More Denver Congregations Join City's Initiative to End Homelessness
by Ed Thomas
January 13, 2006
(AgapePress) - - More religious congregations in Denver, Colorado, have said they're willing to help homeless families get back on their feet through the city's "One Congregation, One Family" faith-based initiative. Last year, 47 houses of worship joined the program; and on Tuesday, at the urging of Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, 69 more congregations each pledged to help at least one area family get off the streets and into a home. Another 159 congregations have said they will consider joining the program as well. The participating "mentor churches" assist homeless families not only with initial rent and furnishing expenses but with everything from budgeting, grocery shopping and parenting help. Roxane White, manager of Denver's Department of Human Services, says the city has recruited more than 100 churches, synagogues, and mosques, asking them to offer comprehensive support to at least one family each.
"One Congregation, One Family" is an effective outreach that offers "a real way to help break the cycle of homelessness," White notes. "We are working with the faith community to mentor families and seniors who want to get off the streets."
The Denver DHS spokeswoman says by taking part in this mentoring program, the city's religious congregations are playing a big part in the effort to solve the problem of homelessness in the metropolitan area. "Families who have mentoring support double the chance that they are going to stay off the streets and be off the streets six months later," she points out, "so we do training for the congregational mentors, and they contribute $1,200 toward the person's rent and furniture purchases and anything else that the family needs to get set up in the household."
White says the needy families who benefit from the "One Congregation, One Family" effort are not required to join the congregations that help them. The innovative faith-based initiative is modeled after an outreach run by the Denver Rescue Mission, which will oversee the city's program.
Ed Thomas, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
