GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - Two West Michigan organizations, Family Promise and Mel Trotter Ministries, announced Pathway Home, a partnership that will increase shelter capacity for homeless families while providing on-site case management services to help families transition back to stable housing more quickly.
Previously, Mel Trotter served only single women with children as well as single men and women. Upon realizing the need for more shelter space for families, Mel Trotter Ministries repurposed 22 rooms and dedicated them to families.
Family Promise had years of case management experience advocating for families to provide safe and stable permanent housing, but with only five rooms, lacked the space to serve many of Kent County's homeless families. The new partnership will keep families together and utilize Mel Trotter Ministries' space and support services including clinics, child care center, educational support, and spiritual care, while placing Family Promise staff on-site, filling a gap in services while reducing duplication.
Four full-time Family Promise employees now work on-site at Mel Trotter Ministries, dedicated to keeping families together, mitigating the stressful effects of homelessness on children, meeting basic needs, and securing permanent housing.
