PLATINUM2024

FAMILY PROMISE OF LAWRENCE INC

Building community, strengthening lives

aka Lawrence Family Promise   |   Lawrence, KS   |  www.lawrencefamilypromise.org

Mission

Empowering families in a housing crisis to achieve stabilization through community connections

Ruling year info

2008

Executive Director

Dana M Ortiz

Main address

PO Box 1516 905 Tennessee Street

Lawrence, KS 66044 USA

Show more contact info

EIN

26-2709610

NTEE code info

Temporary Shelter For the Homeless (L41)

Family Services (P40)

Alliance/Advocacy Organizations (L01)

IRS filing requirement

This organization is required to file an IRS Form 990 or 990-EZ.

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Communication

Blog

Programs and results

What we aim to solve

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Family Promise of Lawrence serves local families who are homeless or precariously housed. Each year, since we have started recording inquiries for our services, we have seen an increase in calls in need of our services. During the pandemic of 2020, the need increased substantially and we adjusted our program responses in order to focus our resources to keeping families housed through our Prevention and Stabilization Programs. We have continued to grow our services in response to the needs in our community. In 2008, when we opened in Lawrence, KS, we were able to serve 4 families at a time through our Rotation Program. Now with expanded programming, that offer a continuum of services from Prevention, Diversion, Shelter and Stabilization, we were able to serve more than 250 different families annually.

Our programs

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?

Prevention

Prevention of homelessness is the starting focus of our continuum of services. The purpose of this program is to help a family retain housing and not have to experience the trauma and upheaval of a situation of homelessness. The Prevention program offers case management and budgeting supports, income evaluations and job search support, referrals for additional services and collabration with the Housing Stabilization Collaborative in Douglas County, which provides rental assistance with the purpose of keeping households housed through financial and case management supports.

Population(s) Served
Families
Economically disadvantaged people

As shelter space is a limited resource, Family Promise of Lawrence also runs a program called Diversion from Shelter. The Diversion Program is designed to help families utilize their resources to stay safely sheltered elsewhere and hopefully avoid further family disruption and trauma by having to enroll in emergency shelter, unless absolutely necessary. The key to success of our Diversion Program is to facilitate the evaluation of the main obstacle for the family and help address it both with financial and case management supports.

With the Diversion Program, the limited bed space for emergency shelter is reserved for those in our community who have no other options.

Population(s) Served
Families
Homeless people

FPL has Shelter Programs available for families who are experiencing a situation of homelessness and do not have any immediate safe options for shelter. In 2023, FPL changed our shelter from a Rotational program to a single site shelter. We are refurbishing a building for safe family shelter, which will open in fall 2024. Case management supports is critical to helping each family move form shelter to housing as promptly as possible

Shelter in Place (SIP):
A few units are reserved for shelter in place for a few families who have family situations that would make congregate sheltering too difficult. The same case management supports as well as food supports donated through congregations of faith help families in SIP move back to housing as promptly as possible.

Population(s) Served
Families
Economically disadvantaged people

In 2013 Family Promise of Lawrence launched the Temporary Housing program in response to the overwhelming need we saw here in Douglas County. We now have the use of 8 single family units through generosity of some special private property owners here in Lawrence. Some of these units are used each year for Shelter in Place
some are used as Temporary Housing options for qualified families.

The Temporary Housing Program is designed to give families a bit more time in shelter for stabilization prior to moving into market rate housing. Qualified families apply to the program, and agree for a temporary stay, and pay a small rental and utility fee monthly through the duration of stay in the Temporary Housing Program. They continue to work closely with their case manager, utilize the resource of FPL programs and benevolence offerings and participate in Life Skills Classes.

Population(s) Served
Families
Economically disadvantaged people

The Family Promise of Lawrence Stabilization Program was launched initially in 2015 as the Graduate Supports Program. Enrollment in Stabilization is open to all families who have participated in any FPL program. It is most frequently used immediately upon exiting from homelessness and into housing, for a period of time with additional supports to help stabilize a permanent housing situation. Another common enrollment period may happen if a graduate family has fallen on a difficult period and wants to utilize some additional FPL supports to get through the rough situation.

Enrollment in Stabilization includes case management supports, ability to participate in Life Skills Classes, opportunities for social connection with others enrolled in the program , evaluations and referrals to other agencies and funding sources, if needed, refresher courses of financial literacy and good tenancy materials and some benevolence funding as needed.

Population(s) Served
Families
Economically disadvantaged people

Where we work

Videos

Our results

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.

Percentage of families with income sources within the first 30-days of program?

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Population(s) Served

Families, Homeless people

Related Program

Prevention

Type of Metric

Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues

Direction of Success

Increasing

Percentage of families served graduated to housing or that remained housed?

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Population(s) Served

Families, Economically disadvantaged people

Related Program

Shelter

Type of Metric

Output - describing our activities and reach

Direction of Success

Increasing

Percentage of families served still housed after a two year tracking period?

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Population(s) Served

Families, Homeless people

Type of Metric

Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues

Direction of Success

Increasing

Number of homeless participants engaged in housing services

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Type of Metric

Context - describing the issue we work on

Direction of Success

Increasing

Goals & Strategy

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.

Charting impact

Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.

Just like our mission states, our goals in working with every family is housing. For each family, that path of services will be unique. Our growth in programming has served this mission through:
1. Keeping families housed - Prevention Program
2. Keeping families safely sheltered with as minimal disruption as possible - Diversion from Shelter and P515
3. Shelter through the Hybrid Program or Shelter in Place
4. Stabilization - helping families stabilize their permanent housing

Preventing homelessness, migrating through a situation of homelessness as promptly as possible and stabilizating housing once through a situation of homelessness is what we aim to accomplish 365 days each year.

The effectiveness and progress on goals for Family Promise of Lawrence is measured through detailed data evaluation. Family Promise of Lawrence utilizes Family Force, a database program based on salesforce.com. This cloud based program is our primary tool for documentation of our donor base, and volunteers as well as all case management and client referrals.

The criteria for successful achievement of our annual goals is measured through Key Performance Indicators which are adopted by the Board of Directors annually. These goals and objectives provide a measurable outcomes to track to the effectiveness of goal progress throughout the year.

The use of Family force.com provides us with real-time data and dashboards at all levels of the organization to measure our progress and make course corrections where appropriate based upon our KPI organizational goals.

Family Promise of Lawrence has as very small staff of 8 full time employees and 2 part time positions. The strength of this organization is in the over 1300 volunteers who serve each year and provided over 50,000 hours of service annually.

The staff of family promise works quite closely collaborating with social service agencies in town to connect families with other resources available for their family.

Family Promise of Lawrence operates under a continual improvement model. Through this process, we have grown our programs and offer a strategy of a continuum of services that cover our strategic goals and define our processes. Each family served is unique, and by offering a variety of programs, the families themselves, can have autonomy and determine what program will most effectively serve their family situation. Of all families served, about 1/3 participate in more than one program each year. The Family Promise of Lawrence Continuum of services covers prevention of homelessness, Diversion from Shelter, Shelter and Stabilization. Each program includes supportive wrap around strengths based case management as well as life skills curriculum.

Our mission and the community needs continue to be the driver of our expansion of programming. Our Mission is; Helping homeless families with children achieve and maintain permanent housing.

How we listen

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.

done We demonstrated a willingness to learn more by reviewing resources about feedback practice.
done We shared information about our current feedback practices.

  • How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?

    To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals

  • Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?

    We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We look for patterns in feedback based on demographics (e.g., race, age, gender, etc.), We look for patterns in feedback based on people’s interactions with us (e.g., site, frequency of service, etc.), We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive

  • What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?

    We don’t have the right technology to collect and aggregate feedback efficiently, confidentiality concerns expressed from clients - as we are a small staff

Financials

FAMILY PROMISE OF LAWRENCE INC
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Operations

The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.

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Connect with nonprofit leaders

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lock

Connect with nonprofit leaders

Subscribe

Build relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.

  • Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
  • Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
  • Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations

Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.

FAMILY PROMISE OF LAWRENCE INC

Board of directors
as of 03/05/2024
SOURCE: Self-reported by organization
Board chair

Mary Kaczor

Social Worker - School District

Term: 2021 - 2023

Joe Reitz

Board Member Emeritus. Founder, Retired Professor of Business Ethics

Nancy Reitz

Ex Officio, Treasurer

Mary Kaczor

Local School District

Brian Iverson

Intrust Bank

Takisha Derritt

Maximus

Juliann Morleand DaVee

KU School of Law, Medical / Legal

Eugene Cowper

Hallmark

Tiffany Lewis

Health care

Matthew Sturtevant

Pastor, First Baptist Church

Wendy Wheeler

Education

Aaron Thakker

Construction

Christopher Jones

IT

Trina Tinsley

Hospitality

Board leadership practices

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.

  • Board orientation and education
    Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes
  • CEO oversight
    Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes
  • Ethics and transparency
    Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes
  • Board composition
    Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes
  • Board performance
    Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes

Organizational demographics

SOURCE: Self-reported; last updated 3/5/2024
info Candid has made improvements to the race and ethnicity options.

Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.

Leadership

The organization's leader identifies as:

Race & ethnicity
White/Caucasian/European
Gender identity
Female, Not transgender
Sexual orientation
Heterosexual or Straight
Disability status
Person without a disability

Race & ethnicity

Gender identity

Transgender Identity

Sexual orientation

Disability

No data

Equity strategies

Last updated: 03/05/2024

GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more

Data
  • We review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race.
  • We ask team members to identify racial disparities in their programs and / or portfolios.
  • We analyze disaggregated data and root causes of race disparities that impact the organization's programs, portfolios, and the populations served.
  • We disaggregate data to adjust programming goals to keep pace with changing needs of the communities we support.
  • We disaggregate data by demographics, including race, in every policy and program measured.
  • We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
Policies and processes
  • We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
  • We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
  • We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
  • We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.