For Grace Flowers, the face of HCZ Safety includes a watchful eye, an open ear and a welcoming smile.
Flowers has lived at St. Nicholas Houses since 1964, when she moved there as a young girl. She kept her own sons safe as violence escalated there, and now watches over hundreds of children at HCZ’s building in the midst of the development.
She remembers the St. Nicholas of her youth as a place where folks sat outside on wooden benches and kept an eye on each other’s children. “Your neighbors were like your family,” she recalled. As drugs and violence took hold of the neighborhood, Flowers quit her job to keep an eye on her boys as a single mom.
“My kids meant more to me than the job. It was rough at the time in the projects. It meant more to me to keep my sons off the street,” she said, noting she enrolled them in outside sports programs to keep them safe.
“It was about me being that strong parent and knowing what’s out there and how the streets can swallow up a child real quick.”
In 2013, Flowers had to again stop working to take care of a family member: her mom. “My mom was my best friend and I still miss her, but I have to go on with my life for my kids and my grandkids.” After her mother’s passing, Flowers learned HCZ was hiring and got the job the same day she interviewed. “It was a blessing,” she said.