Tonja’s Place is a community-centered nonprofit dedicated to helping single-parent families regain independence by removing one of the biggest barriers they face: reliable transportation.

We provide reliable vehicle assistance, short-term auto insurance support, and practical transportation and insurance education designed to help parents maintain employment, care for their children, and build lasting stability.

Our mission is to remove transportation barriers that prevent single-parent families from maintaining employment and achieving long-term stability.

Through reliable vehicle assistance, short-term auto insurance support, and practical education, Tonja’s Place helps families establish the transportation stability they need to move forward independently.

Transportation is one of the most overlooked barriers to family stability. Without reliable transportation, maintaining employment, getting children to school or childcare, attending essential appointments, and managing everyday responsibilities can become significantly more difficult.

Reliable transportation can affect a family’s ability to:

• maintain consistent employment
• ensure children can reliably get to school or childcare
• access essential services and appointments
• manage household responsibilities
• build and sustain long-term financial stability

Without reliable transportation, opportunity is not just delayed. It can become inaccessible.

Tonja’s Place exists to help close this gap through structured transportation assistance, short-term auto insurance support, education, and accountability designed to create lasting stability.

Tonja’s Place was founded in honor of my mother, Tonja, a woman who fought hard, loved deeply, and believed in helping others rise. My life changed when I was given access to a reliable vehicle during a time of need. That moment became the foundation for this mission. If one car can change a life, imagine what is possible for an entire community.

Tonja’s Place is built on three core values:
Compassion
Community
Empowerment

Tonja’s Place is more than a one-time vehicle assistance program. We use a structured approach designed to help families establish lasting transportation stability.

While temporary transportation assistance can solve an immediate problem, Tonja’s Place addresses the responsibilities that come with maintaining reliable transportation, including auto insurance, vehicle ownership education, accountability, and long-term planning.

We don't simply provide transportation. We help families build the knowledge and stability needed to maintain it.

What sets Tonja's Place apart:

We treat transportation as a foundation for stability 

• Access to reliable transportation supports consistent employment, family responsibilities, and greater economic mobility. 

We combine direct support with education and accountability

• Participants receive transportation support along with practical education about auto insurance, vehicle ownership, maintenance responsibilities, and the costs associated with keeping a vehicle on the road.

We focus on outcomes, not just services

• Our structured program emphasizes participant follow-through, employment stability, responsible vehicle ownership, program completion, and increased independence. 

We prioritize sustainability over dependency

• Tonja’s Place provides structured, time-limited assistance designed to help participants maintain progress beyond the program. 

We are built from lived experience

• This model was not created from theory. It was built from real life barriers, real gaps, and real solutions that have already proven to change lives. 

At Tonja's Place, transportation is not the end goal. It is the starting point for everything that comes next. We don't jus give keys. We unlock stability.

Compassion

We lead with understanding, meeting families where they are while helping them move forward with clarity and support.

Community

We believe stability is built together. Through partnerships and shared responsibility, we create a network that supports lasting change.

Empowerment

We equip families with the tools, knowledge, and access needed to restore independence and build long-term stability.

These are not just principles. They guide how we serve, how we partner, and how we measure impact.