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It will take a village to make his dream real

Former Buccaneer Warrick Dunn wants to rush past aiding one single mom at a time.

By LEONORA LaPETER
Published December 25, 2006

ADVERTISEMENT [Times photo: Willie J. Allen Jr.] Warrick Dunns talks about his charity Home for Holidays program as Roslynn Kearney and her son Carlton Green look on.

ST. PETERSBURG - One day, football player Warrick Dunn would like to build a neighborhood of single mothers with kids. There would be a community center in the middle, where kids could participate in after-school tutoring and etiquette classes.

It's a big dream. But Dunn is a big-time football player. He's played professionally for 10 years, first with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and now with the Atlanta Falcons.

He also recently celebrated 10 years of helping single mothers and their children move into their own homes, 67 mothers of 171 children in all.

In the past decade, Dunn has expanded the program from Tampa Bay to Atlanta and his hometown of Baton Rouge, La. Next he's targeting Tallahassee, the home of his alma mater, Florida State University.

He also is recruiting other football players to create the same program in every NFL city and has a foundation raising money for the effort. He also recently commissioned a study to find out how much the program really has helped the moms.

So, how have some of the families fared?

Some moms are doing well and have prospered. Others have struggled to keep their homes and at least one family lost its residence to foreclosure. Dunn is clear that he won't subsidize the moms after they sign up for the home.

In many ways, the women represent Dunn's mother, a Baton Rouge police officer and mother of six who was shot and killed in 1993 while working a second job as an off-duty security officer. She wanted a home for her family but was killed before attaining her dream.

"I think he pretty much said to me, 'I know you work hard, I know the struggle you go through, this is why I'm helping you out,' " said Renee Tulloch, 29, who got a home in Temple Terrace and just graduated with a nursing degree earlier this month. "He told me, 'my mom went through the same thing trying to buy a home for us.' "

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Tulloch was starting a new life for her and her son in Tampa after a failed marriage in New Jersey. Cassandra Smith, a mother of two, had gotten divorced, lost her apartment and was living with her sister. Patricia Haygood had recovered from a crack cocaine problem, found a job and reunified with five of her seven children.

They all wanted their own home. They went to a housing agency for help, worked to clear their credit and enrolled in homeownership classes.

Somewhere along the line, their files ended up in the hands of Dunn. He typically looks at dozens of applications.

"It's single moms who work hard trying to own their home and it seems out of reach and he helps us to reach that goal," said Sharon Montero, 37, a mother of three who moved into her Tampa home in 1998.

Dunn is a man of few words. He's at a loss to say why he picks this one over that one. He pulls a reporter's hand to his heart. This is where the decisions come from, he says in his soft-spoken voice.

"If my mom wouldn't have passed away, I wouldn't be doing this," he said after he handed over the house keys to his 66th mother, in the Bartlett Park neighborhood of St. Petersburg, earlier this month. "This is a blessing from God. My mom's life was taken away. Then I did this for her four years later. It's a blessing in disguise."

Lisa Brock, a spokeswoman for the Warrick Dunn Foundation, said none of the mothers really fits a pattern. Some led stable lives and fell into difficult times. Others have led roller-coaster lives filled with trials from early childhood. All must be prepared for home ownership, have histories of working and a desire to improve their lives.

"The reason he does the program the way he does is he's not looking to give a bunch of handouts; he's looking to find moms who are really doing everything they can within their means to make a plan for their future," said Brock.

She calls his assistance "an extra push." Many people think he gives the mothers the home. In reality, he gives them a $5,000 down payment and a house full of furniture, appliances, even food in the refrigerator and a lawn mower in the garage.

"He doesn't want them to go into debt buying things for the house," Brock said. "He wants to provide security for children whose mothers are working."

In the Tampa Bay area, Dunn has helped 18 women in Tampa, two in Clearwater, six in St. Petersburg and one in Holiday in Pasco County.

Dunn also wants to make the program more self-sufficient. Right now, he gets $100,000 a year from Prudential Tropical Realty, and Aaron's Sale & Lease Ownership provides the home furnishings.

This year, J. Edwin Benton, a professor of political science and public administration at the University of South Florida, had the mothers answer a 25-page questionnaire to study the impact of the program.

Thirty-three responded, and at least 36 percent of those said their mortgage was less than what they used to pay before they got into the house. About 52 percent said they were paying more.

Almost 80 percent said they had extra money for items like movies and prom accessories, clothing and school supplies for their kids.

Eight of the women have since begun earning more than $30,000 a year, an amount none earned before they got their homes.

"Many said their home life changed, there was hope where there was no hope before and probably a fourth of the mothers indicated they were able to advance their education," Benton said.

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At one time, the Bartlett Park neighborhood of St. Petersburg was, in the words of a local housing official, "the badlands." It was characterized by vacant lots, boarded-up homes and drug sales. This is the neighborhood where Ronald Eugene "Romeo" Mathis, now serving life in federal prison without parole, ruled over 30 drug runners and distributed $300,000 a week in crack cocaine that police said supplied much of west-central Florida in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Today, the neighborhood stands out for its large number of newly constructed homes after the city targeted the area and got rid of blight. Since that time, about 80 families have moved in, most with help from a nonprofit housing organization, Neighborhood Housing Services.

It is here that at least four of the mothers have settled. Three of them bought homes on Newton Avenue S, and a fourth recently located a block away on 15th Avenue S.

Bonnie Davila, who could not be reached for comment for this story, sold her home in 2005 for $162,500 and moved away. According to public records, she made almost $75,000 on the sale.

Davila, who now lives in Tampa according to public records, told Oprah Winfrey in April 2002. "Because of Warrick's generosity, I'm able to be a better mom," she said then. "I am able to focus on my daughters now. I don't have to live in fear anymore."

Haygood, a 50-year-old single mother of seven who lives across the street from where Davila lived, calls Dunn "my little angel."

But she notes that if she had to do it all over again, she'd pick up her house and move it to another neighborhood. Drug activity has picked up in Bartlett Park and, though Mathis is still in prison, activity is still brusque there.

"It's just getting worse and worse," she said.

Several times, Haygood, who works for a hospice, also has gotten behind on her mortgage payments. Insurance and taxes have pushed her mortgage bill from $600 to more than $800 a month. Still, she says, she will do whatever it takes to keep the home. It's meant so much to her family, she said.

Brock says the St. Petersburg model - putting the women close together - is the one the foundation would like to explore and develop.

Askia Muhammad Aquil, executive director of neighborhood housing services, says Dunn's goal of trying to impact an entire neighborhood is a good idea.

"They want to not only make a difference in the life of a family but a whole neighborhood," Aquil said. "A lot of athletes have money and fame, and they're not doing anything like this. His personal commitment is certainly noteworthy."

Times researcher Angie Drobnic Holan contributed to this report.

[Last modified December 25, 2006, 05:44:51]