William Ghee
/I was born and raised in the projects in Brooklyn NY. I grew up as the youngest only boy of 3 children to a single parent, so you can imagine what that was like in a house full of ladies. Big family, sheltered lifestyle. No sleepovers with others, good family times. My grandfather was there, he was the main provider. When he died my mother was the provider, when she died, that’s when things went haywire, she died in 2002.
I was 22. I felt like I was robbed, cheated. So I started destroying the community. Drifted away from the family.
In 2006 I was arrested and sentenced to 3.5 years, weapon possession and drug conspiracy. When I came home from prison I was in the shelter for 3 months, As soon as I came home I knew I wanted to go to college so I entered a treatment program and then a college prep program.
It’s very rare to get an agency that supports you, holistically. Project Renewal is concerned with your life, not just your apartment. They helped me a lot. My caseworker, Mr. Potts, is awesome. They do things with care, its cool. It’s not what I'm used to.
I'm growing in a little more aware, I'm aware culturally. Everybody surrounds me the feeling, I'm a little more sensitive.
I dream about changing policies, HRA in particular, some policies governing financial aid for students, stuff like that. So that’s why I am going into public administration. It's Like Gandhi said, “be the change you wish to see in the world” so if I can change and get a few other people to change then its like a domino effect.
