“I had a normal life and there were even times in my life where I was making good money,” William Mattis said. “Things that would never make you think you are going to wind up here one day, or minor things that happen at the same time and BOOM it all blows up.”

William, 75, is a resident who has lived at Mission First Housing Group’s Northeast II – Ditman, a garden-style, affordable housing community located in the Holmesburg neighborhood of Northeast Philadelphia, for over a decade. He has weathered adversity to find a home with us, where he is now living “happy and stress-free”.

In the late 1960s, William was in college and saw what was happening in Vietnam and decided he wanted to support our country during that turbulent time of war and riots.

“Our parents are the ones that saved the world in World War II and that was a hard bar to set,” said William. “I was just sitting there thinking, I am here hiding in college when other people were there.”

William dropped out of school and enlisted in the United States Marine Corps, serving in Vietnam from 1969-1971. Though it was treacherous, William knows it was the best decision for him at the time, and was glad that he stepped up.

When he returned home from the war, William, like many other soldiers, needed to find their place again. He was not 19 anymore, neither in age nor maturity, and did not feel returning to college would be a wise choice. He started his own carpet and upholstery cleaning business to support himself and was thriving.

An emotional falling out with his family was a turning point in William’s life, that left him with a decision to make about what to do next. He decided to move to Philadelphia and start working in construction to support himself.

After several years in Philadelphia, he decided to find a place in Center City, but the move did not work out as planned. On the day that he moved into his new apartment, there was a fire and William lost everything.

“I had on my list to get renter’s insurance, but who thinks it is going to burn down the day you move in. What went from a minor thing, turned into a major situation,” said William.

Having lost all of his possessions and with no family to fall back on, William was homeless.

“Things were moving along for me really well and then just out of the blue a few weeks later, I am living in my truck in the coldest winter ever recorded in Philadelphia.”

Trying to figure out where to turn, William reached out to The Veterans Administration, where he was receiving his healthcare benefits. The VA referred William to Columbus Property Management, Mission First’s property management arm. We found William a home on Rhawn Street in North Philadelphia. After a year in that apartment, he was relocated to his current home of 10 years.

“I really appreciate that [Mission First] had the foresight to hook up with the VA and work with that program. That provided me with something at a time when I desperately needed it.”

William has had three heart operations and spends a lot of his time concentrating on his health and wellness. Having stable housing allows William to focus on himself. He is happy to have his home to relax and watch tv and live a peaceful life alongside his “best friend” Alley, his cat. “That cat is a lifesaver for me, because I am in a situation where I have no family and my friends have passed.”

It has been a tough road, but William is where he wants to be and hopes to impart empowering messages to others experiencing or at-risk of homelessness.

William believes that it was his experience as a Marine that helped him navigate the many challenges of being homeless. He said, "I never even collected unemployment before, so all of this was very new. You need to be resilient and see what resources are available. That’s how I did it, one thing at a time.”

After his multiple misfortunes, including a flood in his previous apartment while lacking flood insurance (he has learned his lesson now), he racked up over $20,000 in credit card debit just to get by with his bills. He was just paying minimums and covering finance charges – the stress of the debt was overwhelming and put him in a place where he had to analyze how to support himself, his health and pay the fees.

Desperate for a solution, he turned to online resources and found a great program that assists with debt resolutions, allowing him to pay an affordable fee to have the company reconcile his debit with the creditors.

“Once I was in a hole, I could not dig deeper. Just getting that out of my hair. My life is so much easier now that I do not have to worry about that.”

Not only has William helped himself, but he has helped others by sharing the program with our staff. Once he was set up, William connected with our Regional Director of Resident Services Christian Hobson so he could spread the word to other residents.

“Mr. Mattis took it upon himself to share the story and the information to help other residents in the building,” said Christian. “Knowing that I am a resource, he figured I could share the information with people facing a similar situation.”

Christian is working with residents at Northeast II-Ditman to help set them up and he will begin meeting with our Resident Services teams across our portfolio to share the successes of the program.

William likes to work with our Property Management and Resident Services teams. “You can tell when they ask a question, they care what happens to you.” And we feel the same about William in the way that he cares to share his successes with his fellow residents.

When asked about his apartment and his community, William said, “I love it. I absolutely want to die here,” in other words this is home and where he plans to live of the rest of his many years. “I have got myself in a position that I like over the last 10 years and things are smooth sailing.”

On September 10th, Mission First celebrated the installation of a 5G antenna tower as part of the West Philadelphia NTIA Network program with a Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony at our New Market West community hub in West Philadelphia. This initiative is fully funded through a $2,948,610 grant to Community College of Philadelphia (CCP) by the U.S. Department of Commerce, National Telecommunications, and Information Administration (NTIA).

Councilman Curtis Jones, Jr. joined representatives from the partnering companies to celebrate the momentous occasion. Mr. Greg Sherman, one of our residents at Apartments at New Market West, was also part of the ceremony, sharing what having access to the internet and a laptop means to him and others in our West Philadelphia community, as part of this digital equity initiative.

In partnership with PCs for People and WILCO, one of three 5G antenna towers was installed in West Philadelphia at Mission First Housing Group and Horizon House’s building at 5901 Market Street. Along with the installation of the tower, eligible residents in Haddington, Walnut Hill, Haverford North, West Powelton and University City can receive free high-speed internet for two years, along with a free laptop, modem and digital literacy training.

“We are proud to be partners with CCP and NTIA for this initiative,” said Thomas Queenan, Chief Executive Officer and President of Mission First Housing Group. “It is critical that everyone has access to technology for employment, education and beyond in our modern world. The ability to host this technology at one our properties will provide our many low-income residents living in West Philadelphia as well as our neighbors a digital bridge to our broader community.”

This initiative goes beyond simply providing access; it empowers residents to take control of their futures through education and career development. It also keenly aligns with our mission to support residents and strengthen communities.

Along with our project development partner, the Autism Society of Maryland (AUSOM), Mission First’s Real Estate Development and Fundraising & Communications teams have been hosting hard hat tours of Patuxent Commons in an effort to raise awareness of the uniqueness of the project and garner support for the programming offered to residents.

Expected to open next month, Patuxent Commons is an intentional, supportive community for people of all ages, abilities and incomes under construction in Columbia, MD. The project was developed to address housing instability faced by low-income seniors, families and individuals with disabilities, including neurodivergent adults. In addition to housing, Patuxent Commons will include a Community Life Program meant to enhance social connectedness through relationship building and community engagement and reciprocal sharing of social support by neighbors.

On September 11th, Howard County Executive Calvin Ball and more than 30 elected officials and legislative staff spent an afternoon with our team to learn more about this one-of-a-kind project and take a tour to see how the configuration of the building supports those goals. The Patuxent Commons development would not be possible without the support of our elected officials and we are so grateful for their support.

We are now focused on fundraising for the Community Life Program, that will be provided onsite. Through this “proof of concept” program, our team will help coordinate services for neighbors who need them and encourage social connections through community-building events and activities.

If you are interested in supporting the Patuxent Commons project, we welcome you to visit www.patuxentcommons.com for more information.

This summer, Mission First hosted five summer interns. Ayah Ahmed, Tiffany Ho and Brett Li worked with our Mission First Supportive Housing: Edison program. Jenny Huynh supported our Human Resources Department. Claire Orfield collaborated with our Resident Services and Fundraising & Communications Departments.

Ayah, Tiffany and Brett interned in June and July at Amandla Crossing and Imani Park in Edison, NJ. Ayah is a second-year dental student at Rutgers University’s School of Dental Medicine, Tiffany is a fourth-year student at Rutgers University’s School of Nursing and Brett Li is a fifth-year student at Rutgers University’s Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy in New Brunswick, NJ.

The team came together to survey residents about their general needs as well as their preferences in programing for our supportive housing program participants. They also hosted a health literacy fair, held discussions centered around mental health wellness, had one-on-ones with the residents to discuss their current situations and helped out with the community gardens.

Jenny Huynh is beginning her final year of graduate school this fall at Villanova University in Philadelphia, PA. From May to August, Jenny supported our Human Resources Department by updating and maintaining our performance management and employee review system and organizing our job descriptions database. In addition to these larger projects, she handled a variety of smaller tasks, such as posting job openings online, sending offer letters, reviewing the new hire orientation presentation, updating the employee roster, completing I-9 forms and pulling reports as needed.

Claire Orfield is a senior at Bates College in Maine studying Film and Politics with a concentration in Pre-Law. From June to August, Claire spent her time in Philadelphia supporting our Resident Services and Fundraising & Communications departments across the portfolio. Her projects included compiling and analyzing data from resident services programming reports and resident feedback forms and creating a new and improved process for our team to report data to funders and partners. Claire also curated tracking systems for company connections with local representatives, reviewed and edited e-newsletter content and provided general support for our external and internal communications.

We appreciate Ayah, Tiffany, Brett, Jenny and Claire for choosing to spend your summer with us and are thankful for the great work they have contributed to our organization.

If you know someone looking for an internship who is interested in supporting our mission, please contact our Human Resources Department at HR@missionfirsthousing.org.