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The Family Promise Five is a weekly update that focuses on the FIVE topics, issues, events, volunteer opportunities or needs of Family Promise Waukesha County. This communication will update, inform and advocate for families who are experiencing homelessness or at risk of experiencing homelessness. Here is the Family Promise Five for February 2, 2024.
Our mission is to help low-income families and families experiencing homelessness achieve sustainable independence
through a community-based response.
The Family Promise Five for February 2 are:
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
What day would you be most likely to read the Family Promise Five?
1. INTRODUCING . . .
New name for the weekly newsletter
Welcome to the Family Promise Five! Yes, we are changing the name of our newsletter. The newsletter began in 2020 during the pandemic as a way to stay connected with our partner groups, volunteers, and donors. As we look back at the emails we sent you in 2020, it is obvious there has been a lot of growth over four years. At the end of March and beginning of April 2020 we sent a couple emails before it became a weekly occurrence. It's a little embarrassing now but here is was our very first Friday Five.
The reason for the new name is that the newsletter is not really about Friday -- it’s about Family Promise of Waukesha County. We want our mission to be front and center. Secondly, in an effort to expand readership we are contemplating if there is a better day to send the newsletter? Our poll for this week is: What day would you be most likely to read the newsletter? We hope you can offer some feedback.
When we select items to share with you, we usually select from one of the following categories. They may not always be the same five categories and sometimes there may be more than one story from each category but typically they come from one of the following:
Mission
Update on a way we are living out our mission- it is program focused.
Accompaniment
A description of the life that families are living and how the community can support them.
Advocacy
Description of obstacles in the system that prevent families from being able to escape poverty and ways we can raise awareness for change.
Gratitude
We are overwhelmed by the goodness of our community.
Action
Ways that you can get involved with the issue of homelessness. This could be writing a letter to a representative, making a financial or in-kind donation or rallying your network for the cause.
Service
Ways that we need individuals/partner groups to provide direct service to clients. This could be serving a meal, or driving a client to an appointment.
Events
Upcoming opportunities to support or learn
Community
Things happening in Waukesha County that are pertinent to the issue of homelessness.
Thank you for your attention. We hope you will continue to read the Friday Five and share it with everyone in your network.
POLL OF THE WEEK
What day would you be most likely to read the Family Promise Five? (Mark any day that works for you.)
0%Sunday
0%Monday
0%Tuesday
0%Wednesday
You can vote for more than one answer.
2. LACK OF AFFORDABLE HOUSING
Housing is unaffordable for over half of renters
The Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University has found that over half of renters in the United States are cost burdened. Typically for an apartment to be viable for a tenant, rent should be less than 30 % of their income.
Other issues identified in the study were that:
Number of low income units has gone down
Increase in rent is outpacing increase in wages
Record number of people are experiencing homelessness
Rental stock is aging
Need for Eviction Prevention is growing
A study done by the Wisconsin Policy Forum in 2023 found that in Waukesha County 43% of renters are considered cost burdened.
A reporter from National Public Radio interviewed an individual who is impacted by the lack of affordable housing. Genuine Campbell noted how often the choice is between which bills to pay, “Do you want to pay the bills and then give half the rent, or do you want to try to do the whole rent and then be back on bills? It's so hard. It's so hard.” She went on to discuss how wages are simply not keeping up with the cost of rent.
For Family Promise of Waukesha County this is not new information. It does affirm what we are seeing every day. It is a stark reminder that the number one cause of homelessness is not mental health or addiction issues. It is that the cost of housing is out of reach for many.
3. REFLECTION ON 10 YEARS OF SERVICE
An original Volunteer Coordinator shares her memories
Jane Lurvey is the Volunteer Coordinator from Delafield Presbyterian. Both Jane and Delafield Presbyterian have been a part of Family Promise of Waukesha County since the beginning. She shares her memories and impressions of working with Family Promise and serving families experiencing homelessness.
It has been 10 years of listening, caring, supporting and loving all the families that have entered our doors looking for a warm meal, a safe place to lay their head and a group of people who care. The first families will always be etched in my mind, a frightened young pregnant woman and a mother with a two-year-old with no income and nowhere to live. The other faces I see are two little girls, 5 and 4, with their pink and white fluffy polka dot robes and pink slippers walking hand ‘n hand down the hallway to their room, their family relieved they have a safe place to sleep. I see a young happy boy sitting at the dinner table with the other families blowing out his birthday candles and opening one little gift. In the middle of a frigid winter night an incredibly young inexperienced couple brings a sweet baby boy through our door looking for guidance yet again with nowhere to go. I see three women sitting around the table putting a puzzle together talking about their life struggles and the little girl sitting and listening to a story read by a volunteer. Helping these very faces and many other faces to come is why we will always help and care for others.
We invite you to share your stories. You can do so by completing the form online or send us a note answering any of the questions below.
How were/are you involved in Family Promise over the ten years?
What motivated you to get involved?
What are the highlights of your connection to Family Promise over the years?
What challenges have you experienced in your involvement?
What successes have you seen?
Please share a story that captures the essence of Family Promise
What are your hopes for Family Promise for the next ten years?
4. FP FORUM!
Come for a state of FP meeting
Review the accomplishments, challenges and discuss future plans of Family Promise of Waukesha County with Joe Nettesheim on Tuesday, March 5 at 6pm or Wednesday, March 6 at noon.
These forums are an opportunity to learn about the state of Family Promise of Waukesha County. It is important to us to make sure that all stakeholders in Family Promise of Waukesha County are aware and invested in the future of our organization.
Hope to see you there. We do ask for registration.
OR
5. BLACK HISTORY MONTH
Ways to recognize and celebrate black history
February is black history month. There are many ways for you to celebrate and learn during this month the history of black people during this month. One of our favorites is Derek Mosley former judge of Milwaukee Municipal Court and current Director of the Lubar Center for Public Policy Research and Civic Education at the Marquette Law School who publishes a historical fact about the black experience in the United States each day of February.
He also has a presentation on implicit bias.
In the realm of housing, race and racism has a lingering impact of a black families ability to find housing. A few years ago we learned about the Mapping Racism project and how Restrictive Covenants limited the areas that black people can live. and prevented black people from owning homes in certain neighborhoods. The consequence is a map like this:
Home ownership is the number one way that wealth is passed on from one generation to the next. Being prevented from owning a home even years or generations ago has a negative impact on today's families seeking housing. This is not about judging the past it is about an issue we need to address and why it exists now.
Joe Nettesheim wrote about what he learned in this blog post.
MARK YOUR CALENDARS
Feb 6 Executive Committee Meeting
Feb 6 Fund Development Committee
Feb 12 FP Team Meeting
Feb 19 Board of Trustees Meeting
April 11 Family Promise Giving Day
July 22 Golf Outing
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