✨ Introducing: Women of Excellence Lifetime Legacy Honoree: Francina Pendergrass, Founder/President, Hannah’s House! ✨ Years before Hannah’s House opened, the idea came to Francina Pendergrass as a vision. As clear as day, Francina saw that she would someday open a safe, peaceful home to help women in crisis rebuild their lives. Francina started a family literacy program for incarcerated women at the Cumberland County Department of Corrections. In addition to providing academic help, the program included parenting classes, poetry, and family counseling that helped the women reconnect with their children and families. Many left prison with new skills and confidence, but finding housing was still a stumbling block, she says. “There were young women who had been on the streets since they were 12 or 13 and now they were 18 or 19,” she says. “When they were released, many didn’t have a place to go and they started losing hope.” It wasn’t just a South Jersey problem. Through her church, ...