Tereussell’s daughter was five and her son was just a month and a half old when yet another sleepless night in the family’s previous home led her to decide that her children deserved better. “It got to a point, with the drive-by shootings and the other problems in our neighborhood, that I thought, we just can’t do this anymore,” she remembers. The family moved to an apartment complex that had some of the same issues—so Tereussell was thrilled to learn last fall that her application for a home in CommonBond’s brand-new Trails Edge Family Townhomes had been accepted.
The family moved into their new home two days before Thanksgiving, which was a truly heartfelt celebration (even though the dishes weren’t unpacked yet). “I’m thankful that we have a safe place to live,” Tereussell said, “and I don’t have to worry about who’s hanging on the corner.” Most of all, she’s thankful that she and her kids, now 14 and 8, have truly come home.“When I leave work,” she said, “I feel like I’m going home, not just to someplace where I lay my head. That means a lot.”
The stable home at Trails Edge: Collaboration builds community
The CommonBond team has special expertise in building collaborations that meet communities’ unique housing needs. We developed Trails Edge through an innovative
partnership with the Sisters of St. Benedict of St. Paul’s Monastery and Tubman, a family violence prevention agency. The 33-acre housing and services campus, located on the grounds of the monastery, includes a new residence for the Sisters and an emergency shelter, located in the former monastery, for women and children affected by domestic violence. Combined with CommonBond’s 48 homes at Trails Edge Family Townhomes, this campus supports many different Maplewood residents. Tubman and CommonBond work together to provide education, employment and family stability services for the 148 residents of Trails Edge Townhomes.
From the start, this team engaged the community in the development process, forming an advisory group that invited a broad cross-section of neighbors to provide input on the development. The need for this kind of collaboration is greater than ever. More than 550 families requested applications for the 48 affordable
housing units at Trails Edge.