A Positive Future | Tanisha Clanton
Many years ago, Tanisha Clanton might have seemed like one of the countless children in Philadelphia facing a bleak future. Her family life was marked by homelessness, addiction, and instability.
But in 2000, they moved into Project HOME’s newly developed Rowan Homes, which opened up tremendous new possibilities for Tanisha. Many of those possibilities were found right across the street, at the Honickman Learning Center and Comcast Technology Labs (HLCCTL). For several years, Tanisha was a regular participant in the Center’s education programs, even working as a teacher’s assistant in the Teen Program and starting her own water ice business through the Harold A. Honickman Entrepreneurial Program.
In 2012, she became a trailblazer for Project HOME, graduating from Albright College with a degree in art – the first graduate from our College Access Program. The trail she blazed has since been well trodden: Over 50 youth from the HLCCTL have been to college, with 8 graduated and one in graduate school. After working for several years as an art instructor for children in struggling communities,Tanisha has come on staff, working as a job coach in Project HOME’s Employment Services department.
She knows the importance of seizing opportunities that are offered, and is now using her skills to empower others to seize opportunities and open up positive futures. “My time at Project HOME, with my mother,” she says with a gleam, “has shaped what was once an unhappy, shattered girl into a more confident, beautiful, happier young woman.”
Tanisha's story was included in our 25th Anniversary Gala book.
