Shelter
Our family Shelter Program supports families with children to become self-sufficient, employed, and stably housed in a short time frame.
Since opening our doors in 2019, we’ve helped over 200 children and their parents. secure housing within nine weeks. Because of the depth of services and community support, 85% of the families served in our shelter program families stay housed, and Affiliates provide both prevention and stabilization services to increase their impact.
FPGH is the only shelter in the county that keeps families together regardless of age, gender, or composition. Families stay together in a communal home-like shelter that is comfortable, private, and safe.
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To be accepted into our shelter program, parents must demonstrate a strong commitment to improving their situation. This includes creating and following a personal action plan with specific goals. and engage in case management.
Additionally, participants must be substance-free and willing to undergo a background check. Our Family Support Coordinator works closely with each family to develop an individualized plan to assist them with securing and transitioning back into their own homes as quickly as possible. While housing is always the #1 goal, other goals can include finding employment or a steady income source, obtaining transportation, saving money, enrolling children in school or childcare, and any other objectives that are important to the family.
Through the support and resources offered by Family Promise, families are empowered to create a brighter future for themselves and their loved ones.
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. Day Centers, where families can take showers, receive case management, and look for housing and jobs, can be located at a house of worship or agency. There are multiple options for transportation to get families from the host shelters to the Day Center and back. With volunteers giving their time, making meals, and sharing hospitality, family homelessness is addressed without the creation of expensive shelters. Across the country, people have realized that this innovative approach truly makes a difference for families experiencing homelessness—and more than 200,000 volunteers.
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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.