Felicia Hudson has endured challenges that have tested her inner strength, but she said prayer led her through it all.
The 39-year-old Jefferson City woman is a different person than she was about two decades ago, and with the completion of a local independence program, she is taking more strides toward a better life for her, her three adult children and 7-year-old son. This week, she graduated from the Family Self-Sufficiency (FSS) program, designed to help people living in Section 8 housing leave the welfare system and live without assistance.
"She's strong," said her 18-year-old daughter, Tylecia Amos. "She's always been determined to do better and be better. I never had a doubt she'd be more successful."
Hudson is the fourth graduate of the program, funded through a U.S. Housing and Urban Development grant. In its fifth year, participants establish an escrow account that builds up over five years while they attend classes and training. Subjects include job skills, budgeting, healthy eating, parenting, social media use and other topics essential in daily life.
Vicki Bullock, FSS coordinator, said most participants face challenges surrounding education, reliable transportation and affordable childcare. The majority of participants are single mothers and have a family history of living on welfare. There are 38 families enrolled in the program, and there is capacity for more.
"We're trying to break that cycle and help them change the cycle for their families," she said.
Hudson earned her GED during her time with the FSS program - something she had wanted to accomplish for years. Growing up in Hayti, a small Missouri town of fewer than 3,000 residents, Hudson said the high school equivalency test was inaccessible. Her options were to drive to St. Louis or Cape Girardeau, which wasn't possible for her.
A single mother of three at the time, Hudson worked in the nursing field as a certified nursing assistant. She also spent some time in a factory, building cabinets. However, money was low, and she wrote bad checks.
While hanging around the wrong people, she said she was influenced to sell cocaine to cover the bad checks. Hudson never consumed the hard drug herself but said she used marijuana recreationally. Selling drugs landed Hudson in prison with an eight-year sentence.
Prison was chaos.
Women would fight and riot, and sexual activity went ignored by guards, she said. Wanting no part in any of it, Hudson focused her energy on scripture, particularly Psalms and Proverbs. There, she sought and found wisdom.
"I just went ahead and buried my head in the Bible," she said.
With two other inmates, Hudson started a prayer circle. After a couple months, she said the entire housing unit was regularly holding hands and praying together.
"Even the guards would come in and stand on the inside," Hudson said. "They couldn't hold hands, but they would stand on the inside, bow their heads and pray, too."
Her behavior led to an early release after 18 months.
Hudson had changed her ways and became closer to God, but Amos said when her mother returned home, she was as loving as before.
"She always put her motherly duties first - well, second to God, but she put us (her children) before herself all the time," said Amos, a criminal justice student at Lincoln University.
A felony record slowed Hudson's employment process. She obtained a good cause waiver and reference letters, and a pastor also spoke on her behalf to help her obtain a job.
While her life was improving professionally, Hudson's personal life took a turn. Her boyfriend of 10 years, also the father of her third child, started physically abusing her. It occurred the last four years of their relationship. She made repeated attempts to escape with her three children, but he always caught her. Hudson was freed from the abuse after her boyfriend went to prison.
In February 2011, Hudson left Hayti for Jefferson City, a place with more opportunities for her and her family. Less than a year later, she enrolled in the FSS program. In addition to her GED, Hudson has three certifications from State Technical College of Missouri. She is currently taking online courses with Colorado Technical University, working toward an associate's degree in science and health administration.
"She's come a long way," Bullock said.
Hudson plans to move to Holiday, Florida, with her son and pursue a job with her family's restaurant and cleaning business. She will use some of the more than $1,400 from her escrow account for a U-Haul and other moving expenses.
No matter what lies ahead for Hudson, she said, she'll depend on what she always has - her faith.
"I try to be strong," she said. "No matter what happened, I knew giving up wasn't an option."