Summit, NJ—In 2019, Family Promise launched A Future Begins at Home, a robust and innovative initiative to create and strengthen homelessness prevention and stabilization programs across Family Promise’s 200 Affiliates. The national nonprofit partnered with Clayton, one of the nation’s largest off-site and on-site home builders. Clayton and Family Promise agreed that the underlying causes of homelessness, including the affordable housing crisis, needed to be urgently addressed.
The new initiative sparked program growth and capacity building across the Family Promise network. This year, Family Promise is partnering with additional corporate and nonprofit partners to prevent episodes of homelessness for families with children. In 2022, A Future Begins at Home will distribute more than $1.6 million to Affiliate programs across the holistic Family Promise continuum of service.
Funding to Affiliates will go directly to families and allow the organization to develop and strengthen best practices in case management and services. Grants will build new or strengthen existing programs in prevention, shelter diversion, stabilization, housing, and landlord relationships. The funding is expected to serve more than 1,010 families in 2022, including 2,500 children.
Supporting a family with children takes an entire community. Family Promise is proud to partner with Clayton, Gerstner Philanthropies, Help Us Move In, and Synchrony to ensure that no child’s future is determined by their housing status.
As families continue to recover from the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, one missed paycheck or a decrease in work hours can put a family on the brink of emergency shelter. That’s where prevention programs come in. Homelessness prevention, proactive financial assistance, and case management to keep a family in their home and avoid an episode of housing instability, are critical needs.
Shelter diversion, another case management practice funded through A Future Begins at Home, utilizes creative, fast solutions for families who are already experiencing an episode of homelessness and seeking shelter. The idea is to keep a family in a stable housing environment and avoid a shelter stay.
The COVID-19 pandemic and lack of affordable housing have contributed to increased need across the country. Thanks to our partners’ commitment to A Future Begins at Home, Family Promise is preparing to serve more families in 2022 than ever before.
ABOUT FAMILY PROMISE
Family Promise envisions a nation in which every family has a home, a livelihood, and the chance to build a better future. What began as a local initiative in Summit, NJ, has become a national movement that involves 200,000 volunteers and served 177,000 family members in 2020. Family Promise will change the future for 1 million children by 2030.
Currently, Family Promise is working in 200 communities in 43 states to ensure that families experiencing homelessness have a safe place to call home. To make a gift, visit FamilyPromise.org .
