Mission
Growing Home stabilizes and sustains children and their families.
Background
In 1998 a group of staff and nurses from St. Anthony Hospital North noticed homeless families sleeping in their cars and took action in the local community. This group gathered local churches, community leaders and businesses into a founding team that launched Growing Home's Interfaith Family Shelter Program, serving homeless children and their parents based on the national Interfaith Hospitality Network model. In 2002 Growing Home added two new homeless prevention services: Direct Housing Assistance and Resource Linkage/Emergency Services to address the increasing number of families facing the possibility of homelessness in the north metro suburbs. In 2003 the Program for Children and Youth was added to offer support, mentoring, tutoring and activities for economically disadvantaged children. This program has grown to include three components: Club Ed (our after-school programming), Saturday Activities (where children participate weekly in free organized field trips), and the new Summer Camp (piloted successfully in 2006 in response to a growing community need). In 2005 Growing Home purchased Westchester Apartments – a 20 unit apartment building in south Westminster – which is currently under rehabilitation and will house our 16 unit Affordable Housing and four unit Transformational (Transitional) Housing Program. In 2006 Growing Home launched its Health/Wellness Project to increase wellness related education, risk prevention and opportunity for low-income families.
Our Programs Include:
- The Interfaith Family Shelter, a network of 32 organizations linked together by a day shelter that provides emergency shelter to approximately 132 parents and children each year.
- Homeless Prevention Services, including rent and mortgage assistance pays housing expenses to approximately 60 families at risk of homelessness and resource linkage/emergency services, the only seven-day-a-week program in the north metro area. The program served 2,667 households in 2006 – an increase of more than 100% over the number served in 2005.
- The new Wellness Project provides children and their families in all of our programs with nutrition and health education, fitness opportunities, and support and advocacy in accessing health resources, coverage and care.
- A Program for Children and Youth annually provides children who are homeless or at-risk of homelessness with activities such as school day after-school programming, tutoring, a community garden plot, cooking, field trips, arts and crafts, music and other educational or recreational projects that foster age-appropriate development. Since the program began it has grown steadily each year. In 2006 it served 411 children – a 41% increase over 2005.
- Affordable/ Transitional Housing Program for 20 families. We emphasize stable housing for families currently experiencing or on the brink of homelessness and provide safe and decent housing to other low-income families who otherwise struggle to afford the rising costs of housing.
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