Giving Far Rock Teens A Place To Call Home

Angela Hines, a Far Rockaway resident and mother of five, was once merely considered a high school dropout. But with her strength, commitment and perseverance she is not only a loving mother, but a successful attorney and, most recently, the founder of a nonprofit organization called Project Window.

Project Window is an organization dedicated to providing girls ages ten to fifteen living in low-income housing projects in Far Rockaway and in surrounding communities, a chance to achieve their full potential and face life with confidence. The activities will promote interpersonal skills used for everyday living as well as teach the importance of education. Hines started Project Window to show the girls that there is more to life than what they see outside of their windows and to provide them with the necessary tools to achieve self-sufficiency.

“I don’t want to turn my back on the community,” Hines told The Wave this week. “If I could help just one person, then my work has been done.”

When asked what Hines’ inspiration for starting Project Window was she said, “My life and my own experience being a young girl living in the projects. I wanted to give back to my community and give young girls a safe place they can call home.”

Hines, after dropping out of high school, received her GED in 1992 and later enrolled in New York City College of Technology and later, CUNY Law School. Hines had to borrow more than $100,000 in student loans in order to put herself through school. That still wasn’t the only tough obstacle. While attending school Hines also juggled a hectic family life, making sure each of her kids was ready each morning for school, traveling for two hours in as many as three buses to get to law school in Flushing where she would study for eight hours a day while the kids were in day care. She’d get herself and the kids home by 7:30 p.m. and still have the time to make dinner for her family.

Hines’ five children, ranging in age from 7 to 19, look at their mother as a true superhero. Viewing her many accomplishments, from graduating Law School in 2005, to passing the bar exam, to being sworn in as a lawyer, to founding a safe haven for young girls in the projects, Hines says her proudest accomplishment is raising her five children.

Original Story: Rockaway Wave