think about.