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NFL legend Warrick Dunn’s housing program changes lives of single parents
Warrick Dunn, a Florida State University standout who broke school records and played 12 seasons in the NFL, will be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame later this year. But his most important legacy may be his Homes for the Holidays program for single-parent families, inspired by his own life experiences.
In 1993, Dunn’s mother, Betty Smothers, died while moonlighting as a security guard, a job she took on in addition to her duties as a Baton Rouge, Louisiana, police officer.
Just 18 years old at the time, Dunn was left to raise his five siblings.
“It all fell on me,” Dunn said. “And I just felt like I need to make sure we have a place that we can actually call home. We moved, what … three, four times living in Baton Rouge, and we were renting.”
So Dunn used his mother’s life insurance payout to buy his siblings their first home.
“I didn’t have a place that I can actually say, hey, this is where we develop all of our memories as kids growing up,” he said.
His personal experiences led Dunn to establish Homes for the Holidays during his inaugural season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The program has helped hundreds of single parents across 16 states make down payments on their first homes and also furnishes the homes and stocks the pantries.
Trista, a single mother who received help from Dunn’s program just before Thanksgiving 2002, said receiving a home was the happiest time of her life.
When the market crashed in 2008, Trista says her neighborhood became dangerous. But thanks to the equity from that first home, she was able to buy her current house, where she lives today.
Reflecting on his journey, Dunn said there is still so much more to do for the program.
“It takes a little bit to build that generational wealth, but this is where you start,” he said.
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Paris Hilton’s bill to protect minors at residential treatment facilities heads to president’s desk
Heiress, model and actor Paris Hilton is the force behind a bill headed to President Biden’s desk that’s aimed at preventing the abuse of minors at rehab and other residential facilities.
The House passed the Stop Institutional Child Abuse Act in a bipartisan 373-33 vote Wednesday, after the Senate passed the bill by unanimous consent earlier in the week. It’s a cause that’s personal to Hilton, who says she was abused at residential treatment facilities as a teen. Hilton lived in a series of residential treatment facilities from the age of 16, testifying before Congress in June that she had been violently restrained, stripped of clothing and tossed into solitary confinement, among other experiences.
“Today is a day I will never forget,” Hilton wrote on Instagram. “After years of sharing my story and advocating on Capitol Hill, the Stop Institutional Child Abuse Act has officially passed the U.S Congress. This moment is proof that our voices matter, that speaking out can spark change, and that no child should ever endure the horrors of abuse in silence. I did this for the younger version of myself and the youth who were senselessly taken from us by the Troubled Teen Industry.”
Now 43, Hilton has championed child protection legislation on Capitol Hill for years, encouraging lawmakers to pass regulations to help protect troubled teens from abuse at treatment centers. Hilton met with lawmakers on Capitol Hill this week, urging them to take up the legislation before the 118th Congress ends.
Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley and Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna introduced the legislation in the House and Senate, and they were joined by Republican Sens. John Cornyn and Tommy Tuberville and Republican Rep. Buddy Carter.
“Children across the country are at risk of abuse and neglect due to a lack of transparency in institutional youth treatment programs,” Khanna said in a statement. “The industry has gone unchecked for too long. Paris Hilton and other survivors of abuse in this broken system have bravely shared their stories and inspired change. I’m proud to lead this legislation with my colleagues to protect the safety and well-being of kids.”
The legislation creates a federal work group on youth residential programs to oversee the health, safety, care, treatment and placement of minors in rehab and other facilities. It also directs the Department of Health and Human Services to make contact with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine to make recommendations about state oversight of such programs.
Hilton is the great-grandaughter of Conrad Hilton, who founded Hilton Hotels.
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