Honeya Price believes in reinvention. Ten years ago, she was convicted of a felony in a domestic case against an ex-boyfriend and lost everything. She had to rebuild her
life—find a new home, a new job, a new purpose.

“I had to decide who I was,” she said. “I had to ask, ‘How did you get here? Why are you angry?’ I had to do a lot of soul searching. I had to go through dark nights and dark
times.”

She started a nonprofit—SWAG (Sisters Welcome All Generations)—to teach women the importance of self-love and how to empower themselves.

Around this time, the MeToo movement was beginning. Price organized a 500-women march in downtown Warren.

SWAG offers workshops for young girls and women, as well as boys, and hosts a
regular support group that is open to all.

“What we teach women is to FLY—First Love Yourself,” she said.

Now, as councilwoman of Warren’s sixth ward, she’s working to do the same for the
neighborhood she calls home.

“I’m newly elected to a ward that people have forgotten about,” she said. “One of my
goals is to bring it back to life like I did for myself. Reinvent it.”

Price says the Wean Foundation was key to her own transformation. Around the time
Price started SWAG, she was nominated for the Wean Foundation’s Emerging Leaders
Program.

“The Wean Foundation saw something in me that I didn’t know I had,” Price said. “I
didn’t consider myself a leader until I went through that program.”

Price also served as an AmeriCorps VISTA at Trumbull Neighborhood Partnership
where she learned a lot about neighborhood development and sustainability.

“That opened my eyes up; I learned so much,” she said.

Originally from Louisiana, Price moved to Warren when she was 11, settling on the west
side, in the sixth ward where she is now councilwoman. Among her plans for the
neighborhood is to develop an urban farm and sustainable food co-op—and change the
mindset of residents, many of whom, she says, have lost hope.

“I want to teach my ward self-love … to keep our neighborhood clean and take pride in
what we have,” Price said. “Never give up on yourself.”