Community Initiatives
Family Promise understands the needs of vulnerable families. So, we offer innovative programs — such as tenancy preparation and budgeting — to address them in a cost-effective, targeted approach.
Housing. Transportation. Education
All of these issues — and many others — are part of the myriad causes of family homelessness. As volunteers engage in the Family Promise program, they realize that they can serve more people more effectively if they can address these challenges.
Community Initiatives include a wide array of programs. Some get to the heart of core needs, such as life skills, families face regaining self-sufficiency. Other initiatives, like budgeting, find ways to match local volunteers' strengths and the interests of local corporations with the needs of our guests. Similarly, many initiatives build off the Family Promise Program's core tenets, leading to efforts like food assistance, furniture and clothing donation, and health and wellness programs.
There is probably no community initiative that is more vital or more involved than the many housing programs including Rapid Re-Housing and Homeless Prevention allowing Family Promise of Greater Kingsport to assist our neighbors with housing instability.
Key to these programs is the other most widespread initiative: post-shelter extended support. The underlying causes of homelessness are not alleviated simply by providing housing, as crucial as that is. The immense variety of services provided, from family- mentoring to case management, ensures that families do not slip back into homelessness so that the changes Family Promise has made are enduring.
The key is that the solutions exist right in the community. Our volunteers want to see our families succeed. Often, our volunteers help connect our families to community resources often finding the one element they may need to stay out of homelessness.
Since 2000, our volunteers have assisted our families with needs from speech therapy to furniture. Our initiatives are a testament to the compassion — and the innovation — of Family Promise volunteers.
