They provide the safe, stable lodgings for our families four weeks per year, one week at a time. Each host congregation has a lead coordinator, who oversees the work of the volunteers. Volunteers provide the meals, make sleeping arrangements, coordinate activities, and set up facilities for the week. At times, the host congregations have support congregations that help them deliver these services
to the families. Volunteers from these congregations receive training and support from Family Promise staff to ensure consistency from congregation to congregation. Our host congregations are: Boulevard Baptist Church, Central Presbyterian Church, First Baptist – Anderson, Mt. Moriah Baptist Church, Pendleton United Methodist Church, St. John’s United Methodist Church, Clemson Church of Christ, and Trinity United Methodist Church. Family Promise screens and interviews each family. Screening begins over the phone to understand the needs and situation of the family. No two families are alike and therefore the outcomes of the initial call may lead to a phone interview of the adult(s) in the family or a referral to another agency. After a family passes the initial screening, a phone interview occurs with the adult(s) in the family and if applicable any teenagers. At this time, the case manager takes more personal information and determines eligibility for the program. A background check is conducted and a face-to-face interview set if the family passes the phone interview. This final interview is with the entire family. The director meets with the family to delve into their history and the root causes of their homelessness. They assess where the family is and how willing they are to move forward. The commitment of all family members is ascertained, and staff determines whether or not they will complement the other families in the program. Putting the pieces together of one family means ensuring they fit with the other families too. Once a family is accepted into the IHN Program, they begin case management services involving assessment, goal-setting, and outcome measurement. The adults and/or teenagers meet weekly with the case manager to measure their progress toward their goals as individuals and as a family. They have a plan which guides them to reaching each goal whether it is obtaining a job, securing transitional housing, or going back to school. Each plan is unique and measured in various ways. One family may move out of the IHN Program in one month and continue case management services for four more weeks, while another family stays in the IHN Program for ten weeks and receives case management services for five weeks more.
