Emergency Shelter
Our rotational shelter program and warm hospitality is the foundation of the Family Promise model.
We offer hospitality to families experiencing homelessness through our innovative shelter model that is used all throughout this country — using existing space like congregations and volunteers motivated by compassion. Working with community resources, we provide comprehensive and targeted services, including extensive individual based programming, at 1/3 the cost of traditional shelter. Furthermore, we serve families of all compositions (grandparents, single parents, dual families, and yes even their PETS) often providing their only shelter option.
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And it works.
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On average, 80% of the people served in our shelter program secure housing within three months. Because of the depth of services and community support, families stay housed. Our prevention and stabilization services increase that impact.
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HOW IT WORKS
The resources are already there. In the community, there are congregations and organizations that can provide space in their buildings to serve as temporary homes. We partner with over 20 host sites currently in which families are given their own private space to sleep. Our Day Center is a home-like atmosphere where families can have an address, take showers, do laundry, receive programming, and look for housing and jobs. With volunteers giving their time, making meals, and sharing hospitality, family homelessness is addressed without the creation of expensive shelters.
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These volunteers are the core of the program. They share food, spend the night, play with children and lend their passion and expertise to help families get back on their feet. They prove that motivated people can solve family homelessness. And, in the process, they truly create “home” – and a community – for families who have no place left to turn.
A COMMUNITY RESPONSE
In every community, these core elements exist. By bringing the community together on the issue of family homelessness, Family Promise addresses a major social problem in a holistic, effective way. Once the community becomes engaged, people understand the root causes of family homelessness and take steps to address them. Family Promise Affiliates have created more than 1,700 community initiatives—housing programs, homelessness prevention, childcare and much more—that target the issues of poverty and homelessness on a local level.
A LONG-TERM SOLUTION
Not only does our 88% success rate mean many more families stably housed, it is also a tremendous cost saving to the community as diversion from far more expensive interventions. Our approach of keeping families together, identifying their strengths, and partnering with the community for solutions means that families are at much lower risk of returning to homelessness.
THE BOTTOM LINE
Family Promise changes lives. We served 1,035 parents and children last year, giving them the ability to realize their true potential. We also change the lives of our 400 volunteers, giving them a meaningful outreach right in their own communities.