Who are the Homeless ?

People! Individuals, families, mothers, fathers, children and elderly. People just like you.

• A spouse cannot cope with the responsibility of a family anymore and leaves a 14 year marriage. The remaining spouse, left with a teenager who is a mother of an 8 month old baby herself, has no money, no car and no job. What’s next? They must stay at a shelter.
• A low income family has a house fire and loses everything. The little insurance they had may build a structure, but will not replace personal belongings. Rebuilding will take months. They end up living with a sister and her children in an already too small apartment.
• A family suffers from corporate downsizing. The household breadwinner is laid off. They have a little money in savings, but after four months of looking for work, the money is gone. One parent must stay home to attend to the three small children. They borrow money from family to last another month, but then where will they turn?

The need is large and growing! In early 2009 an Evanston District 65 official reported over 200 children in the district are in a homeless situation. On October 28th , 2009 The Chicago Tribune reported that a record number of area students in homeless situations: Chicago is up 25%, Suburban Cook up 76%, and 9,535 students in homeless situations. The housing crisis and economy has further increased the urgency to help families in homeless situations

Why FPCNS?

Because all the Family Promise Network Programs are successful. On average 80.0% of the families in the program find permanent housing. Guests without jobs usually find them or enter job training. Others even enroll in school. FPCNS has begun to bring many congregation members within our Network the opportunity to touch people without means in a loving and caring way.

The Chicago area has a severe homeless problem that we are addressing. In 2008 a Point in Time study was done identifying the large homeless family population in our area. Many others were not counted, who are moving or hidden homeless (people staying with family or friends) that we have not recognized. Won’t you please help

What do we do?

The program provides both transitional hospitality and assistance to achieve lasting independence through a network of existing community resources:

• 12 Houses of worship for meals and overnight
• Congregation members act as volunteers
  Day center provides a home base during the day for families in transition along with an address and phone number
• Our Network Director serves as counselor and resource for hosted families as they transition to permanent housing
• We work closely with affiliated Social service agencies for referrals, job training,  affordable housing and permanent placement of families
• Our 15-passenger van and professional driver provide transportation to and from host congregations