A Major Win For Tacco Cullins And Her Children

Just one month ago Tacco Cullins, single mother of 11, faced homelessness after being scammed by a fake landlord.

With no public housing in Atlanta, a moratorium on section 8 housing vouchers, and no organizations able or willing to take on a family of 12 in crisis, Tacco had almost nowhere to turn.

After reaching out to Occupy Our Homes ATL Tacco decided to fight for fair housing for her and her children.

After countless press interviews, hundreds of phone calls, fundraisers, and community meetings enough money was raised to get Tacco in a much larger house that's furnished with everything the family needs.
After much public pressure it also looks like the Atlanta Housing Authority might temporarily end the section 8 freeze in order to grant the Cullen's family an emergency voucher.

This is just a start for Tacco and her children, a new beginning. Now new challenges face the family as they look for jobs, or better jobs in some cases. Tacco is excited about her weekly life skills/jobs skills sessions she started attending two weeks ago, and she has expressed wanting to become an organizer with Occupy Our Homes ATL, maybe writing a book about her experiences as a mother, and one day opening a day care center.

The Cullen's family is hosting a victory party Saturday 8/4 at 2pm at their new home at 2259 Polar Rock Terrace.

American Friends Service Committee has been excited to be a part of the campaign keep this loving family together, and we hope to stay involved over the next three months as the family makes this transition.


This campaign definitely brought a diverse group of individuals and organizers together. So many folks played super key roles in keeping this family off the streets. "Able" Mable Thomas, Atlanta Travelers Aid, Antioch Baptist Church,  Community Ministry Christian Church, Joe Beasley, Derrick Boazman, WOAK, V103, Frank and Wanda, Pittsburgh Resurrection, and countless individuals are all had the communities back, and who knows what kind ripple effect preventing Tacco and 11 children from becoming homeless will have. It's a win for humanity, and we need more of those these days.


Tim Franzen
American Friends Service Committee

Coming Together For Family On The Verge Of Homelessness

The last week we've been frantically working with Tacco Cullens, single mother of 11. As of Saturday June 30th Tacco and her children were forced to leave the substandard home they had rented buy a scam artist that did not in fact own the home. Why was the home substandard? Because the fake landlord refused to fix the house.





Since the 30th there have been two tasks that the family and others have been trying to accomplish. While we all have been organizing a patchwork of suitable places for the family to stay, we've also been trying to find a long term solution to their housing.

One two separate occasions in the last week the family was literally on the verge of having nowhere to sleep. If it weren't for "Able" Mable Thomas and Atlanta Travelers Aid Tacco and her family could have already ended up on the street.

Progress has been made. In the last week more and more people are coming out of the woodwork to offer help. We've had several leads on a house, though none have panned out yet.

Today we launched a weekly lunch and learn at Pittsburgh Resurrection designed to provide space for the family to learn alternative career paths, budgeting, how to organize their community, how to identify root causes of the problems in their lives, and urban gardening. The lunch and learns are also an opportunity to enjoy a good cooked meal, and for the younger children to engage in fun educational activities.

After today's lunch and learn we took the whole family to Antioch Baptist Church for a meeting with Rainbow PUSH southeastern president Joe Beasley. Mr. Beasley not only took the time to meet with each of the children and make sure they went home with boxes of food, we also spent about an hour putting pressure on the Atlanta Housing Authority to help this family through their crisis.

What are we looking for and how can you help?

The family is looking for a 4-6 bedroom house that's cheap and available for rent. They would of course would need the owner to understand and be cool with the fact that this family is very big. They would prefer something that isn't to far from the Pittsburgh(as in South ATL) . We are also open to helping them buy a cheap abandoned home and help them fix it up, but that would need to happen really soon and time is running out. Atlanta Travelers Aid is currently paying for the family to have a few efficiency rooms downtown, but their last day there is July 18th, so that's the deadline we're working with.

 There will be a benefit dinner this Saturday in the Pittsburgh Community at 6:30pm. The cost is $5 to $20 for a three course meal, people are encouraged to pay what you can. Below is a link to the event.
Facebook event

You can also give directly and safely here:
Donate To Tacco Cullins




Tim Franzen
American Friends Service Committee