Third Place, Feature Picture Story - Albert Cesare / The Cincinnati Enquirer, “Finding Home”April Austin deals with separation and divorce from her husband while caring for her four children and being pregnant. Over the course of a school year, the family has dealt with homelessness, transportation issues, illness and poverty, with one goal in mind: that April’s oldest, Genea Bouldin, 17, graduate from high school. The family lived at four addresses the first four months of school. They lived in this hotel room for five days. April's four count among the estimated 27,500 children growing up in poverty in the city of Cincinnati. The Enquirer followed a Cincinnati Public Schools family that experienced homelessness for the nine-month academic (year). Every academic year, Cincinnati Public Schools' Project Connect program serves an average of 3,000 students whose families are experiencing homelessness. In 2018-19, April's four are among that number. The project highlighted the everyday struggles of a family dealing with homelessness in Cincinnati.
Third Place, Feature Picture Story - Albert Cesare / The Cincinnati Enquirer, “Finding Home”Gerald Bouldin, 12, carries cardboard boxes for his mother at their rented house on McMicken Avenue Over-the-Rhine on Sept, 14, 2018. April Austin and her four children stayed at the residents for two months before they were asked to pay $1,000 a month in rent. "It smelled of mold, and you could tell people were doing drugs like crack cocaine. I grew up in a household (like that), so I knew what it smelled like, as well as cigarettes. It was all in the walls, like the walls smelled of cigarettes," she said.
Third Place, Feature Picture Story - Albert Cesare / The Cincinnati Enquirer, “Finding Home”April Austin embraces her daughter Jasmine Austin, 6, as she wakes her up to get her ready for school at the Extended Stay America hotel in Springdale on Sept. 19, 2018. Austin and her four children stayed in the two-bed hotel room for five days while trying to obtain other housing.
Third Place, Feature Picture Story - Albert Cesare / The Cincinnati Enquirer, “Finding Home”Genea Bouldin, 17, helps her sister, Jasmin Austin, 6, paint her nails while getting ready for school at an Extended Stay America hotel in Springdale on Sept. 19, 2018.
Third Place, Feature Picture Story - Albert Cesare / The Cincinnati Enquirer, “Finding Home”April Austin prepares a frozen pizza for Solomon Austin, 4, at the home of a family friend in Forest Park on Oct. 10, 2018. She and her four children stayed there for a month through the end October while waiting for a house to be ready in Madisonville.
Third Place, Feature Picture Story - Albert Cesare / The Cincinnati Enquirer, “Finding Home”Genea Bouldin, 17, carries a box of chips from inside the rented house in Madisonville to the family van March 21, 2019, before a drive to Cleveland for her surgery.
Third Place, Feature Picture Story - Albert Cesare / The Cincinnati Enquirer, “Finding Home”Nurse Kathy McClish checks the heartbeat of April Austin's baby during a prenatal appointment March 21, 2019, in Forest Park. April said she became pregnant while briefly trying to reconcile with her estranged husband, Brandon Austin, in October. She filed for divorce April 30, 2019.
Third Place, Feature Picture Story - Albert Cesare / The Cincinnati Enquirer, “Finding Home”April Austin comforts her daughter, Genea Bouldin, 18, after surgery at the Cleveland Clinic on March 22, 2019.
Third Place, Feature Picture Story - Albert Cesare / The Cincinnati Enquirer, “Finding Home”Jasmine Austin embraces her mother, April Austin, on March 23, 2019. Jasmine broke into tears when she was told that her big sister had to stay another night in the hospital following a 12-hour breast reduction operation at the Cleveland Clinic.
Third Place, Feature Picture Story - Albert Cesare / The Cincinnati Enquirer, “Finding Home”April Austin cries alone in her used minivan April 4 outside of their Madisonville home after a tire blew. She didn't want her children to see her desperation. "I don't know what I'm going to do, I can't afford a new tire," she said.
Third Place, Feature Picture Story - Albert Cesare / The Cincinnati Enquirer, “Finding Home”Genéa Bouldin, 18, lifts her brother Solomon, 5, during the Withrow University High School Bridge Walk celebration of graduates on May 16, 2019.
Third Place, Feature Picture Story - Albert Cesare / The Cincinnati Enquirer, “Finding Home”Galileo Austin, one week old, sleeps in a bassinet under the watchful eye of his brother, Solomon, 5, on May 22, 2019. Galileo is April Austin's fifth child, and the third child from her second marriage.
