When Carrie Jackson moved into the original CALM house three years ago, she had no idea she would run the facility that gave her a new lease on life. 

“It makes me grateful,” Jackson said, “CALM is more than just an organization. As soon as you enter the program, [the volunteers] love you and support and guide you and everything else. Even though I was going through everything, I had not just one person to talk to but an entire village. They’ve stayed close-knit, cared about my well-being, and always supported me. They pour into each person as an individual.”

Now Jackson and her two children are on their feet and thriving. Her four-year-old, who was just a couple of months old when she entered the program, has started pre-kindergarten and is doing well, too. 

The Niceville charity, focused on helping moms with small children land on their feet, opened its doors to clients this past week with a ribbon cutting that included the Niceville Chamber of Commerce. 

Niceville Crisis Aid for Littles and Moms (CALM) partnered with the Huff family to build four of the six hundred square foot homes. Much of the material used to build the homes was donated or offered to the charity at a steep discount. 

RELATED: Niceville sets world record for number of people in tiaras at the same time to raise money for CALM Homes. 

Each home has two bedrooms and one bathroom. Two of the homes are pre-furnished and include a washer and dryer. The other two houses are not furnished, so a mother who wants to live in the CALM community but has furniture can use her own. 

In addition to the homes, the CALM facility features a small playground for the children, who must be under the age of thirteen when they enter the program with their mothers. 

Jackson says the plan is to see how these homes work for the community’s needs and possibly expand to another three homes on the property. 

One woman moved into a home before the official ribbon cutting. The other three houses are vacant at the time of publishing. 

More About the CALM Program

While the organization does not charge rent, each mother must pay $850 a month in fees to live in the facility. $100 of those fees goes into a savings account for the women to use when they graduate from the program to find housing independently. 

The charity also requires the women to meet with a financial advisor they provide at least once a month to help them navigate their finances and ensure they are on the right track toward financial independence. 

CALM is a 501(c)3 charitable organization “whose goal is to offer transitional housing and life skills training to mothers and their children in crisis situations.”

The charity began in 2013, when founders Terri Steadman and Grace Nuffer started serving the Niceville Community’s single mothers. The pair quickly realized they needed to create a formal program to help the mothers learn life skills and save money to end their cycle of poverty.