The inheritance isn’t the struggle.
Well & Plenty began long before it had a name.
The house on Floradale.
My granny, Jeri Baylor, had a house on Floradale that everybody knew they were welcome at.
Cousins in the summer. Sunday breakfast. Somebody stopping by without calling. Another plate being made. People came when things were hard, when things were good, and sometimes for no reason at all.
You didn’t have to be in crisis to belong.
She helped everyone. She showed up for families and schools when our community was hurting. As a bail bondswoman, she helped people come home from jail, and she never held their past against them. Her community honored her with many awards, including recognition from the NAACP.
But the awards were never the point. The point was the door, and that it stayed open.
I saved you some.
Maybe it was food. A little money put aside. A ride. A phone number somebody thought you might need.
The thing itself wasn’t always big. The message underneath it was:
I thought about you before you got here.
What we inherited.
We don’t romanticize why Black women have so often had to stretch, sacrifice, and figure things out. Their brilliance does not make deprivation beautiful.
The inheritance isn’t the struggle. It’s the way they loved, covered, provided, shared what they had, and refused to let anyone face life alone.
It’s the way my granny looked at someone with a record and saw a person coming home.
That’s the posture we carry into Well & Plenty.
Why I built it.
I was born and raised in Austin. I know what it means to rebuild while raising a family, to stretch one paycheck across rent, childcare, and a car that has to keep running, and to navigate systems that only see one need at a time.
I also know what changes when someone trusts you to know what your family needs. As a guaranteed income participant, I felt that difference. It’s why I stood at the Texas Capitol and testified to protect it for other families.
Today, my work in homelessness prevention shows me the same pattern again and again. Families rarely lose their homes for one reason. It’s a car repair, then a missed shift, then a childcare gap, then rent. Each system handles one piece. Nobody holds the whole picture.
Well & Plenty is what I kept wishing existed: a steady place to live, connected to work, skills, resources, and people who know their way around. A house on Floradale, built for now.
Housing is where we start.
Choice is where we’re going.
Well. And plenty.
The name carries a wish. May you be well. May there be enough.
Enough stability. Enough information. Enough support. Enough choice. Enough room for rest, joy, and whatever you decide comes next.
And when there’s more than enough?
Take some with you. We got plenty.
May there be more than survival available to you.
Meet our founder
Ashleigh Hamilton
Founder & CEO
Program Architect · Systems Builder · Community Advocate
Ashleigh is a program and systems architect working where housing stability, economic security, and maternal and family wellbeing meet. Born and raised in Austin, she leads the development of Right at Home Austin, a homelessness prevention initiative at the Ending Community Homelessness Coalition (ECHO) and one of 10 national pilot sites. She has spoken at the national Guaranteed Income Now convening and testified at the Texas Capitol in support of guaranteed income.
Her work is grounded in one question: What becomes possible when systems intervene before crisis, and people have enough stability, access, and choice to build what comes next?
Ashleigh’s professional roles are listed to reflect her experience and do not imply organizational endorsement of Well & Plenty.