About Saffron

We don’t see case numbers—we see our daughters, sisters, neighbors, and friends. We offer partnerships that last a lifetime, so you’ll always be able to count on us in your most difficult moments.

Our mission

We provide dedicated advice, assistance, and resources to break the cycle of generational poverty so women and their families can thrive long-term.

Our name

Saffron threads are a spice that comes from a flower that requires hard work and dedicated effort to cultivate—but under the right care, these plants can survive frosty winters and hot, dry summers. When it’s harvested, saffron is worth more than its weight in gold.

Women and mothers have a lot in common with the saffron flower. When well rooted and nurtured with the help they need, they’re able to blossom and produce something beautiful and extremely valuable—strong communities, composed of healthy, thriving families.

Our Founder & CEO

Phyllis Everette founded Saffron Trust because she has a unique understanding of generational poverty—she lived it.

Growing up as one of ten children to a single mother, Phyllis didn’t have access to stable housing, education, and critical emotional guidance. When she became a single mother herself, she struggled to stay afloat financially, and found herself navigating food insecurity, homelessness and housing instability, and poor physical and mental health while raising her children.

At a key moment in her life, she got help from a women’s shelter, after an experience with domestic violence left her and her family in fear of their livelihood and forced to endure homelessnes while searching for safety. It was at the women’s shelter that Phyllis was finally able to breathe again in a welcoming and supportive space. The direct access to life-saving resources and a sisterhood of women who could understand and uplift each other, is truly what transformed her life. Understanding the power women share when they come together is what inspired Phyllis to create Saffron Trust Women’s Foundation—and help women thrive.

Phyllis knows that there are countless women living stories just like hers. And she realizes that getting help for a wide range of needs can feel like a full-time job—visiting one office for rent assistance, then another for healthcare, then another for food and diapers, with long commutes in between and long lines at each. Phyllis confronted many challenges as she continued to navigate through her life, and finding access to the resources she needed was difficult, as the cycle of poverty is difficult to break. The Saffron Trust Women’s Foundation was created as a solution to fix the inaccessibility to survival and ultimately end the vicious poverty cycle many women still have to endure.

Phyllis has worked hard to become a person that can offer the type of steady, nurturing help she received at that critical moment in her life. That’s why she founded Saffron Trust Women’s Foundation—to help remove the stigmas surrounding single motherhood, connect women with resources to escape their immediate struggle, and end the cycle of poverty that disproportionately impacts minority women in large cities.

Phyllis has over 25 years of experience in corporate environments. She has served as Executive Director of two nonprofit organizations and on the boards of several others. Phyllis holds a Master’s of Science in Management, Specialization in Organizational Structure from the College of Saint Elizabeth, NJ; and a Bachelor’s of Science in Business Administration, concentration in Human Resources Management from Centenary College or Louisiana, She is a practicing life coach and author.

Please see soul.citi for more about Phyllis.