Update on Families Moving Forward shelter program
The Families Moving Forward (FMF) shelter program has been an important part of Beacon’s work in the community for many years. We are so grateful for the many individuals and congregations who have supported and sustained this program for years. Clearly, supporting FMF through time, energy, and faithful generosity has been a way our Beacon community has lived out its values and supported our neighbors experiencing homelessness.
Since Beacon became the home of FMF, providing direct shelter to families has been part of Beacon’s identity and one of the primary ways congregations participated in the collaborative. However, we have been living with a level of uncertainty around the future of FMF, both in the Hennepin program which closed early in the pandemic, and in Scott and Carver counties where we have shifted to hosting families in hotels rather than in congregations. Those changes allowed our Beacon Board of Directors and staff to think deeply about how best to serve the families in Scott and Carver Counties who have come to rely on this essential community service. After careful deliberation, the Beacon Board of Directors recently made the significant decision to transition the FMF program to a new provider.
As we’ve made plans for this transition, the success and stability of current and future families participating in the program has been our top priority. We are grateful and excited to share the news that Beacon Interfaith Housing Collaborative and His House Foundation-Abundance (HHF) have mutually agreed for HHF to assume responsibility for the FMF program. They will assume responsibility for the program no later than July 1, 2023.
Beacon staff sees this program transition as a great option to support families and meet community need. We have confidence in HHF and its ability to provide quality care for families. Key to the success of the FMF program has been intensive case management with frequent check-ins, small caseloads, a focus on individualized goal plans, and linkage to permanent housing. HHF has agreed to keep this approach for at least one year as they assess how to best provide ongoing services.
We are truly grateful for the hundreds of volunteers who have made FMF possible over the years. The generosity of time, money, place, and energy has blessed many people in meaningful ways. Congregational commitment and donor support have been key strengths of the program. We invite current volunteers and donors to consider contributing both to the future success of FMF through HHF and to the ongoing work of Beacon.
While this change represents a shift for Beacon away from direct service delivery, it will allow our organization to direct our focus and resources toward our other areas of expertise: affordable housing development, sustaining supportive housing services, and impacting public policy so all people have a home. We hope you’ll continue to help Beacon serve the people and communities of Scott and Carver counties through our housing and policy work. It will take us $750,000 in Seeds gifts to create Prairie Pointe, deeply-affordable family-supportive housing in Shakopee.
If your congregation hosts Families Moving Forward, please refer to the section below for additional resources. And thank you for all you’ve done to assist families in need. Your work makes a world of difference.
