FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Release Date: January 16, 2024

1.16.24 Statement.pdf

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[Spokane, Washington] - It is with deep sadness that we share that last night, a mother staying at Family Promise of Spokane’s Emergency Family Shelter passed away in her sleep. We will not know the cause of death until the medical examiner’s report, but at this time, it is presumed to be due to natural causes. She is survived by her partner and three young children.

During her time with us, this mother exhibited resilience, perseverance, and unwavering love for her children despite the challenges they were facing. Family Promise grieves alongside her family and friends, especially her three children who are now grappling with the absence of their mom.

In the face of this tragedy, Family Promise of Spokane will be providing on-site grief counseling for guests and staff. Additionally, the school counselors for our school-aged children have been notified and will be checking in to support our children that are students at their schools.

To protect the identity of the mother and family, we’ve chosen not to disclose their names at this time. We ask for privacy and respect for our families during this time of mourning and readjustment. As a community, please extend your thoughts and prayers to all those involved.

For media inquiries or further information, please contact:

CONTACT INFO

Family Promise of Spokane

Joe Ader | (509) 818-7587

jader@familypromiseofspokane.org

ABOUT FAMILY PROMISE OF SPOKANE

Family Promise of Spokane equips families and communities to end the cycle of homelessness. Our organization helps families get housing and keep housing because every child deserves a place to call home. For more information, visit us at www.familypromiseofspokane.org

CONTACT INFO

Family Promise of Spokane

Joe Ader | (509) 818-7587

jader@familypromiseofspokane.org

Emma Hughes | (509) 828-0558

ehughes@familypromiseofspokane.org

The Fight for Stability

Written by: Bre Hayden

When childhood and early adult life is spent in cycles of constant chaos, it takes bravery, faith, and a community of people who believe in your ability to succeed for transformation and healing to occur.

Jen has always described herself as a “wanderer.” For most of her life she experienced housing instability and as an adult would drift from one place to the next. She met her partner, Pat, at a homeless shelter in the midwest. With Pat also having an adventurous spirit, the couple traveled the nation while living out of their car, in motels, staying with friends and family, utilizing various shelters, and surviving anyway that they could. “Through the years I learned survival skills, that’s for sure,” Jen stated.

When Jen found out she was pregnant in 2018, the couple began one of their most daunting journey’s ever: creating a path of stability for their unborn child. This landed them at Family Promise of Spokane, one of the only emergency housing programs in the Inland Northwest that accepts the entire family, including pets. They stayed at Family Promise’s emergency housing program based out of Richard Allen Court for 3 months before moving into a transitional housing program in Spokane. Sadly, it was not the right fit for them. The rigid program structure and inability to bring their 2 dogs into the apartment caused them to leave shortly after entering the program. They then moved to Oregon to be near a longtime family friend. Pat worked construction for a while, they saved up some money, bought a $300 1998 Chevy, and were off on their next adventure.

“We've been to 520 cities in the past 6 years,” Jen explains. “We’ve been homeless for most of Zuri’s life.”

And yet, of all of the places Jen’s family has explored, 4 years after their first experience with Family Promise, when they were ready to settle, they came back to Family Promise of Spokane. “We were ready to fight for stability for our daughter,” Jen describes, “and we knew that Family Promise would accept ALL of us and be there to help.”

Family Promise Staff worked closely with the family and helped them overcome their barriers to housing. Months after coming back to Family Promise of Spokane for the second time, the family now has their own place to call home. Zuri has her own room filled with all the toys and books a 4 year old could imagine. “It’s amazing having our own house and not having to deal with shelter life,” Jen reveals. “Plus, our dog has a huge back yard to roam around in.”

With their own home, Jen has the space to teach Zuri all of the life skills she wasn’t taught growing up. “The biggest transformation I’ve seen in Zuri is a sense of independence. Just last week she helped me do the dishes.”

Jen and Pat will always be venturesome at heart, but now, as they are expecting their second child, they won’t be drifting from place to place, “Before we ever move again, we are going to make sure that we have another house lined up.”

Breaking generational cycles takes time and doesn’t always happen in a linear fashion.

If Jen could impart one piece of advice to anyone experiencing housing instability, she’d let them know, “Come to Family Promise, and hold on to every ounce of hope you have.”

Family Promise of Spokane focuses on innovative solutions to help homeless

By the staff at Family Promise of Spokane

Sponsored content provided by Comcast

A little known organization called Family Promise of Spokane (FPS) is making a huge impact on homelessness for families with children. Despite receiving only 2% of available government funding for homeless services in 2022, the organization served nearly 18% of the homeless population and had tremendous success at getting families back into permanent housing in Spokane County.

In fact, 42% of all people experiencing homelessness rehoused from a shelter in Spokane County came through Family Promise of Spokane in 2022. According to Executive Director Joe Ader, this success is not an accident. “We are just scratching the surface of what is possible,” Ader says. “We focus on our families and our kids, regardless of the political noise around homelessness, and make data-informed decisions to continually innovate and improve our results.”

Innovation is a key differentiator when it comes to Family Promise of Spokane. Founded in 1997, FPS has always marched to the beat of a different drum in the homeless system. Originally, they piloted a model of housing homeless families with children in under-utilized church buildings at night, relying on church volunteers as overnight hosts. In 2016, they expanded to offer the only walk-in emergency shelter specifically designed for families with children in Spokane County. They were the first shelter provider to offer rental assistance in order to prevent more families from becoming homeless and needing shelter services. They also offer two years of stabilization case management support for families that have moved from homelessness into housing of their own.

Slightly grinning and rubbing his hands together like a mad scientist, Ader goes on, “The next phase of innovation will be the most important yet.” He shows a series of charts displaying how the organization has developed a sophisticated predictive analytic computer model that can predict the housing outcomes of homeless families with 87% accuracy. Using historical data, the system helps identify which factors allowed some families to successfully regain housing and which factors are missing from those that did not. Ader puts it this way, “Amazon uses technology to predict what product you might want to buy next, Facebook does the same thing to show you ads, so why can’t that same type of technology be used to help solve homelessness?” Family Promise of Spokane’s mission statement - to equip families and communities to end the cycle of homelessness - is slowly becoming reality with innovations like this.

“This type of innovation,” Ader goes on, “is not the type of thing that can be funded by traditional government sources. While government funding is important to keep the emergency shelter open, only 31% of our funding comes from government sources, down from 50% in 2017.”

“Innovation that thinks outside the box when it comes to homelessness must come from private and corporate donors,” Ader says. One such donor is Comcast, who, over the past several years, invests $25,000 per year into technology and digital accessibility efforts at Family Promise of Spokane. “Corporate and private donors like Comcast are not only key to innovation, but are the key for us to have the diversified funding sources needed to weather uncertain economic times and changing political winds,” Ader says. “We are excited about our ongoing efforts to innovate better ways to end homelessness and excited about partners like Comcast that help us make that happen.”

If you would like to support the work of Family Promise of Spokane and help end homelessness for families with children, visit their website at www.familypromiseofspokane.org to learn more about how you can get involved. Together, we can make a difference in the lives of those who are struggling to get by and build a brighter future for all.