Congratulations to Verneice Prince
Verneice Prince holds a steadfast belief in the inherent potential for extraordinary achievement within every individual, emphasizing the crucial combination of determination and external influence. Guided by this philosophy, Verneice serves as a living testament to the power of perseverance, inspiring others to navigate life’s challenges and realize their aspirations through her own leadership.
“I don’t know where I would be if not for my mentors. I’ve been in so many different environments witnessing the good, the bad and the ugly. If certain people were not in my life as role models, there’s no way I could have navigated this far,” she shares.
No matter one’s circumstances, Verneice shows us how it is possible to overcome and persevere. That is why she has been named an ExtraOrdinary Woman by the ExtraOrdinary Women Project BN this quarter.
At the age of one, Verneice was removed from her birth family and placed into the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) care. She grew up within the foster care system, most of the time separated from her brothers and sisters in Chicago.
“It’s a traumatic past; it’s a sad past. But I use that to help others today,” Verneice says.
While growing up within the foster care system,Verneice experienced sexual abuse as a young child. Although she experienced trauma after trauma, her faith and religion instilled a deep belief that she was capable of overcoming her circumstances and that her hardships wouldn’t define her.
“I thought that with enough willpower I could overcome my unfortunate start,” she notes.
Verneice decided from a young age that she wanted to work as a social worker and be a positive role model for others. “I want to make a change in what poverty looks like and help people achieve goals that they’ve set,” she adds.
Verneice emphasizes how important it was to her from an early age to stay in school too.
“I learned that an education is something that nobody can take from you. My spirituality made a big difference in how I was able to avoid getting in trouble and stay focused and motivated while in school,” she adds.
As a young girl, Verneice moved often within the foster care system, switching schools throughout her upbringing countless times. After graduating from Chicago Vocational High School, Verneice was taken in by a teen homeless shelter. At this point, the only escape she saw from poverty and homelessness was earning an education.
After aging out of the foster care system, she joined the military where she worked as a truck driver in the U.S. Army. She saw the Army as a way to be able to continue her education and earn a college degree. While taking classes, Verneice describes a time where she felt specifically motivated after taking a business management class where she earned an A.
“This positive experience showed me I was capable and that school was something I could do,” she notes with pride.
Verneice met her first husband while in the military and they had a son together. Verneice was in the military for two years while her husband was in the National Guard. She was honorably discharged. The couple later divorced and she moved to Detroit, MI, to begin a life as a single mother. Her biological father’s family lived in the area.
When she arrived in Michigan, Verneice found herself connecting with families from her church.
“I wanted my son to know he was so much more than his home environment. I wanted to show him how other intact families lived. I wanted him to grow up with love and stability,” she shares.
Verneice worked at various fast food restaurants and hotels to get by before starting work in adult foster care. It was there that she continued to help others, even taking in other children and caring for them. She met her second husband during this time and they added three children to their growing family.
“I wanted to show my own children and the children in our community that they could become any version of themselves they wanted to be if they put in the work,” she shares.
Meanwhile, Verneice chipped away, earning college credits at various community colleges. She earned her associate’s degree in general studies while living in Detroit.
Verneice married her second husband around this time. After graduating in 2006, they separated in 2007 which resulted in Verneice becoming a single mom again. She divorced prior to moving to Bloomington in 2013 after trying to reconcile with him without success. At this time she experienced homelessness again until she moved into transitioning housing with Home Sweet Home Ministries in Bloomington.
However, Verneice didn’t let her homelessness stop her. It simply motivated her to keep going.
“I wanted to stay in school, stay in church, and find people to look up to. I wanted to change the way I was living and looked to others who were doing it the ‘right’ way, ” she notes.
Verneice chose Bloomington to be closer to her family who lived in nearby Champaign. Initially, she had thought of moving on to Champaign to join them. However, she connected with the parishioners of Grace Church on IAA Drive and felt for the first time in her life that she had found somewhere she could call home.
“That church family took my children and me under their wings,” she adds. “I felt I lacked parenting skills since I had grown up in so many different environments. There were things that they could teach me that I simply never learned.”
With a VA voucher, she initially lived with Home Sweet Home Ministries before getting her own apartment in 2014 where she lived with her children. But Verneice yearned for more. She had dreams of earning an advanced degree, working as a social worker and helping others. She dreamed of owning her own house for herself and for her family.
“I like to see people grow from where they come from, and it takes a lot of people to help someone do that. It also takes a lot of people putting someone down for them to feel they can’t,” Verneice shares.
After moving to Bloomington, Verneice continued her education earning a bachelor’s degree in social work from Illinois State University while continuing to provide for her children, although the eldest moved to California.
“I believe the kids saw how important it was for me to keep working towards my goals, and that inspired them to do the same,” she adds.
In 2020 Verneice accomplished her goal of homeownership, purchasing a four-bedroom in Bloomington where she currently resides with her three youngest children. She then graduated with her master’s degree in social work the same year at Illinois State University (ISU) pushing herself to earn her advanced degree in only one year.
Though Verneice was advised not to do the one-year master’s program, she saw this as a challenge and dove in head first graduating with her advanced degree.
“ISU gave me a great education. I feel fully equipped to work as a social worker,” she shares.
Verneice started counseling as a volunteer with INtegRIty Counseling in Bloomington while earning her degree and gaining valuable experience towards her Licensed Social Worker or LCSW certification.
Verneice has now accepted a position as a part-time counselor at INtegRIty Counseling where she continues to work today. She is looking forward to passing the test for her LCSW license. She also volunteers her time with other community programs including a nonprofit startup that she founded called Cruisin’ Outta Poverty Services (C.O.P.S.) Thrift Store in Normal.
“C.O.P.S. is more than a store. It is a homeless outreach program,” she notes.
Inspired by her own experience, Verneice felt a calling to help others who are experiencing poverty and homelessness. She is CEO of C.O.P.S. NFP Thrift whose mission is to provide an umbrella of services geared towards addressing and stamping out poverty one person at a time.
She shares, “We welcome you with smiles and treat everyone with dignity, respect and the love of Jesus.”
C.O.P.S. offers a stipend to those needing emergency funds by providing work in the thrift store located on Wylie Drive in Normal or bringing the work to them when funds are available. This could involve folding, sorting, hanging and labeling donated clothes.
Verneice adds, “Homelessness does not equal hopelessness and poverty does not equal pointlessness. We all should be able to thrive in this world if we desire to and it will take our community here in Mclean County to prove it.”
Verneice recalls when she once experienced homelessness how often others were displaced for reasons unbeknownst to them. With this in mind, she wanted to create services to help those people get off the streets and find shelters right away. Through C.O.P.S., Verneice provides transportation services as well as finds housing for those in need.
Additionally, Verneice also wanted to provide services to help people get themselves out of homelessness, leading her to include counseling as part of the organization’s services. Through counseling she works to identify peoples’ skills and gifts, nurturing those in hopes of discovering their passions and goals. With all of these ideas in mind, Verneice knew she had to create a space that could cater to all of these needs.
She established C.O.P.S. Thrift on Wylie Drive in Normal thanks to the Anderson family who donated a space. The Thrift Store serves as a safe place where people in need may receive services ranging from transportation to access to phones/internet to literacy help. They also take deliveries from food pantries and simply provide a listening ear.
Most recently, Verneice has opened a mini mart right inside the C.O.P.S. Thrift store. With the help of family and friends, Verneice was able to renovate the back room into a small store where people in need can come to pick up food for themselves and their families. By doing this, Verneice has made C.O.P.S. a one-stop-shop to help people out of poverty providing help through many different avenues.
With the mini-mart, Verneice has started an entrepreneurship program where people living below the poverty line can learn the ropes of working in a thrift store. In return, the workers earn 40 percent of the day’s profit as an independent contractor. With a licensed partnership with First Christian Church, Verneice and her staff are also able to use a commercial kitchen, cooking to fill their own shelves.
“We want to jump start their release from poverty in whatever way that looks like,” Verneice shares. “We want everyone who walks through our doors to see their potential. In partnership with churches and businesses in the community we assist our visitors in making their dreams become a reality.”
Verneice reflects on her ability to stay afloat despite all of the hardships she has experienced. “Even now, there are people in my life that I feel like are angels on earth. This is the path that God put me on. Someone is always there to speak into my life or show me through example how I should strive to be,” she adds.
Verneice shares this core belief, “Some people just need a little more help than others. Some people need encouragement along the way. That doesn’t mean they aren’t capable of success.”
Verneice has found her true calling in helping others and “walks the walk” while “talking the talk.” Through her day job counseling at INtegRIty Counseling to her outreach through her church, and of course, through C.O.P.S. Thrift, she reflects,“This is all I want to do for the rest of my life. I really just want to be here and help others. May God continue to bless and keep you all.”
Story Written by EOW Intern Kaitlyn Klepec
