We were lucky to catch up with Elisabeth Jordan recently and have shared our conversation below.
Elisabeth, thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?
My work is on the streets of South Dallas with people experiencing homelessness. Specifically, we are focused on those experiencing chronic, long-term homelessness, and they often have significant trauma and loss that directly impacted their path to homelessness. When I first started doing this work 10 years ago, I didn’t understand the pain that accompanied homelessness, and I didn’t know the stories of people in this difficult situation. I came with an “I-can-fix-you” mentality. But I learned quickly that people do not want to be fixed. Because people experiencing homelessness are human beings, and turns out that humans do not want to be another person’s project.
I needed my paradigm to shift—but how? My faith had led me to the streets, so I returned to God in prayer to ask: All of my efforts to fix other people are failing. What should I do?
I kept sensing this response: “Love the one person I put in front of you today.”
Love. That’s it. The new paradigm is love. Love is gritty, and it holds hope without expectation. When I could finally release the outcome of loving others to God, and instead focus only on my part, I got resilience. I am able to keep coming back to situations that can be hard and painful, to walk alongside people who are suffering because I know my job is to love—not to change another person.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I lead a nonprofit called The Human Impact. We focus on the long-term, chronically homeless. People in this situation have experienced homelessness for 1+ years, or keep falling back into homelessness, and also have a disability. These disabilities can be mental or physical, or both.
Most of the help offered to those experiencing chronic homelessness is economic support (shelter, job placement, housing vouchers, food stamps), which is critical. Another need, however, can go unaddressed: the need for relationship. People living in chronic homelessness often do not have a robust relational support network, and that’s our focus at The Human Impact: to be a relational support network for people.
We do that by building relationships with people living on the streets or in shelters, support them as they develop their plan for their lives, and then walk that path they’ve chosen with them. Because of the complex needs affecting many experiencing long-term homelessness, the path often has setbacks, and we remain committed to each individual no matter what difficulties arise. Even for those who leave the streets and get into housing, only to return to the streets for one reason or another, we stick with them. We believe every human being deserves to be loved and supported no matter their struggles or circumstances.
The end goal of our work is healing for everyone involved. We believe it’s not just those experiencing homelessness—but also those of us who have not—that need healing. Healing comes counterintuitively, as we build relationships with people who are different from us, and take time to listen to their wisdom, to hear their different perspectives and life experiences.
To facilitate community, we have monthly meals—people who are housed and unhoused sit down and eat at a table together; we hold weekly prayer at our offices open to everyone; we gather as a community to talk and get to know each other better. Our staff walk alongside people as they get IDs, connect to case managers, go to medical appointments, get into housing, and interview for jobs. The beginning and end of our work is love. The love we offer comes from following and learning from Jesus Christ, who treated every person as significant. Christ is both our model and our support in this work.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
The most impactful quality was learning humility. I learned humility from the humility demonstrated by the men and women I had come to “serve.” Instead of my helping them, they served me, embraced me, and loved me from the get-go. I didn’t understand when I showed up on the streets of South Dallas how broken I was. I had spent most of my life defining myself and my significance based on my success and what I had to offer externally, and I thought I had it all because I’d come from a community rich in material resources. I thought that status gave me my significance.
But my brothers and sisters experiencing homelessness showed me a different way. They accepted me no matter how I showed up and offered me unconditional love. Through their love, God taught me how he loves me and I received healing for my own identity: that I am worthy because I am made in God’s Image and valued, as is every human being, regardless of what I have to offer. My value never changes—it doesn’t matter if I’m sick or well, tired or energized, feeling strong or weak. I believe every human being matters in this same way because we were handcrafted by a loving God and made for a purpose.
That kind of confidence enables me to take risks and experience “failure” because I know that I am loved no matter what.
To close, maybe we can chat about your parents and what they did that was particularly impactful for you?
I now have three kids of my own—they’re 8, 4, and 2 years old. My admiration for my parents has grown with each passing year of parenting. My parents have always shown up for me. They have been there at every season of my life—the toughest and the best. They have shown up for me in my work on the streets and in building The Human Impact. My dad is a regular volunteer with us now, and he has many of his own friends through our work, and my mom helps me with my kids so I have more freedom to do my work. Besides my husband, they are the backbone of my “village” to be able to work and parent well.
I also watch them show up for my siblings and their families in the unique ways they need my parents, as well.
Showing up is the first and most essential principle in our work at The Human Impact. Nothing good can happen unless you show up and keep showing up. I learned that quality from my mom and dad because they have modeled it for me.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.thehumanimpact.org
- Instagram: @thehumanimpact
- Facebook: @thehumanimpact
- Linkedin: @thehumanimpact
- Twitter: @thehumanimpact
- Youtube: @thehumanimpact
