Nomi Williams has spent five years working for The Night Ministry and the past year in management, serving as the youth worker coordinator/supervisor for its youth homeless shelter, known as The Crib.
Her ties with The Night Ministry date back even further—to her days as a homeless youth, "trying to survive and trying to find and utilize the proper resources to guide me in the directions necessary to not only survive, but progress from that situation," she said.
"I came across The Night Ministry and fell in love, not only with the warm staff and welcoming atmosphere, but the ideal culture of self-affirmation and acceptance."
She was first a youth worker volunteer with The Chicago Recovery Alliances and progressed into her role by partnering up with The Night Ministry to advance her outreach, which led to two years with The AmerCorp organization in which she once again partnered with The Night Ministry to do street outreach.
She later did an internship with The Night Ministry while attending UIC.
"Years later, after living in New York chasing stardom wishing for a career as a Broadway performer, I moved back to Chicago, where I got in contact with some of my former colleagues and mentors at The Night Ministries and was offered a job at The Crib.
"The best part of the job is the ever lasting relationships I've build with our participants. I'm rarely called Nomi within the space; most of the youth call me 'Mom' or 'Mama,' which is an absolute honor for me, given the notion that most of our youth haven't had a mother figure, and they are indeed my kids; I love them beyond understanding."
The worst part of her job is witnessing the adversity that out youth have to face every moment of everyday and having to turn them away to that world yet knowing the limited resources that we provide has a shelf life and really pushing to create and assist within the standard of opportunities, she said. "I wish the world could truly see the potential for greatness that represents our youth, instead of the misguided notions that's unfairly placed on them; it truly breaks my heart. It also breaks my heart to fail in assisting someone to reach their potential."
Williams said the trans community is generally progressing, but still has a long way to go. "I still believe that we are, by far, the most repressed group to date, especially Black trans women," she said. "But there are people who are paving a path of progress, and not just the celebrity or public trans people like Lavern Cox or Chaz Bono, but the folks who are doing the grind work, the true grit, the grassroots that's building a dynamic sense of revolution within the community."
She added, "My goals [are] to fly over the rainbow, pursue music and theater, and one day start my own youth outreach organization, and I absolutely see these goals becoming reality. I know that everything I'm doing in social service and my life is truly my God-given calling. I also know that the roads that I've walked down have been bumpy, cracked, and unstable, but I had to walk them because the smoother course isn't for everyone and if I didn't than who the hell would. We walk with dirt between our toes today in order to strive with clouds underneath our boots; I truly believe this, and I'm still searching for those boots, size 11s."
Williams lives by a model of being absolutely objective and always open-minded, even when perspectives are opposed to hers. "I absolutely love people, even if [others] haven't shown me that love in return. I truly believe that good intentions are the steady objective and culture for people, even though things at times don't work out to that affect," she said. "My mother, Delores Baptiste Williams, is my goddess, the true love of my life, although I lost her when I was 16. Her essence is my core value, and her lessons are my lifestyle. I'm a lucky gal to have so many wonderful people in my life, and have been lucky enough to successfully mold opportunities I've encountered into progression."
by Ross Forman
THE STATS
Age: 35
Neighborhood: Born and raised on the South Side, but moved to the North Side at age 14.
Orientation: Transgender/Genderqueer
Ethnicity: Haitian/Dominican
Nickname: Nomi Michaels Devereaux
Hobbies: Music (singing and writing), poetry, art sketch and abstract.
Relationship status: "Dating someone; it has potential."
Favorite TV shows: Scandal and Sex in the City
Favorite movie: A Clockwork Orange
Trans idol: Community activist and mother Miss Gloria Allen
