Partner
GETTING STARTED
EQUIP FAMILY HOMELESS PREVENTION MINISTRY
A Faith-Based Family Mentor
Ministry… providing tools for families to retain self sufficiency.
VISION In the EQUIP Faith-Based Mentoring Ministry churches partner with Equip at Interfaith Housing Coalition to provide crisis funding and family mentoring to prevent families from becoming homeless, in order that EVERY NIGHT..EVERY CHILD…would have a home, with hope for the future.
GOAL The goal of the EQUIP Faith-Based Family Mentoring is to assist churches with the implementation of a ministry where a team of committed church volunteers facilitate the development of families at risk of becoming homeless through the sharing of resources, knowledge, values, skills, perspectives, support and encouragement which will enable families to build skills, knowledge, and retain confidence while achieving self-sufficiency goals.
STEPS TO IMPLEMENTING EQUIP
There are 10 steps that a church completes to implement the EQUIP faith-based family mentor ministry:
1. Get the facts
2. PRAY
3. Schedule orientation meetings
4. Identify crisis funding
5. Identify a Church Champion
6. Complete the Covenant Understanding with EQUIP
7. Generate awareness & recruit volunteers
8. Mentors attend training
9. Match mentors to families
10. Report success
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STEP 1: GET THE FACTS Over 50 million American families have incomes that are too high for government benefits and too low to be “middle income”. On the brink of poverty, many times near-poor households subsist without health care, without job security, or without any form of government assistance. The near-poor, now termed the “missing class” by some researchers, place their incomes between 100% and 200% of the poverty line, or roughly $20,000 to $40,000 annually for a family of four. The “missing class” families have limited or no resources when experiencing a disruptive event or family crisis (job loss, illness or injury, divorce, death etc.)
HOW DOES EQUIP FAITH BASED FAMILY MENTORING WORK?
· Churches head off “situational homelessness” with crisis funding.
· Church mentors commit to working and learning together over a period of 4-6 months for the purpose of support and personal, social, spiritual, and economic development.
CHURCH ASSESSMENT
The church can assess their ability to participate in the EQUIP mission by asking the following 7 questions:
- Does the family mentor ministry fit in with the church’s vision?
- Is this a ministry that our community needs?
- Will our church leadership support a new ministry?
- Do we have the financial resources to participate?
- If yes, how much can we commit?
- How will we raise or acquire additional or ongoing financial support?(e.g. benevolence, special offering, missions etc.)
- Do we have any committed volunteers who may be interested in either mentoring or serving as the champion?
- Provides another environment that fosters church volunteer opportunities, growth and sharing
- Provides leadership opportunities
- Allows church volunteers to utilized their gifts and talents to build others
- Provides an ongoing collation of corporate knowledge and skills of church volunteers
- Reaches the unreached with a significant impact in the local community
WHAT IS THE CRITERIA FOR EQUIP FAMILIES?
· Working families with at least 1 child · Not more than $2,000 in arrears · Less than 8 weeks behind in rent/mortgage· House expenses less than 60% of income · Drug-free· Agree to background check· Complete covenant agreement for 4-6 months of mentoring
WHAT DOES EQUIP STAFF OFFER THE CHURCHES?
· Volunteer identification and recruitment strategies· Family “neighbor” screening, interview and application review· Mentor training and structured curriculum· Community resources · Marketing materials· Case management support
STEP 2: PRAY “Then said he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few; Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his harvest” Matthew 9:37-38 Ask your prayer groups and ministers to pray in advance for the laborers and provision for families who will participate in the EQUIP mentoring ministry.
STEP 3: MEETINGS WITH EQUIP Orientation meetings are facilitated by EQUIP to engage and educate church representatives about family homeless prevention and the EQUIP ministry. Orientation meetings include visual presentations, handouts and brochures to church representatives such as missions, pastoral leadership or volunteer coordinators. The EQUIP staff will attend as many meetings as needed to assist the church in understanding the details of the ministry’s operation and implementation. .
STEP 4: IDENTIFY CRISIS FUNDING The church designates up to $2,000 in Crisis Funding for each family. Although churches can serve as many families as they choose, EQUIP requests that a minimum of 3 families are served a year. The crisis funding is calculated on the basis of how much a family will need to help them recover from a housing crisis. The funds are paid directly to the vendors and can only be used for household costs such as:
· Rent/mortgage
· Utilities
· Transportation
· Items that will interfere with housing or employment (e.g. “pay day loans”, unpaid traffic warrants, etc.)
The church will need to make sure that there is a process in place for expediting EQUIP Crisis Funding within 24 - 48 hours.
STEP 5: IDENTIFY INTERNAL CHURCH CHAMPION (ICC) The church must identify a person to serve as the primary contact and “voice” for the EQUIP family mentor ministry and to be responsible for recruiting volunteers and matching family mentors. It is important that a church champion be identified before the ministry is publicized and mentors can be recruited. The success of the Family Mentor Ministry will rely heavily upon the ICC’s ability to:
I. Recruit and Match The ICC primary responsibility is to identify and recruit volunteers to become faith-based family mentors. He or she makes sure that the volunteers attend an EQUIP training and receives an EQUIP curriculum that will be used at each mentor meeting to support families in retaining self-sufficiency. The ICC matches trained mentors with the families within 24-48 hours of acceptance into the program.
II. Church Gift Distribution The ICC is responsible for initiating and handling the financial gift from the church to the family. The ICC works with the church staff to ensure that all processes for expediting crisis funding from the church have been completed in a timely manner.
III. Data Collection & Tracking The ICC shares monthly data collected from mentor meetings with the EQUIP staff to evaluate the ministry’s success.
IV. Neighbor Process · Upon acceptance of the application from a family, the ICC or an appointed church representative attends an assessment meeting with EQUIP staff to meet the family. · Upon approval by the church, the ICC follows up within 24-48 hours with an assigned mentor for the family.· Upon acceptance of the family, the ICC schedules a placement meeting between mentors and family to deliver checks for crisis funds.
V. Quality Assurance Team Meetings EQUIP ministry team meetings are designed to promote quality assurance through addressing barriers and gaps within the ministry as well as share achievements. The ICC will facilitate monthly or quarterly team meetings with mentors, EQUIP and/or community partners to monitor the progress of the ministry and address any barriers and gaps in the ministry. In addition, the Church Champion keeps the church leadership informed of the mentor activities either through written or verbal communication.
VI. Market Mentoring Ministry The ICC is responsible for communicating the message of EQUIP with church leaders and the congregation. The ICC uses marketing materials from EQUIP to distribute to potential volunteers and coordinates any additional meetings with between EQUIP staff and additional church departments that need to be connected to the ministry.
STEP 6: COVENANT UNDERSTANDING BETWEEN CHURCH AND EQUIP The key to family mentoring is bonding and thus the success of the EQUIP ministry is relationship building with the first relationship being the one between the church and EQUIP. The Covenant Understanding needs to be signed by an authorized church leader and the EQUIP Director or IHC Executive Director. A Covenant Understanding is a written agreement between the church and EQUIP representing their partnership and commitment in the fight to prevent family homelessness. The Covenant Agreement outlines the co-partner expectations and serves as a written reminder of their service to each other and the families in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
STEP 7: IDENTIFY AND RECRUIT VOLUNTEER MENTORS The ICC and church leadership will need to share the message of the mentor ministry internally in order to recruit volunteers and identify potential families in need of mentoring. Below is a list of ways the church can promotes internal awareness of the Family Mentor Ministry:
· Encourage participation during worship
· Sunday school announcements and/or presentations
· Newsletter
· Bulletin with insert
· Bulletin board
· “Back to School” event
· Flyers
· Conduct a symposium on “Family Homelessness in the Community”
· PowerPoint or video
EQUIP Mentor Roles and Responsibilities · Completion of EQUIP mentor training prior mentoring family.· Serve on a team of 2-3 mentors as accountability partners to family.· Support the family in setting action plans and achieving goals.· Support of the family in identifying and developing individual strengths.· Support the family in working toward self-sustainability and independence.· Assist family in identifying and obtaining community resources.· Commit to developing and maintaining a 4-6 month mentor relationship based on caring, respect, and trust.· Maintain regular (weekly or bi-weekly) in-person contact with family and phone contact as needed.· Maintain regular communication with the ICC regarding progress of the mentoring relationship.· Participation in mentor meetings.· Complete EQUIP Curriculum meeting logs and assessments.
Description of Mentor Key Activities EQUIP mentoring is a team approach that includes the volunteers and a family, who work together to help families achieve their self-sufficiency goals. As a result, each family is matched by the ICC with a “mentoring team”. Each mentoring team consists of a minimum of 2 mentors. At each meeting the Finance mentor meets with the family for 40-45 minutes to discuss effective budgeting tools and review of pertinent topics contained in the Family Finance Guide provided by EQUIP. Afterwards, the Family mentor(s) meets with the family for 40-45 minutes to discuss meaningful family goals and to identify action steps to accomplish them. After 2 months, meetings may shift to a bi-weekly schedule as the content of discussions change from goal setting and action steps to accountability of achievements. The length of time for volunteer recruitment can be impacted by:
· Lack of an Internal Church Champion
· Awareness
· Familiarity with community outreach
STEP 8: ATTEND 3 HOUR MENTOR TRAINING Once interested volunteers have been screened and enlisted to participate in the mentoring ministry they must attend a 3 hour mentor training to become “mentor ready” The training provides the volunteers with the basics of mentoring and how to use the EQUIP family and budget curriculum. Trainings are done monthly with multiple churches in a central location or on-site with just one church when requested. Trainings are usually held from 10:00 – 1:00 on Saturdays but can be flexible to meet the needs of the volunteers.
STEP 9: MATCH VOLUNTEERS WITH FAMILIES Once families have been successfully enrolled and volunteers have been trained the church is ready to connect mentors with families. A mentor should be matched with a family within 24-48 hours after the assessment interview with EQUIP. An available pool of “mentor ready” volunteers will enable families to be matched in a timely manner.
STEP 10: COLLECT DATA AND TRACK SUCCESS “BEARING FRUIT”The ICC and mentors will receive data collection tools from the curriculum to show the family’s progress towards self-sustainability. Data is collected by the churches and analyzed by the EQUIP team to evaluate the ministry’s impact. EQUIP uses the data to share with funders, community, and churches. The goal is to provide support to both the families and mentors in order to promote the success.
