An immigrant, Clarence moved to the United States as a child, received a wonderful education and had terrific jobs as a young man, before his life fell apart as a combination of work insecurity and mental illness invaded his life and led to homelessness. By the age of 37, Clarence, a college graduate and after having worked as a paralegal at several of the most prestigious law firms in the city, could no longer afford his apartment and was living in a shelter in New York City. Clarence is rebounding now.

Isaac Davis grew up in a large family in Brooklyn with a loving mother and father who cared for and supported their children. But by his mid-teens, Isaac was following his brothers and the wrong crowd. This led him down a toxic path of drug abuse, drug dealing, violence, prison and getting women pregnant without taking responsibility. For almost four decades, Isaac lived this life of despair. Then in 2016, he decided he could no longer live like that. His mother told him he could get clean, and Isaac did. Through rehab, support from counselors and perseverance, Isaac has now been clean for seven years and is continuously working towards a better life. He recently got his first paying job, working in a program for homeless individuals at All Angels’ Church in New York City. Isaac says the best thing about the job is that he’s keeping busy helping other people and that he’s around positive people. “I like it,” he said.

Jermaine Morgan grew up in Paterson, New Jersey, the middle of three children. Jermaine was raised in a middle-class household and had a happy childhood, well cared for by his parents, who have now been married almost 55 years. However, when he was about 15 years old, his cousin told him about heroin and how it could do wonders for his sex life. From that point on, with a few breaks for attempts at recovery, Jermaine was a heroin addict. For about 25 years, he sold drugs, stole, robbed, lived on the street and ate out of garbage cans. He did whatever it took to survive and feed his drug habit.