About Us
Our Story
The Institute of Urban Living (IUL) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization founded in 1985 to address issues related to HIV/AIDS, particularly when the epidemic was disproportionately affecting minority communities. Over the years, IUL has evolved to offer mental health services, social services, intensive case management, advocacy, and referral services.
We work in collaboration with the D.C. government, community mental health service agencies, and other nonprofit organizations. IUL is committed to breaking the cycle of homelessness and effectively addressing issues of poverty within the District of Columbia by providing permanent, affordable housing with targeted supportive services.
Chief Executive Officer Urla Barrow
Chief Executive Officer Urla Barrow
Greetings!
Hyacinth’s Place is the start to a solution– a place designed for second chances. An
idea developed over a six-year period.
Homelessness can become a reality for anyone. It is not necessarily the result of substance abuse or mental illness. An unfortunate accident or a sudden misfortune can render anyone homeless. According to recent statistics, on any given night, there are about 5,000 homeless individuals living in the District of Columbia,
There are varying circumstances that influence and propel an individual to homelessness. In many instances, mental illness is a contributing factor. Homeless persons affected by mental illness needs a safe home with the support services that would allow them to function at the best of their capability. These individuals can eventually contribute to society and support themselves independently.
Women at Hyacinth’s Place are given opportunities to rebuild their lives. The journey is sometimes long and challenging. However, staff works conscientiously with each individual to identify those issues that rendered our women homeless. Life goals are identified and scrutinized for practicality to support their achievement. Residents receive the therapeutic attention and education needed to address their mental illness. Hyacinth’s Place is home for fifteen women at any given point in time.
Who is Hyacinth?
Viola Ernestine Barrow was nicknamed “Hyacinth” after a beautiful flower that grows in the waterways of Guyana, a country located at the northern tip of South America. She believed that the combination of education, hard work, and sacrifice were the ticket out of poverty. She instilled strong morals, the value of integrity, and decency in the young minds entrusted to her. Hyacinth grew up witnessing the daily struggle of her deaf mother working as a domestic, cleaning houses, washing and ironing clothes for her peers to eke out an existence for her lone parent family.
Many days, her mother didn’t know how she would have enough to provide food for them. They lived in a small house and paying rent for their humble dwelling was almost impossible. Eviction was a constant threat to the family. Hyacinth’s father, married to her mother, merely had a visiting relationship with his family. He spent most of his life in the gold mines of Guyana searching for gold that he never found, inevitably abandoning responsibility to his wife and family. By the time Hyacinth reached age 18, she had seen her father only three times. And at the age of 36, her father’s next visit, brought a blind, sick, and helpless old man to be her sole responsibility.
Observing the effects of life stresses on her mother, Hyacinth decided to go to work as a pupil-teacher at the age of 16. She ultimately assumed responsibility for her mother, the household, and later four of her brother’s eight children. She taught at an elementary school for 39 years. During her forties, for three years, Hyacinth worked full-time and studied in the evenings to obtain her trained teacher’s certificate. Hyacinth also provided private tutoring lessons for children to supplement her income, necessary to support her family. Remarkably, without a mortgage, she gradually built a beautiful house in a suburb of Georgetown, Guyana.
Hyacinth was a stalwart Christian who cared for and raised four adopted children with an unmatched generous heart. She instilled the concepts of strong morals and the value of integrity and decency in the young minds that were entrusted to her. Hyacinth also left a substantial fortune for a woman of such meager circumstances at that time.
Hyacinth was a dignified, well-spoken woman whose fragile appearance belied an intense strength of body, mind, and spirit. She emerged from the fires of life as a solid nugget of pure gold. She demonstrated that poverty could be overcome by strength of character, generosity of spirit, and deep spirituality. Hyacinth died from uterine cancer at the age of 59.
Today, all over the world, many men and women occupy high professional positions who started their foundational lessons, both in academia and human kindness, from their time spent with Hyacinth. Her nieces and nephews have benefited tremendously from her presence in their lives and their daily work. All of them seek to promote the values she had instilled.
Who is Hyacinth?
Viola Ernestine Barrow was nicknamed “Hyacinth” after a beautiful flower that grows in the waterways of Guyana, a country located at the northern tip of South America. She believed that the combination of education, hard work, and sacrifice were the ticket out of poverty. She instilled strong morals, the value of integrity, and decency in the young minds entrusted to her. Hyacinth grew up witnessing the daily struggle of her deaf mother working as a domestic, cleaning houses, washing and ironing clothes for her peers to eke out an existence for her lone parent family.
Many days, her mother didn’t know how she would have enough to provide food for them. They lived in a small house, and paying rent for their humble dwelling was almost impossible. Eviction was a constant threat to the family.Hyacinth’s father, married to her mother, merely had a visiting relationship with his family. He spent most of his life in the gold mines of Guyana searching for gold that he never found, inevitably abandoning responsibility to his wife and family. By the time Hyacinth reached age 18, she had seen her father only three times. And at the age of 36, her father’s next visit, brought a blind, sick, and helpless old man to be her sole responsibility.
Observing the effects of life stresses on her mother, Hyacinth decided to go to work as a pupil-teacher at the age of 16. She ultimately assumed responsibility for her mother, the household, and later four of her brother’s eight children. She taught at an elementary school for 39 years. During her forties, for three years, Hyacinth worked full-time and studied in the evenings to obtain her trained teacher’s certificate. Hyacinth also provided private tutoring lessons for children to supplement her income, necessary to support her family. Remarkably, without a mortgage, she gradually built a beautiful house in a suburb of Georgetown, Guyana.
Hyacinth was a stalwart Christian who cared for and raised four adopted children with an unmatched generous heart. She instilled the concepts of strong morals and the value of integrity and decency in the young minds that were entrusted to her. Hyacinth also left a substantial fortune for a woman of such meager circumstances at that time.
Hyacinth was a dignified, well-spoken woman whose fragile appearance belied an intense strength of body, mind, and spirit. She emerged from the fires of life as a solid nugget of pure gold. She demonstrated that poverty could be overcome by strength of character, generosity of spirit, and deep spirituality. Hyacinth died from uterine cancer at the age of 59.
Today, all over the world, many men and women occupy high professional positions who started their foundational lessons, both in academia and human kindness, from their time spent with Hyacinth. Her nieces and nephews have benefited tremendously from her presence in their lives and their daily work. All of them seek to promote the values she had instilled.