At the start of the pandemic, East Cleveland childhood best friends LaToya Smith and Danielle Acosta received phone calls from people in need of a place to live. Although Acosta is a real estate agent and manages rental property, she had challenges. A few weeks later, Acosta called Smith and their other best friend, Tracie Cleveland, about her vision to start DNA Rising to help provide one- to three-year bridge housing for veterans and single mothers in Northeast Ohio who are facing homelessness.
“I was getting eight to 10 calls a week, primarily from single mothers and veterans who could not find a place to live and were stuck in a shelter, temp home, group home or some type of temporary situation with children,” Acosta says. “These were people who had completed all of the amazing education and recovery programs, gotten their GED and had a housing voucher. And I thought, we have all of these vacant properties, land, empty buildings and houses in Cuyahoga County, and they have no place to go.”
Before DNA Rising was fully operational, Acosta spent six months taking a 501(c)(3) training course at Building Business Leaders of Tomorrow Today to learn the ins and outs of running a nonprofit organization. Upon completion, she did research to understand the leading players serving veterans and single mothers, identified the gaps or problems DNA Rising would work to solve and devised strategies to achieve desired outcomes. The plan included providing participants with a minimum of 12 and a maximum of 36 months to get back on their feet with the help of their case manager, social worker, financial literacy training and other partners of DNA Rising. Each month, DNA Rising sets aside $100 in a savings account. This money goes directly to the landlord for the security deposit on a rental or to a title company for a down payment to purchase a home.
“We were aware that there are programs for people in need of housing who are coming out of substance abuse and different scenarios, but that only gets a person so far,” Cleveland says. “Once they complete the program, they’re told, ‘you graduated — here’s your certificate of completion — now go find a home.’”
Feeling more comfortable with Acosta’s plan, they began establishing partnerships with other nonprofit organizations, city and county agencies and for-profit businesses. Although Smith and Cleveland sit on the board of different nonprofit organizations and Acosta volunteers on a board, they knew these experiences were not the same as running one.
“We looked at our personal networks, friends and business resources to identify organizations that would help us select participants for our program while continuing to be supported by partner organizations,” Smith says.
In 2021, DNA Rising received its first property in the Glenville neighborhood from the Cuyahoga Land Bank Charities. This was critical for the new organization, but now resources were needed to rehab the house, so the besties began fundraising and knocking on doors, getting donations of anything they could. DNA Rising also started working with financial service partners to educate prospective participants on the importance of financial literacy and empowerment.
“It’s all about partnerships and relationships,” Acosta says, and her bestie agrees. “Even though we have our connections, we still had to re-establish the relationship, and it wasn’t easy. Just because we know people doesn’t mean the money came in fast. There are too many organizations trying to do good things, and we had to prove we were going to use the money the right way.”
In November 2023, DNA Rising moved in its first family, a single mother with five kids. This was made possible in collaboration with the Home Depot Foundation’s volunteer force, Team Depot, which donated a team of volunteers who did clean up; Humble Design, which facilitated the furniture and staging of the home; Family Promise, the shelter where the family came from; and Lutheran Metropolitan Ministry, which executed the master lease.
“We received a flier of this new property that was getting ready to lease, and we thought it would be a great fit with our housing and shelter program,” says Belinda Dawson, project coordinator for Lutheran Metropolitan Ministry’s housing and shelter program. “With our collaborating community partners, we were able to get a referral from a family shelter and do a soft handoff.”
Next, DNA Rising reached out to Humble Design and told them what they needed for the new family.
“We tried to time it to where the family moved into a turn-key, fully furnished home,” says Debbie Eastburn, executive director of Humble Design. “Our mission is to change lives and communities by custom designing and fully furnishing home interiors for individuals, families and veterans emerging from homelessness. We enjoyed working with DNA Rising because they’re there for much longer.”
On the day the family moved in, Councilwoman Meredith Turner was there for the ribbon cutting.
“One of my passions is providing affordable housing in our community,” Turner says. “I was blown away by the craftsmanship, decoration and support DNA Rising received to get the project complete. Also, I made a commitment on that day with the founders that DNA Rising would do a home in my district.”
DNA Rising is building on the lessons learned from its first project as it accomplishes its mission of providing safe and secure housing for individuals trying to rise out of their circumstances. The organization is always looking for volunteers skilled in marketing, social media, grant writing, fund development, clean-out, plumbing and electrical services.
Currently, DNA Rising is looking forward to working with the same partners and some new ones to identify a multi-family housing unit so they can help end homelessness for more veterans and single mothers. Coming up, the organization will be partnering with The Downing Brothers to work on the home selection process and help get the home move-in ready.
“We learned that rehabbing a dilapidated house is not easy,” Cleveland says. “You have to establish relationships, and that takes time.”
