\nGrondahl is director of the New York State Writers Institute at the University at Albany and a former Times Union reporter<\/em>.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/chronicle.hvcc.edu\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/OmarCunningham_student_Jan2023-450x338.jpg\")
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COLONIE \u2014 Omar Cunningham, 21, was sleeping in the woods along the Hudson River as September\u2019s overnight temperatures began dropping into the 40s.<\/p>\n
It was getting cold in his thin sleeping bag.<\/p>\n
Although he was homeless, Cunningham maintained an A average in his business administration courses at Hudson Valley Community College.<\/p>\n
An adolescent chess prodigy in Brooklyn, he still played chess online and kept up an expert-level rating with the U.S. Chess Federation.<\/p>\n
The stress of life on the streets and sustaining his sobriety was wearing him down, though.<\/p>\n
Waverly Patrick, a social worker who had counseled Cunningham four years earlier at the addiction treatment center Hope House, encountered Cunningham on a stretch of South Pearl Street where homeless men congregated.<\/p>\n
\u201cI could tell he was living on the streets and he didn\u2019t look good,\u201d Patrick recalled. He told Cunningham about a program where he works, Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple\u2019s Homeless Improvement Project, or SHIP. It provides free housing for homeless people or those at-risk of homelessness in a decommissioned and repurposed wing of the Albany County Jail.<\/p>\n
\u201cI told Omar he didn\u2019t need to stay out on the streets and to call me if he needed help,\u201d said Patrick, who is known as \u201cMister Pat.\u201d He left Cunningham his cellphone number<\/p>\n
A few weeks later, Cunningham called.<\/p>\n
Patrick met with Vivian Kornegay, supervisor of SHIP. \u201cWhen I heard Omar was living on the streets and still had a straight-A report card in college, I said let\u2019s bring him in,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
For the past three months, Cunningham has called former cell D131 his home. He is thriving at SHIP, opened in 2019. It provides at no charge a single room, communal space, kitchen, laundry room, computer room and library.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m so grateful to be here,\u201d Cunningham said. \u201cIt gives me stability and helps me save money so I can get my own apartment eventually.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOmar is very focused and doing everything he\u2019s supposed to be doing,\u201d Patrick said.<\/p>\n
Patrick said Cunningham is a helpful presence at SHIP and shares his computer expertise by tutoring older men who struggle with technology.<\/p>\n
When Cunningham was growing up in Brooklyn, his father left and his mother struggled to raise four sons as a single parent. He found solace from an erratic home life in chess. His introduction to the game came at age 11 at a local library, where chess master Sam Barsky gave a demonstration.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomething about it was mesmerizing to me and it just pulled me in,\u201d he recalled.<\/p>\n
He started reading chess books and played any chance he got. He watched a 2013 documentary film, \u201cBrooklyn Castle,\u201d about I.S. 318, a public junior high, or intermediate school, in Brooklyn that won 26 national chess titles, more than any other school, despite budget constraints and a majority of families living below the poverty line.<\/p>\n
Cunningham convinced his mother to let him transfer in sixth grade to I.S. 318, where he won a spot on the highly competitive chess team.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was very proud to be on the team,\u201d he said. He practiced each day after school and traveled with the team to out-of-state tournaments, including twice to Orlando which included visits to Disney World.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was beautiful,\u201d Cunningham said. \u201cI couldn\u2019t believe the places chess took me.\u201d<\/p>\n
He didn\u2019t mind a long commute on the J train line across Brooklyn to get to school. Chess became his singular obsession.<\/p>\n
He became the highest-rated player among the high-achieving chess players on the team at I.S. 318.<\/p>\n
\u201cChess came naturally to me,\u201d he said. His U.S. Chess Federation ranking skyrocketed between ages 13 and 14 from a beginner level of 252 to a Class A level of 1,800 (just below an expert level starting at 2,000).<\/p>\n
He was featured at 14 in a Brooklyn community newspaper when he played 13 men simultaneously, and defeated each one in a chess exhibition at a city park.<\/p>\n
Dysfunctional home life took a toll. He wound up in foster care, dropped out of high school and developed a substance abuse problem as a teenager. \u201cI was out of control with weed and alcohol. I was in a dark place,\u201d he said, and was arrested for larceny to support his habit.<\/p>\n
Cunningham was accepted into Hope House at age 17 and relocated to Albany in 2018. He successfully completed a six-month treatment program, got his GED diploma and found an apartment. He got behind on rent, was evicted and ended up sleeping in the woods by the river.<\/p>\n
Chess was a bright spot. He won cash in online tournaments and landed a few paying gigs as a chess instructor. \u201cChess saved my life,\u201d he said, citing its lessons in patience and critical thinking.<\/p>\n
Academic success at HVCC encouraged him to join the school\u2019s investment and entrepreneur clubs. He also began attending services at Living Hope Community Church in Niskayuna.<\/p>\n
As we talked, Cunningham sipped a juice mixture of apples, cucumber, lemon and honey. He adheres to a strict plant-based diet and does daily meditation and yoga in his room. A Holy Bible rests on his desk.<\/p>\n
There are currently 29 residents living at the jail as part of SHIP, men between ages 18 and 60. Nineteen are employed and two, including Cunningham, are full-time students. SHIP rules include a curfew, no drugs or alcohol, and a requirement that residents must save one-half of their job earnings or social service benefits in a bank account.<\/p>\n
A gray and white pit bull named Emma is the mascot and roams freely about the place, pausing to be petted or hugged. The dog was featured in a 2020 episode of the cable TV program Pit Bulls & Parolees. Samantha, a homeless woman in New Orleans, was forced to give up Emma to the Villalobos Rescue Center before she returned to her native England for a liver transplant.<\/p>\n
The dog was adopted from the center and serves as a metaphor for the redemption SHIP offers.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no other program like this anywhere,\u201d said Korrnegay, who is known as Mama. \u201cWe\u2019re not a homeless shelter, but we offer a safe and comfortable space where our residents can get a restart on their life.\u201d<\/p>\n
More than 200 men have come through SHIP and a typical stay is between 60 and 90 days. SHIP has a 60 percent success rate, meaning men leave with a job, rent an apartment and stay out of trouble. The program grew out of Apple\u2019s frustration at seeing many repeat offenders and nearly two-thirds of those released from prison or county jail ending up homeless. SHIP receives charitable support from local businesses, including SEFCU, a division of Broadview Federal Credit Union.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis program has been a blessing to me and the staff are very supportive, especially Mister Pat,\u201d said Cunningham. His goal is to open a chess center for youngsters in the city\u2019s South End, where he once lived on the streets.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
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