If I were to tell you my whole story since my arrival here, this post would be pages and pages long. So I will just give you a brief run down. This experience has been one of, if not the worst experiences of my life. I came from a very bad place just to go to a worse place and continue to be disrespected and taken advantage of. In the beginning, (meaning the first two weeks of my time here at Crossway Community), it was fine. The staff was helpful and gave me bed sheets and kitchen supplies. The second I spoke up about a maintenance issue that I was having, which was being ignored, the staff turned on me and made my life hell. They would harass me, call me names, tell me that I need a reality check and that they were going to be the ones giving this to me; this coming directly from the administration. It just went downhill from there. I had noticed items missing and moved in my apartment from unauthorized entries by the staff. I was harassed, (and I have witnesses), from their "hired help", who would lurk outside the building and be extremely disrespectful to me. I recall one time when I was entering the building with my young child who was asleep in my arms. It was around 9 pm and we had gone to Costco that day. I had a lot to carry and asked my friend to just carry the items to the door, not to enter the building, but take the items only to the front door of the building. The hired help, or undercover police officers as they were claiming to be, chased me up the steps. They were cussing at me and telling me terrible things the entire way to the front door. This stopped when the staff on duty intervened and said," She is fine. I never have problems with her. She knows and follows all the rules."
This is one of many incidents that I have encountered. I did address this issue to the administration, who looked at me as if I were disgusting and refused to give me his name (although I already had it). She then excused me from her office without me finishing or her apologizing and started to make claims that there have been reports of me having unauthorized people in my apartment late at night, (which was a complete lie...this is what I was afraid of. As soon as you speak up to the staff, they turn the tables on you with lies). Later that day she called me directly and apologized, (If you could call it that), for her accusation and said she was mistaken and that there are no reports of me not following the rules. The problem here is that I was so scared to speak up because when I would they would threaten me with losing my housing and my child and I had nowhere else to go. So we did what we were told. It became so bad that I would make it so we were rarely there (only to sleep). My child and I would go to the parks, malls, libraries, families houses or just stay in the car as often as physically possible because to us, it was better than being harassed and judged by people who were supposed to be there to help. If felt as if I was walking on egg shells every time I was in that building. This feeling continues to this day. The staff talks to you in a very belittling way and in a disrespectful manner. They make you feel like you are less then them and like we owe them something.
There was another incident that I experienced 2 times with the after school care which led to my decision as to not enroll my child into their "Montessori School". The first time I left my child downstairs to be cared for during our Tuesday and Thursday class, when I picked my child up, my child's eyes were almost swollen shut from crying so much. This is after I was reassured that my child was fine multiple times during our 1 hour class. I was extremely upset but felt maybe this was because my child has never been away from me. Nonetheless I was informed prior to placing my child there that if my child was to start crying they wild immediately bring my child upstairs to me. They did not.
The second and final time I brought my child downstairs, my child seemed happy when I left because my child had seen some familiar faces of other children that my child knows. So I felt much better. But something told me (I guess my motherly instinct) to go down and check on my child (which is forbidden in Crossway, you can not go check on or view your kids without being escorted). When I got downstairs, I peaked through the window only to see my child being tightly restrained in a stroller that I did not provide. My child was crying hysterically in the corner alone and was being ignored. I entered the area the kids were being held, and immediately went to my child's aid. My child was restricted by a tight 5 point harness to the point that my child could not move. The 2 staff members saw me come in and immediately said that my child had just started crying, and did not offer to help me remove my child from their stroller. After what felt like several minutes of attempting to remove these restraints, I was furious and took my child straight upstairs and spoke to the staff in charge of the class, who brushed it off as nothing. I then put in a note to the FLA team (proper protocol) informing them of what happened (for the second time) and also demanding answers. I was later contacted via paper by the director of the school that she wanted to have a staff meeting with me involved to address this. This happened 7 months ago and I still have heard nothing regarding this.
I'm sure you have heard about our ridiculous electric bills for the winter months. They jumped from $40 to $180. This conveniently happened when all the women here received there MEAP (utility assistance) credit. All the residents were angry and concerned about this but none of us could get an answer.
Since the residents here at Crossway have been notified by HOC that we have to relocate and that they will no longer be partners with Crossway, I have seen no positive changes. They are still very manipulative and rude. What I have noticed is more unauthorized entries into my apartment. It is unfortunate but I have had very bad feelings that something like this would happen so I have set "traps" if you will. I have left papers in my door to see if they enter, I have left my non working lap top (to the staff's knowledge it is working fine) in certain places just to find it moved. I have left my tv on, to come back to it being turned off. These are just a few ways that I know my apartment, my child's, and my own privacy has been violated. I do not keep any important paperwork here, I do not keep anything of monetary value here either.
I think this could be a wonderful program if ran by the correct people. The corruption in this building is more than I have ever seen in my life. I feel like I'm living in a nightmare or a movie, its unreal.
And one more thing, just to add, the CEO will not speak to us or help address issues. The only time she does talk is if she is touring a potential donor.
I am very hopeful that I will be able to move on and recover from this as it had been a terrible situation and very detrimental to me and my child. These people are preying on the weak and disadvantaged and in no way, shape or form trying to bring us up, they are only holding us down and using that to their advantage.