A note from Family Promise national organization

A NOTE FROM THE NATIONAL PRESIDENT OF FAMILY PROMISE
Dear Affiliate Leader,

Thank you all for the work you do to help children and their families leave homelessness and realize the promise they truly have.  I wanted to share with you my thoughts at the beginning of the 24^th year of Family Promise as a national organization.

2011 was a year of remarkable achievement for Family Promise.  We added 14 new affiliates—Indiana, PA accepted their first family just before Christmas—bringing our total to 174 nationwide.  We held a wonderful Conference in Salt Lake City and have already begun planning our 12^th National Conference, to be held May 3-5, 2013 in Atlanta, Georgia.  And we rolled out nearly a dozen new initiatives that help affiliates continue to grow (see attached list).

In the year ahead, we will pursue more national partnerships like The Company Store, which has pledged 15,000 comforters to affiliates.  And we will continue to develop new tools like FPForce, Family Promise’s customized relational database designed to meet the unique needs of affiliates.  Twenty-nine affiliates have already adopted FPForce with another ten poised to come on line.  The Program Directory—cataloging the hundreds of amazing and innovative programs affiliates have created—will be coming out soon.  And we will launch DonorDrive, a state-of-the-art online fundraising program to help you increase your event giving significantly.

I’m also pleased to report that nearly 70% of our affiliates nationwide are now operating as Family Promise or are in the process of changing their name to Family Promise.  Continuing to strengthen the Family Promise brand will allow us to compete nationally for finite corporate and foundational resources in these demanding times.

On the local level, if you are not already taking an active part in your Continuum of Care (CoC), I strongly urge you to do so.  Federal funding priorities have shifted towards rapid re-housing and the CoCs have become increasingly central to planning efforts of communities seeking to access HUD funding.  As CoCs will be administering federal, state and local funding for homeless services, it is imperative for affiliates to play a vital role in their Continuums.  

The past year was tough for just about everyone—the families we serve, our volunteers, our affiliates and the National office.  However, we continue to draw strength from one basic truth.  The existence of Family Promise makes a profound difference, not only in the lives of tens of thousands of children and parents who are served by you, our affiliates, but also to the 150,000 volunteers and 5,500 congregations who find our mission a transformative outreach.

It is my honor and pleasure to work with all of you.  Please continue to share your ideas, questions and challenges.  Continue to strengthen lives and build community.

All the very best,

Karen