Lots of people change their addresses when looking for a job. People find another address that they can use. I know someone who had better luck looking as soon as she changed her address from North Preston to Dartmouth. She said she felt shame about it, but she had to do it. I changed mine once when I lived in public housing briefly – I used my mom’s address instead, to get a job at a place where that shouldn’t be an issue. Someone else I know, when asked where she grew up, says “the North End” – she doesn’t want to say Gottingen St. If you say “the Square” (Uniacke Square) people kind of say, “Oh, you don’t seem like someone who grew up there,” if you don’t fit the stereotype. But so many people live there.

Reprinted with permission from Working While Black in Nova Scotia.