PHOENIX — A two-year, $2 million Department of Housing grant has enabled Valley of the Sun YMCA to kick off a housing program called PHX350.
Joshua Alaniz was a sophomore when he found out what it was like to experience homelessness last year.
“I was going to ASU during the springtime, and I had nowhere to go for the summer."
Alaniz says luckily the YMCA was right down the street. He needed a job and a place to sleep.
Today, Alaniz is a floor manager, group fitness instructor, and personal trainer at the Lincoln Family Downtown YMCA in Phoenix.
"When you're an individual in crisis and you don't know where your next meal is coming from. You don't know where you're going to sleep at night, it's impossible to think about education or career," said Jenna Cooper, the vice president of community relations for Valley of the Sun YMCA. "If they need to finish their high school diploma or get their GED, we have a program for that actually."
The YMCA has 50 single dorm-style rooms, offering young adults 18 to 24 a place to stay for 90 days, in addition to other resources.
Alaniz said for this program, “I think the biggest thing they're going to find is three months of certainty so that way they can get back on their feet."
He’s a living success story. Alaniz still attends ASU and is working to become a personal trainer.
"Now I actually have my own apartment," Alaniz said. "I think about it every night when it comes to the kindness that the YMCA provided."
"If it wasn't for the act of kindness, I wouldn't be where I am today,” Alaniz said.
