Marlena Jones has undergone an extreme makeover — and she’s not looking back.

“I’m 100 percent better now than I was last August,” says the 28-year-old mother of three, describing her personal transformation since moving into Crawford County’s first and only transitional housing project for homeless families.

Before Jones and her two youngest sons made Liberty House their home, the lifelong Meadville resident had been caught in a seemingly endless cycle of depression and despair dating back more than five years.

“My mother had passed away (in 2000) and I didn’t care about nothing,” she recalled, shaking her head sadly at the memory. “Back then, I was a very lousy mother. I didn’t have time for my kids — I just thought of myself. I would buy them stuff, but I wasn’t giving them the love they were supposed to have.”

Six months after the move, Jones describes her relationship with her kids as “wonderful.” She’s studying business administration at Meadville’s Business Institute of Pennsylvania and her sons Anthony, 4, and Adonis, 3, attend preschool at the YWCA. Her third son, 7-year-old Shawn, lives with his father and attends First District Elementary School.

“Now, we just have such a busy schedule from Monday through Thursday,” she said. “I get up at 6 a.m. I get ready to go to school and then I get them up and get them dressed. Then I take them to the Y and I go to school. I get off school at 3 p.m. From 3 to 4, I do what I have to do. Then I come home, get dinner ready and pick them up at the bus stop.”

After dinner, it’s off to the YMCA, where the family now has a membership. “They have free baby-sitting while I work out Monday through Thursday,” she said with a grin. “We usually stay until 7. We come home and we’re just passed out. We’re usually in bed no later than 9.” Friday is a day off for Jones and her sons — a day she describes as “family time.”

It’s nothing like the old days, when staying up late and sleeping all day was the story of their lives.

Her daily workout offers a glimpse of the depth of the shift. “I feel a lot better about myself,” she said. “Before, I didn’t care what people thought of me — what I was doing was my business. But now that I’m going to school, I feel so proud of myself.” With that new pride came an interest in taking better care of herself — and her kids.

Because of the program, she added, she’s feeling the way she felt when her mom was alive.

The first day of the rest of their lives

Jones’ transformation is exactly what members of Crawford County Coalition on Housing Needs Inc. had in mind for residents of Liberty House, which opened its doors last April. The coalition’s latest project, a three-story building on the corner of Liberty and Willow streets with four two-bedroom apartments and two three-bedroom apartments, is filled with income-eligible homeless families who have specifically agreed to spend 18 to 24 months concentrating on breaking the homeless cycle forever. Families can remain at Liberty House for a maximum of two years.

Jones, for example, will graduate from business school in June 2007, just as her 24 months in the program comes to a close. “I hope that during my last quarter of school I can go out there and get a job — and get my own place,” she said.

According to the coalition’s executive director, Hollie Rose, there are no “typical” Liberty House residents. “Each family comes with its own unique set of issues that they have decided they want to conquer,” she said. “We work with them — and the different social services agencies in the community — to help the families identify what they hope to accomplish. Then we help them meet those goals.”