Today we’d like to introduce you to Mariah Hayden. She shared a little about her and the work she does at New Life Village below:
Mariah joined the New Life Village team in 2016 after being introduced to the charity as a volunteer.
Familiar with the effects of childhood trauma from her graduate work and personal experiences, as well as with the impact that mental health challenges have on a family, Mariah found “home” in the dynamic mission of New Life Village. She is entirely dedicated to the safety and stability of children affected by both of those realities. She learned the world of construction project management and began developing additional affordable housing units at the Village in 2022.
In the government, private, and academic sectors, Mariah has worked in marketing/communications, project management, community relations, branding, training, instruction, diversity programs management, event management, and educational programming since 2000. Mariah has volunteered for the University of Tampa Alumni Association, the University of Tampa Board of Counselors, and the Los Angeles and Tampa Chapters of the National Association of African Americans in Human Resources.
Since coming to New Life Village, she has grown the community’s program, staff, Board and Committees, agency brand, residents served, revenues, campus amenities, staff, and resident resources.
Alright, let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what challenges have you had to overcome?
Growing the Village’s population from 100 to 170 residents, from 50 to 110 children in the last year, has brought a lot of challenges in staffing, operations, and scaling our program to serve more residents.
Brand recognition and fundraising are also challenging. There are many charities in the Tampa Bay Area, including several very big ones that get the majority of the funding and recognition. It is a very competitive market for donor funding for nonprofits.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
New Life Village provides a residential community where families seeking permanency for children impacted by foster care or trauma can seek healing in a safe and stable intergenerational Village. New Life Village opened its doors in 2012 and is located in Tampa, Florida – an area that is heavily impacted by both the affordable housing and foster care crises.
NLV is an intergenerational community designed to support families raising foster to permanency and kinship children who have survived abuse, neglect, and trauma, offering them program-rich, below-market housing and onsite wrap-around services. Designed for children formerly in foster care and affected by trauma, their foster-adoptive-kinship families now providing them permanency, and elders seeking meaning and purpose, our community-driven intergenerational housing and integrated onsite services improve health and wellbeing, housing stability, and educational attainment for residents at all stages of life. Senior citizens also live in the Village, serving as surrogate grandparents, tutors, and mentors. Autonomous families live in the Village. NLV is not a group home.
The Village program allows children to realize safety, housing stability, permanency, healing, and the ability to thrive within a trauma-informed community. The Village hosts an onsite Trauma Informed Wellness, Resilience, and Character Development Program. We exist to reduce the number of children in foster care by encouraging more families to adopt or to prevent children from entering foster care.
New Life Village was recognized by the Florida Civic Advance with the 2019 Honorable Mention FCA Civic Excellence Award for Intergenerational Civic Engagement. We were also named Small Nonprofit of the Year by Tampa Bay Business and Wealth Magazine. New Life Village is the only community of its kind in Florida!
New Life Village is home to children aged birth to 18, their caregivers, and senior neighbors, many of whom have survived trauma. NLV’s program is designed to create daily connections and promote healing. Our holistic program ensures that each child has a family that is supportive and supported. The Village program allows children to realize safety, housing stability, permanency, healing, and the ability to thrive within a trauma-informed community.
Village Programming Includes:
Family Support Plans: New Life Village connects residents in need of resource navigation services with local agencies, churches and trust-based relational intervention practitioners to ensure each family is receiving available resources and supports for their wellness, educational and vocational needs. If Village caregivers are supported and are accomplishing family goals, Village children will experience healthier outcomes.
Village Events: Every day, Village residents, Program Partners, and volunteers come together to provide children with opportunities to learn, play, exercise, and build healing relationships. Village activities build resilience, trust, emotional intelligence, respect, and community values. Our wholistic community approach to providing family support, senior services and community connection has built place, permanence and purpose for our residents. Village Events include.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://newlifevillage.org
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NLVillage
