Southern Cal Woman Brings Program Tackling Homelessness and Unemployment to Alameda County

By Bo Tefu | Impact Alameda and Photos by LaurenRichardson

Beating the odds of poverty and drug addiction, Kim Carterused her knack for numbers to become a certified accountant. She also established Timefor Change Foundation, a nonprofit organization that helps to empowerdisenfranchised communities in California based on data that reveals whateach local area it serves needs.

Carter, a 2016 Top 10 CNN Hero, was raised by a single mother offour who worked multiple jobs to make ends meet. She grew up intellectually gifted, and recalls being placed in advanced classes for most of her childhood. As a latchkey kid with a lot of free time, Carter made some poordecisions and hung out with the wrong crowd, she says. “I came from an unhealthy environment, and under-invested community that had heavy drugs and criminal activity,” says Carter. “It was basically survival of thefittest.”

In 1993, Carter’s experience with drugs and homelessness led her down a path of crime that ended with her serving time in prison. That experience, she says, led her to realize that it was finally time to change. Cedar House, a center for alcohol and drug treatment, afforded her the opportunity to be part of a six-month reentry program after serving time. The program helped Carter tap into her potential and revisit her youthful aspiration of having a professional career.

As a product of the reentry program, Carter landed various positions working as an accountant. She kept climbing the ranks and continued to acquire certifications and skills in the discipline. Early in her career, Carter graduated from San Bernardino Valley College and the University of Redlands with accounting degrees. As her life was picking back up, she lost
her job due to company layoffs which inspired Carter to pivot, transferring her accounting talent to the world of nonprofit work.

“I saw accounting as a way out of poverty, it afforded me the chance to get my own apartment,” she says. “I was able to get my daughter back and provide for her.” Carter’s daughter, who was 13-years-old at the time of their reunion, lived with her maternal grandmother in Los Angeles.

Carter says she has managed to avoid using drugs and going back to prison since she was released after serving time for her felony conviction 27 years ago.

Establishing the Time for Change Foundation was a lifelong dream for Carter whose passion for women and children stems from her own personal experiences with unemployment and homelessness. Despite her extensive work experience, Carter says many employers still rejected her because few of them were willing to trust a person with a felony conviction and put her in charge of handling their money.

Evidence-Based Programs for Economic Progress and Family Reunification

Formerly incarcerated women often face discrimination when reintegrating into a society, Carter says. According to her, that minimizes the effectiveness of many state programs that aim to help them get them back on their feet.

Because this problem is systemic, it is a major reason Time for Change implements housing and job placement programs that particularly help Black and Brown women rebuild their lives with careers that can sustain them and their families.

Researchers at the nonprofit evaluate the education, housing, and employment programs quarterly to gauge the effectiveness of each initiative. Measuring the impact of each initiative is crucial for nonprofits in the business of human service delivery, Carter says.

It’s important that people get what they need and not what we want them to have,” Carter continues.

“Cookie cutter programs don’t work for everybody. We need to customize the services to meet the needs of the individuals.”

Carter believes that by demonstrating the value and effectiveness of its programs, Time for Change positions itself as a model for other nonprofits.

So far, the programs have helped 299 women and children with housing, employment, and family reunification. The most recent family to reunite was a mother and son from Hayward who were separated for over 18 months due to state foster care regulations.

“Helping mothers reunite with their kids is the highlight for me,” Carter says.

Successful Housing Developer Challenging the Stigma of Incarceration

Despite her track record as an award-winning community-oriented business leader, Carter often has to prove her worth to financiers. Often, her criminal past clouds investors’ opinions of her and causes them to look at her through lenses colored by their own biases.

Carter recalls building an affordable housing development with limited investments. She intended to construct 500 units, but, in the end, she was only able to build 15 with the funding she received. Although the project was successful, she felt that the funders underestimated her capabilities as a housing developer.

“There’s a particular kind of person they prefer to build housing,” she says. “I’m usually the only female in the room. I want the people to take me seriously, so I have to show them that I can get the job done.”

Despite the obstacles, Carter says she has a lot to celebrate. She was listed as a 2016 Top 10 CNN Hero for her community service and business achievements as the founder of Time for Change. Out of 50,000 nominations from eight different countries, Carter was recognized for the organization’s efforts to address homelessness and unemployment in Southern California.

“The award gave me the level of assurance that I’d never felt before,” she says. “After that, I felt really confident about my organization which led me to come here to the Bay Area.”

Healing the Harm Inflicted by the War on Drugs

As a former convict, Carter believes that the War on Drugs fueled America’s prison industrial complex which was built on the backs of African Americans and Latinos.

“It was a war on Black and Brown people,” she says. “Our very existence in those institutions creates capital, our ability to create monetary value in these prisons is industrialized slavery.”

Carter’s prison experience made her realize that drug addiction should be treated as a public health issue focused on harm reduction rather than a crime worthy of harsh punishment.

“We were penalized for the disease of addiction, which affected generations of Black and Brown people in marginalized communities,” she adds.

The penalty for drug addiction perpetuated the vicious cycle of poverty in Black and Brown communities. Formerly incarcerated drug addicts struggle to find job opportunities and have limited access to resources.

Poverty pushes people to make decisions they wouldn’t have made,” she says. “Black and Brown people need social services that can empower their communities.”

Her experience in the prison system affirms her belief that the war on drugs also bolstered the child welfare system which incentivized family separation.

“It’s the only system that can come into your house, take your children, and terminate your parental rights or give money to a stranger and encourage them to raise your child,” she says.

As the ambassador of Time for Change, Carter hopes to replicate the success of the organization’s evidence-based programs in Southern California by helping women and children in the Bay Area find housing, employment, and family reunification.