Women looking for help leaving incarceration will have a new way to integrate back into the community. A group called Beyond the Walls hosted a ribbon cutting for the new Daffodil Home will help these women.
Women who are trying to find their way after being incarcerated will have new resources after the opening of Daffodil House in Carbondale. City council member Nancy Maxwell is celebrating the impact she sees coming with the new Daffodil House, "This is a beautiful day to stand here and celebrate not just a building, but a vision, a promise, and a prayer answered. The Daffodil House represents hope, healing, and new beginnings."
In addition to housing for 3 women at a time, the Daffodil House will also provide counseling and advocacy for women making the transition from incarceration into the community.
Quianya Enge served 10 years in prison. Because of that she founded Beyond the Walls Movement to give women the help they need to make the transition to society. 5 years ago she started the work to bring Daffodil House to Carbondale. Enge explains, "Individuals deserve to be restored to the civic. The civic opportunities that they were born with. And so that is important for me. So, restoration is important. And this house of healing is what I would hope for that to be."
The Daffodil House is supported by the work of Susan Burton who started the program "A New Way of Life". They provide housing, legal services, and advocacy for people rebuilding their lives after incarceration.
Burton herself is familiar with the need of these women. She's excited to bring their program to help women in southern Illinois, "We have a 94% Success rate, because we meet women right where they are and we support them. We allow them to heal. We understand what harm does."
Enge says they have community partners lined up to help combat the trauma most of these women face. And it's help that they will continue to offer the women even after they finish their time at the Daffodil House, "It is a network. Your network is your net worth. And so we want to make sure we build these women up to be as successful and thriving in the life that they want as possible."
Enge hopes Daffodil house is just the beginning. She wants to bring this help to more women by building more houses across southern Illinois.
