Samora Had a Dream

Samora had a dream.

Living as a single mom in one of New York City’s largest public housing buildings, Samora daily saw young moms in need of vital resources, young moms as she had once been.   

How could she support young mothers?  What did they need?  And, what could she do about it?

While employed by the Red Hook Initiative, Samora had the space to dream and build a project that would meet this community need.  

The Alex House Project (TAHP) was born in 2013.  Named after the son who made her a mom, Samora Coles created a place where young moms would receive the emotional sustenance, knowledge and skills to support their parenting journey. 

As amazing as this was, Samora wished for formal executive director training.  She was self taught, drawing on her youth development and social services education, as well as her experiences in women’s health education and coordinating family transitions at a correctional facility for women.

Samora carried a big vision and excelled at inspiring others to carry it with her. She persisted.  She pursued every funding opportunity she could, while still working a separate full time job, only to be met with no, after no, after no.  

Until one day.  Three years after launching TAHP, Samora heard her first yes.  

The New York Women’s Foundation awarded TAHP’s first grant.  In addition to the crucial, multi-year funding, as part of this grant Samora received a 12-month subscription to SEEDing Financial Stability, a customized database with personalized coaching offered by SEED Impact.  

That’s when things started to turn around for The Alex House Project. 

Working with SEED Impact gave Samora a platform to collect her ideas, questions and projects in one place.  SEED became her thought partner, allowing her to get all of these things out of her head and into action.  More than a “yes person” SEED actually listened, asked questions, and walked alongside as Samora dove deeper to develop and grow her organization.  

Samora says that "working with SEED was intensely personal."

Samora developed operational and evaluation systems, grew as a professional, and put a stamp of legitimacy on her organization.  Ultimately, she was able to leave her day job and shift into a full time role at TAHP.

The processes, platforms and impact reports developed with SEED Impact helped to propel TAHP into its future. 

And the future became funded!  

Within 3 months, TAHP started to hear “yes” more often.  One grant followed another and their first $200,000 was raised by the end of 2016.  By the end of 2023, annual funding increased to $700,000.  

That’s not the only thing that grew.  The case management and data collection systems Samora built were easily replicable to her entire team as they grew. 

Soon, other young moms were able to take on leadership roles, becoming trainers and facilitators themselves.  TAHP began to pay these moms, as part of creating a new workforce development program.

Now, after nearly ten years of working with SEED Impact, The Alex House Project has recently moved into a new, larger space to meet the growing needs of their community.  They have hired six support staff and have ten young adult parents on payroll.  They are launching a new Doula training program and hosting a summer camp.  Young mothers and families are now served from all five boroughs, as TAHP expands its collaborative model for coordinated services with community partners.   

“I am able to serve the mom that I was, when I was 17,” Samora reflects.

She describes her work with SEED Impact as a lifeline, just as her work has been a lifeline to the young families served at The Alex House Project.  

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Sonja Schappert Howden has been a SEED Impact evaluation client for six years and now leads SEEDing Stronger Together in the Tenderloin of San Francisco, as SEED Impact's Chief Impact Officer.