Joan has a strong commitment to the mission, vision and values of Family Promise of Greater Cleveland.  She is looking forward to building on the foundation established with the recent merger of two outstanding organizations, Interfaith Hospitality Network of Greater Cleveland and New Life Community.

Learn more about Crafty Goodness at http://www. craftygoodnesscle.com or http://facebook.com/CraftyGoodnessCleveland.

Our Welcome Home team needs you, too!  If you’d like to donate gently used home furnishings, call us at 216.767.4060 for drop off or pick-up information. Volunteers are needed for our deliveries to newly housed families the third Saturday of every month.  Contact Gina Morris, Housing Specialist, at 216,771.9690 or gmorris@familypromisecle.org for more information.

Our waiting list is long due to the growing number of homeless families.  Gina and one son moved into our shelter and waited for two more beds to open up, while Tyrone and their other son went to the men’s shelter. For Gina, being separated was almost too much to bear, but the family was quickly reunited.  ”When the rest of my family came to Family Promise, that calmed me down.  I couldn’t feel at ease until our whole family was together.”

They worked on their plans for the future while they lived in the shelter and interim housing programs of Family Promise.  Thanks to our intensive employment focus, both Gina and Tyrone found jobs the same week their son graduated from high school.  They saved money for a few months then moved to a new apartment with furnishings provided by Family Promise.  Regular visits from our community-based services case manager provide the long-term support needed for family stability.

They’re together and that’s the most important thing.  When asked about the upcoming holidays, Gina said with a smile…”I already have my gift.  We have a home.  That’s all I wanted.”

You can help families like Gina and Tyrone’s in 2012… click here to DONATE and invest in a family’s future.

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Friends,

Homeless families face decisions that are unimaginable to most of us. These might include finding a safe place to spend the night, or what address to write on a job application when they have no home. The worst decision could be whether or how to split up a family to make use of limited number of shelter beds.

At Family Promise of Greater Cleveland, thanks to your support, families can stay together during the crisis of homelessness. We’ve served more than a hundred families this year. We provide emergency shelter, interim housing, and an array of family stabilization services so families can become and remain self-sufficient.

Family Promise was formed form the merger earlier this year of Interfaith Hospitality Network of Greater Cleveland and New Life Community. Together, we’re building community and strengthening lives, 365 days a year.  Please give today. Your gift of any amount will be carefully used and is needed to help the growing number of homeless families in Cleveland.

Thank you for transforming the lives of families in need!

Walter Ginn, Executive Director

Robert Kissling, President – Board of Directors

New Life Community and Interfaith Hospitality Network Become Family Promise of Greater Cleveland

Cleveland — New Life Community and Interfaith Hospitality Network of Greater Cleveland (IHN) have come together to form Family Promise of Greater Cleveland, the largest organization in Greater Cleveland focused exclusively on helping homeless families transform their lives and achieve long-term stability while helping families remain together. The merger was effective May 1, 2011.

New Life Community and IHN have both provided services to homeless and jobless families in the Greater Cleveland area. For the past two years, the organizations have worked to integrate staff, resources and programming to serve more families with even better outcomes at a lower cost per household served. Executive directors from both organizations will lead Family Promise of Greater Cleveland, with Walter Ginn serving as Executive Director and Sarah Cruise serving as Associate Director. All staff will remain and both boards merged to form the Family Promise of Greater Cleveland board.

Since 1990, New Life Community has helped more than 700 families. IHN has served more than 450 families since its shelter program was formed in 1998.

“By coming together, we’re able to expand our services and serve more families in Cleveland facing a crisis of homelessness,” Ginn said. “We are focused on families remaining together while they stay in our emergency and interim housing. We move families rapidly through our programs based on their individualized needs and offer long-term support after they leave our program. We also teach families self confidence, job skills, and life skills so they can be self sufficient and provide a promising future for themselves and their children.”

Family Promise of Greater Cleveland will provide the following range of services to address families at distinct stages of homelessness:

• Crisis Intervention to assess families experiencing a housing crisis with the goal of avoiding homelessness by linking them to community prevention resources.
• Rapid Exit Emergency Housing in our Family Center by day and in a network of host congregations by night.
• Interim Housing for families unable to immediately obtain or maintain permanent housing.
• Families reside for up to 16 weeks in our furnished apartments and receive self-sufficiency services to exit as rapidly as possible.Family Stability services are offered during and after a family’s residential stay, coupled with Community-Based services once families are re-housed to support families in maintaining jobs and housing long-term.

Deborah Vesy, president and CEO of the Deaconess Community Foundation, which helped fund the transition planning, said the new organization is well positioned to make an impact on homeless families on day one. “Family Promise of Greater Cleveland will have a relevant voice at the table because of its combined expertise,” she said. “Both organizations were on strong financial footing, but they wanted to come together to expand services. As Family Promise of Greater Cleveland, they’re able to provide higher-quality and more expansive services at a cost savings that allows them to reinvest in programming. That’s refreshing in these economic times.”

Congregational and community support will continue to be a critical delivery method for the programs, Cruise said. “Our more than 80 partner congregations and 2,500 volunteers give 32,000 volunteer hours and $700,000 worth of in-kind support to our programs. They also offer food, shelter, sleeping quarters, mentorship and companionship to our families,” she said. “We consider it an important part of our mission to provide volunteer opportunities for families to serve other families and make a true difference in their communities.”

Family Promise of Greater Cleveland’s administrative office and interim housing program is located on the east side of Cleveland near Shaker Heights at 3470 East 152nd St., Cleveland, with emergency housing located at the Family Center in the Tremont neighborhood at 2592 W. 14th St., Cleveland.

About Family Promise of Greater Cleveland: Family Promise of Greater Cleveland helps homeless families transform their lives. By providing emergency and interim housing and self-sufficiency services, such as employment and life-skills programs, families can quickly obtain and sustain stable housing. We keep families together during the crisis of homelessness and provide individualized blends of services during and after their Family Promise stay to help them achieve long-term stability. Each year, we help more than 100 families fulfill their promise.

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