“We need the entire village to get connected and understand that it takes a village to raise a child,” he says. “The mother and the father are shepherding that child, guiding that child, but we need all the resources that are practically possible … to serve that child.”
It’s a conviction that comes from his own experience of homelessness and the support he received at a critical moment in his life from Covenant House.
On his first day at CHNY, Jason declared that he “wanted to be captain now.” He recalled the moment just last month with his former Covenant House roommate, with whom he is now great friends, like brothers actually. The two painted the picture of Jason walking onto a basketball court at the CHNY campus, mid-game, asking who was in charge.
“I think I want to be the captain of this team now,” Jason said to the young man, Rashada, who was seemingly taking the lead. This was just the beginning of Jason’s journey to advancement and self-growth.
Jason now sits on the Covenant House International board of directors and serves on several program committees.He leans into his own lived experience to be an authentic voice and a leader for young people facing homelessness. . He says in his time at Covenant House New York, he was provided with care, concern, and love, so he wants to provide the same for others.
“It was a culture shock. I was 19 and institutionalized my whole life– group homes, juvenile detention facilities, program after program.”
Jason describes himself back then as a “lost boy” before arriving at CHNY. He had tried multiple ways of finding himself, including trying to join the United States Army. When that didn’t work, he worried he wouldn’t have the future and the family he wanted. He desired being part of a home.
“I was on the brink of extinction. My blood line…it was a wrap,” he said.
In search of some semblance of hope when everything felt “repetitively destructive,” Jason walked the “eerie” path, as he calls it, down 40th street, past the Port Authority in New York City.
“I didn’t want to be a lost boy. I wanted a family. Neverland sounds fun and dope while you’re doing it at the moment, but the reality is, I wanted security. I wanted to feel safe.”
Now, Jason says life is just starting to get good. Since his time at “The Cov,” he describes feeling a “Cov Love” that is unconditional and unlimited.
Respect and love is something he picked up at Covenant House that he makes sure to pass on. His goal– not to forget. His involvement with Covenant House today is a reminder of where he came from, and gives him the compassion he needs to let current residents know that their experience of homelessness is temporary.
He identifies with the heavy load he says young people are carrying when they seek safety and shelter but says “It feels so light walking in here…You’re important. You matter. Love yourself the way we’ll show you how to love yourself.”
Jason expresses tremendous gratitude to CHNY staff members for providing a safe place, being nonjudgmental, for listening and “not just hearing, for advocating, fighting for him, feeding him, and “cov loving” him. These are all the things he provides to young people and to his own two children.
“My sons benefit from the practice I was taught here 15-plus years ago, so thank you very much.”
As we usher in this Father’s Day on June 19, we are grateful for men like Jason who serve as leaders and father figures at Covenant House.
We support Jason’s quest to dismantle stereotypes, discrimination and to respect differences of opinion. He holds firm to the belief that if we do this, “the faster we find our similarities and we do the work that’s necessary, so such terms as ‘homelessness, substance abuse, young persons dying,’ don’t exist anymore, the more real it becomes. But we all got to do the work. Everyone.”
