The latest guest speaker was Marissa from Family Promise. Family Promise is a shelter that helps people who are homeless, soon to be homeless, or those with very low income that cannot financially support themselves. They take in everyone except for single males. Marissa explained the three different types of housing assistance: shelter, transitional, and rapid rehousing. She also explained how her job ties in with the shelter. Her job within the shelter was to manage the transitional unit and the company finances; and her title is the case manager.
One of the ways Family Promise is helpful for people is that they take in people with mental illness as long as they're actively working to get better and help make sure that the people can take their medications and attend any health appointments. Another way they help people is that the children can still attend school while under the shelter's assistance, and adults can still get jobs. A third way Family Promise helps people is the three different types of housing assistance I mentioned earlier (shelter, transitional, and rapid rehousing). Marissa also mentioned that the people under the shelter's care can and do develop personal relationships with the workers.
Whether it's through rehousing or financial support, organizations like Family Promise, and the people who work for them, like Marissa, are helping many people; not just helping them with their housing, but helping them with their futures.
★Caitlin Marsch
Editor’s Note: Unfortunately, we did not take a photo of Marissa!
