Forest Park Christian Church in Tulsa became the seventh church, and the first Disciples of Christ Church, in the Tulsa area to sign an agreement with Family Promise, an organization helping homeless families across the nation.
Family Promise is a holistic approach to the crisis of family homelessness. Their programs address the range of issues that affect low-income families. These include direct services, educational curricula, prevention programs and more.
Family Promise uses churches to provide housing and food for families. In order for Family Promise to operate in a city, they need the commitment of 13 churches in the area who are willing to house and feed families from evening through early morning each day for 4 weeks throughout the year. Churches provide volunteers, food and a space for the families to have dinner, engage in family activities such as homework, game time, reading, or watching movies, pack a lunch for the next day, sleep and eat breakfast. During the day, families go to the Family Promise day center where they shower, do laundry, engage in educational curriculum, prepare for job interviews, work on locating housing, etc.
Family Promise has been fulfilling their mission of “helping homeless and low-income families achieve sustainable independence through a community-based response” since 1986 and to date they assist over 67, 000 people each year across the nation. Due to their “intensive case management and community support, more than 74% of the families they serve find housing in less than nine weeks.”
Forest Park is proud to join Family Promise in an effort to be a part of the solution to family homelessness in Tulsa, and encourages other churches or interested volunteers to consider joining the initiative as well.
For more information on Family Promise, visit their website at FamilyPromise.org.
