YOUtopian Estates
Abriana Terrell is enjoying her best life. In essence, she has it all. A great job, several college degrees, and a young son that is full of life. But underneath the surface of her professional demeanor, Terrell carries with her a traumatic memory that has never gone away no matter how much success she has attained. According to Terrell, as a result of her mother’s mental illness, she and her older sister experienced homelessness at a young age. Since then, she says, she has done everything in her power to help others escape the uncertainties that living on the streets comes with.
“Because of my mother’s mental illness, we were constantly moving from shelter to shelter” Terrell explains. “I was about 3 years old at the time, but I remember that we had to share a room with some other people several different times. It was hard.”
As a result of this, Terrell says her father ended up getting full custody of both her and her older sister when they were still in elementary school. Flash forward several years, and Terrell, a TCU grad, began her mission to help the less fortunate by going into the field of social work.
Abriana Terrell
“This proved to be a great fit for me since I worked with the youth in the foster care system at that time,” she says. As Terrell furthered her experience in her various roles helping the less fortunate, she learned more about the obstacles people had to face in this situation.
“No one has an answer to the question of homelessness, that’s why I am doing as much research as I can, to try and find different avenues,” Terrell says.
One way Terrell is looking into contributing to this scenario is in the form of a multi-million-dollar campus that when built will offer programs and shelter for people struggling with these very issues. The brand for this idea is called YOUtopian Estates, a state-of-the-art campus where the homeless can find support, get an education, and feel safe. But just like any idea, costs can be prohibitive.
“The goal is to raise an initial $250 million,” Terrell says with a smile. “But if we find enough people who understand our vision and really realize the help we can give; I believe we can raise it.”
Currently, YOUtopian Estates consists of three full-time members, who include, treasurer Mo’Lesa Coleman, and secretary, Charles Baldwin. “I was all alone at first when I came up with this idea,” she says. “But after a few months of pushing, I found my team.”
Besides funding, Terrell says she also looking for a 13 to 17-acre patch of land to place the new YOUtopian Estates campus on. Once built, the campus will have several different sections devoted to everything from a single night’s stay to a prolonged apartment unit with a capacity to hold 450 - 600 tenants.
“The center of this complex is where we will have all of our administrative offices, which will have all our different programs that people can use,” she says. These programs include mental health services, job acquisition training, and educational courses.
“We will also have an in-facility daycare for our parents or families that have to go to work but cannot afford the high cost of living and daycare at the same time,” Terrell says. Other programs, Terrell has planned, include services that teach relaxation, like meditation retreats and mindfulness training.
“I believe in what we are doing to get this done,” she says. “I think the problem of homelessness has only gotten way worse since I experienced it when I was young.”
