About
Where Home Works, Services Matter, And Nature Helps
Home Works USA Community is designed to help emerging adults confidently transition from foster care into thriving adulthood. According to the National Foster Youth Institute, nearly 20% of young adults in foster care become homeless the moment they turn 18; moreover 50% of America’s homeless population has spent time in foster care. Given these statistics, Home Works USA is on a mission to create new pathways to affordable housing and independent living.
Home Works USA was launched in 2016 and received its first building permit in May 2019. The organization’s first community on Chieftain Road in Lawrence, KS, is sited near The old Scott Place, where a tiny house once provided safe haven for children and young adults who had lost one or more of their parents. When Franklin and Phoebe Watkins acquired the property, they carried on the tradition of providing a safe and welcoming space for emerging adults. Their daughters, the great granddaughters of Hattie Scott, now continue their family’s legacy by offering affordable rental housing to individuals leaving foster care to give them the support they need to move into thriving adulthood.
Home Works USA is developing a replicable model community to provide safe, stable, and affordable housing for emerging adults who have aged out of foster care. We believe “Home Works, Nature Helps, and Services Matter.” In addition to stable and affordable housing, we add the right supports, and the healing impact of nature to enhance our residents’ well-being as they prepare for their lives ahead.
About The Community
The first Home Works Community will open in 2023 and sits on 26 beautiful acres in Lawrence, Kansas. It includes 10 affordable housing units which have shared areas and amenities to encourage social interaction, healthy relationships, and provide essential services. Residents are encouraged to take advantage of the community’s public nature trails to heal and reconnect with nature as they gain the skills needed to live the lives they are planning for themselves — lives that include commitments to health and wellness, self care, community engagement, sustainable practices, and giving back wherever they live. By providing a professional onsite Community Manager for residential support and guidance, Home Works USA is making educational, employment, job training, and entrepreneurial opportunities more accessible for emerging adults aging out of foster care.
Become A Resident
Affordable rental housing can serve as a launchpad to financial independence. Through education, training, and work experience, emerging adults are better able to thrive as they improve their earning capacity. The Home Works USA Community provides a safe and supportive home to help you on your journey— to successful independent living. If you have spent time in foster care, have faced barriers to establishing your own home, and are between the ages of 18 and 26 years old, we invite you to consider our affordable rental housing. Please click the link below to access our pre-qualification questionnaire.
Meet The Team
Leadership Team
Barbara J. Sabol
Frankie Foster-Davis
Njeri Shomari
Resident Selection Team
Dr. Linda K West
Dr. Linda West, retired from a long and illustrious career in Social Services. She has contributed by serving on local and national boards and volunteering at numerous organizations. She has contributed to the development of young people in all of the places she has lived: Detroit, MI, Washington, D.C., Memphis, TN, and Jackson, MS, and now to a place she hasn’t lived – Kansas. She has come out of retirement to take on the part-time volunteer task of leading the Home Works USA Community Resident Selection Team during its formative stages. She will be once again “making a difference in the lives” of young adults who have spent time in foster care.
Marsha Jones Byron
Marsha Jones Byron brings over 20 years of management experience to the team. She has worked with many vulnerable populations, including pregnant and parenting teens and individuals with severe mental illness. Marsha also spent much of her career promoting cultural competency among teachers and administrators in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. She has taught courses in health and wellness, including exercise to students of all ages and ability statuses.
Wayne Ricks
Wayne Ricks has called Lawrence, KS home since 1975. During that time, he has been involved in improving the systems that impact Lawrence residents of all ages. Wayne has coached sports, including basketball, football, and softball. He serves on the Executive Committee of the Lawrence Branch of the NAACP. He is active in local politics and voter registration. He is a Team Leader with Justice Matters, a grassroots, Interfaith organization that works to achieve systemic improvements around equity and justice. He also serves on the board of Peaslee Tech.
Andrew Bricker
Andrew Bricker, Science Teacher at Lawrence High School, more to come…
Our Vision
Home Works USA is developing a replicable model community to provide safe, stable, and affordable housing for emerging adults who have aged out of foster care. We believe “Home Works, Nature Helps, and Services Matter.” In addition to stable and affordable housing, we add the right supports, and the healing impact of nature to enhance our residents’ well-being as they prepare for their lives ahead.