Our Partners
Family Promise of West Michigan
Grand Rapids, MI
History:
Family Promise of West Michigan began in 1997 when twelve Grand Rapids congregations came together around a critical need: ensuring that families experiencing homelessness could access emergency shelter without being separated. These congregations formed the Greater Grand Rapids Interfaith Hospitality Network (IHN), offering their buildings and volunteers to provide safe, rotational shelter and hospitality to families in crisis.
As this model grew nationwide, IHN rebranded in 2007 under the Family Promise name, joining a national network committed to addressing family homelessness. In 2008, we purchased and rehabilitated our first manufactured home, marking the beginning of our Partners in Housing program, where volunteers and staff renovate manufactured homes to create affordable homeownership opportunities for families.
Mission:
The Mission of Family Promise is to end homelessness, one family at a time, by engaging the community to work together to provide emergency shelter and basic needs to families with children who are in a housing crisis and to provide additional programs to assist them in finding housing and sustaining their independence.
To that end, Family Promise has developed programs that:
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Keep families together—including fathers and older boys—so parents can focus on rebuilding stability without the added trauma of separation.
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Support families in securing sustainable, independent housing that puts them on a path toward long-term stability.
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Connect parents with mentors, resources, and ongoing support to help them build the skills and confidence needed to achieve lasting self-sufficiency.
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Reduce the trauma and stress children experience during homelessness by helping families find stability quickly and breaking the cycle of housing insecurity for good.
The Cabbage Patch Settlement House (“The Patch”)
Louisville, KY
History:
In 1910, Old Louisville resident Louise Marshall founded The Cabbage Patch Settlement House with the help of her community, church, and family. Named for the Louisville neighborhood where it was originally established, The Cabbage Patch was formed in the spirit of Christian love as a safe haven for children in the neighborhood to play, grow, and learn. The Cabbage Patch quickly grew, gaining continued support from the Louisville community. By 1929, it had outgrown the capacity of its original facility on Ninth Street and moved to its current location on South Sixth Street. Today, The Cabbage Patch Settlement House continues Miss Marshall’s legacy and vision through programs and services aimed at profoundly changing the lives of approximately 750 children and their families annually.
Mission and Programs
The Cabbage Patch is a Louisville-based nonprofit, empowering children, youth, and families to reach their full potential. Its mission is to provide life-changing academic, recreational, and mentoring opportunities through Christ-centered values.
The Cabbage Patch achieves this mission through programs designed to help every Patch kid develop and achieve these five core competencies: Personal Development and Growth, Academic Achievement and Learning, Teamwork and Leadership, College and Career Development, and Health and Support.
The Family Development program offers families of active Cabbage Patch members the opportunity to discover long-term solutions to difficult problems. Programs are designed to be proactive, preventive, and educational. Our goal is to build strong relationships with and among our families as they work toward family and household stability.
A strong emphasis is placed on helping families break the cycle of poverty through commitment to case management services that help them strengthen their families by working together to face life’s challenges and remove barriers to their stability.
Orphan Care Alliance
Louisville, KY
Orphan Care Alliance is a Christ-centered, evangelical ministry whose mission is to care for vulnerable children and families based in Louisville, KY. Orphan Care Alliance was born through grassroots efforts, spearheaded by five families between two churches in 2005 under the name Louisville Orphan Care Initiative. The focus was financially enabling families to adopt by providing grants and loans because many families in the community felt called to adopt but were struggling to overcome the financial burden.
The initial church movement was largely focused on the needs of international children, but as we approached 2010 it was apparent that there were serious needs for children right here in the United States. Now, years later, OCA collaborates with organizations and churches across Kentucky and southern Indiana and share best practices with a network of ministries that span around the nation.
Orphan Care Alliance serves three different populations in the spectrum of child welfare. Each ministry area is attuned to the population being served and works to provide positive outcomes through its programs.
Family Partners supports families working with the Family Preservation Ministry. This Ministry focuses on keeping biological families together. In most cases, other organizations refer families on the verge of foster care to the Family Preservation ministry, where Orphan Care Alliance has a variety of options from temporary care of children in one of our approved homes to walking beside the parents to acquire the needed resources to regain stability. The grants provided by Family Partners are an essential element of helping to achieve this goal.