A Life LIFTed
Meet Rosa Carty, a LIFT-The Bronx client turned advocate.
Ever since she was a teenager, Rosa remembers
wanting to be in the military. “I aspired to be a Drill
Sergeant,” she recalls. An Army veteran, this mother
of one had served her country in Afghanistan for
nineteen months and was in the process of reenlisting as a reservist while gearing up to join the
New York Police Department (NYPD). She was well
on her way to achieving her dreams and then some.
Unemployed, she found herself facing eviction
and on very shaky ground.
In early 2012, a tragic accident changed all of
that in an instant.
Yet, she recalls her LIFT experience as being
totally different. She was a person with a name,
not a number. And the meetings with the LIFT team
were collaborative. “I even gave LIFT some new
community resources that I had found through my
own research,” she said. LIFT staff admired Rosa’s
determination and remarkable perseverance; she
refused to let her and her daughter fall into the
economic abyss.
One morning while walking to work for the U.S.
Census, Rosa was hit by a car and badly injured.
Rosa recalls this moment as a cataclysmic event
that instantly sent her spiraling. As Rosa describes
it, “The feeling was overwhelming. I felt like I was
in the prime of my life. Then, all of a sudden, my
plans were stripped away from me, and I was on a
completely different path.”
Her recovery process left her unable to find
employment that would accommodate her
schedule--which included physical therapy
and medical appointments 4 times per week.
Rosa
When Rosa came to LIFT, she had spent months
seeking assistance from government and
community agencies. “I found there to be a lot of
misinformation out there and I was literally a case
number,” Rosa shared.
Rosa’s future is bright and full of goals. “The next
stop for me is homeownership. And I haven’t given
up on my dream of becoming a NYPD officer so I’d
like to go back to school to study criminal justice.”
When asked what inspires her, Rosa replied,
“Everything inspires me. My daughter…even the
rough times. I believe anything is possible and that I
can change the situation I’m in.”
To learn more about LIFT’s Single Stop
Veterans Initiative scan the QR code or visit
www.liftcommunities.org/newyork
And her efforts paid off. Through her work with LIFT,
Rosa was able to stabilize her housing situation and
find a job. In fact, Rosa left such an impression on
the team that she was recruited to join LIFT’s Bronx
office.
Today, Rosa leads LIFT’s work with other veterans
who find themselves on shaky ground like she once
did. On working at LIFT, Rosa says, “It’s been a great
experience so far. There’s a lot of work to do and a
lot of great work happening.”
CARTY
LIFT-NEW YORK
LIFT IMPACT REPORT 2012
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