Giving each homeless family with children we serve a safe, stable place to live is important to what we do at Family Renew Community. But it’s not what we’re all about. We’re about offering every mother, father and child who stays with us the opportunity to change their lives. This involves spending time with the families — guiding them to explore their needs, talents, stumbling blocks and desires, helping them plan their path out of homelessness and connecting them with resources to make it happen. This intensive case management is the heart of Family Renew Community’s program.
Our program managers — Laurie Archer-Dugo in Daytona Beach, Anita Dudley in Holly Hill and Linda Bennett in DeLand (from left in the photo) — do this great work day in and day out.
Right now, we are in the midst of an initiative to enhance our delivery of this vital service, striving to devote an average of two hours a week to shepherding each family on their journey to permanent housing, self-sufficiency and a brighter future for the children. With this additional support, families will be able to set more ambitious goals and achieve them faster. This will foster better outcomes for individual families, such as higher earnings and better relationships, and also allow Family Renew Community to serve more families.
We have committed to this nearly doubling of our case management investment in each family. We were not, however, expecting that about $42,000 a year in Volusia County government funding we’d been using to pay for case management would dry up just as we were getting started.
So we’re seeking donations to make up the difference. A donation of $38.60 is equal to all the expenses involved in providing an hour of case management. A donation of $77.20 is equal to all the expenses involved in providing a week of case management to one family at the enhanced level.
Successful families — those who move into permanent housing upon exit from Family Renew Community — spent about 26 weeks in the program, on average, in 2017. We’re expecting the average stay to be shortened through this commitment to enhanced case management. In the meantime, though, we must be prepared to invest about $2,000 per formerly homeless family that attains permanent housing and financial stability through Family Renew Community.
Every dollar will help. Case management may not be the most exciting line-time in Family Renew Community’s budget, but we hope you’ll agree it is among the most important. Please consider making a contribution by clicking HERE. And thank you for all you do to help homeless families with children.
PLEASE CLICK HERE TO MAKE A DONATION OF ANY AMOUNT TO HELP US FUND OUR ENHANCED CASE MANAGEMENT.