Family Promise of Clark County Executive Director Shane Scalf showcases a living room at the new location at River City Church in Vancouver. The space will offer a stable environment for families to do laundry, cook and relax. The nonprofit moved in order to have a more central location for its clientele to access main transit lines and community services. (Taylor Balkom/The Columbian)Photo Gallery
A small nonprofit hoping to make a big impact alleviating family homelessness has moved to Vancouver.
Family Promise of Clark County, which aims to help families out of homelessness through case management and shelter, has relocated to be more central to its clients and other community services.
The nonprofit now operates in the backside of River City Church, 2400 E. Fourth Plain Blvd., in Vancouver. Previously, it operated out of Camas.
“We want to really make a huge impact in Clark County. There were around 800 families last year that asked for housing, through the Council for the Homeless, and were not able to receive it,” Executive Director Shane Scalf said. “We are really interested in tapping into that and providing housing for a lot more people.”
Family Promise of Clark County’s staff includes Scalf and case manager Niccole Fuller. The nonprofit is looking to hire a resource coordinator.
In 2019, the nonprofit welcomed its first family. Fast forward, hundreds of families have been housed through the Clark County branch.
“We help anyone who is a family unit. Whoever that family unit is: grandparents, aunts, uncles, sometimes boyfriends,” Scalf said.
Family Promise of Clark County provides overnight shelter for up to 14 people at a different congregation each week. At the River City Church location, families can hang out at the day center to do laundry, take a shower, cook, play with toys or just relax.
The day center property also hosts a transitional housing unit. The nonprofit hopes to expand to more in the future, Scalf said.
At night, families will be transported to one of the 13 churches partnered with Family Promise. They will be given dinner, a bed and breakfast the next day.
The goal is for families to graduate from the program, which means they are successfully housed with the support they need to stay sheltered.
The nonprofit follows a housing first model, which is the belief that people experiencing homelessness should be connected to permanent housing without barriers, such as sobriety, treatment or service participation requirements, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
“But it’s not just (a) housing first model that we consider, we consider the afterward,” Scalf said. “Housing first and continued case management and stability. Even after we get families into housing, we’re going to do three months, six months, nine months and 12 months check-in.”
Scalf said the nonprofit is built on a prevention, diversion and shelter model and incorporates trauma-informed approaches into its practice.
“Our goal is the kids and making sure that the environment that we are providing care in is safe for families,” Scalf said. “I always say, it doesn’t really matter what decisions parents have made that got them into their situation. We consider the children and give the families grace.”
This story was made possible by Community Funded Journalism, a project from The Columbian and the Local Media Foundation. Top donors include the Ed and Dollie Lynch Fund, Patricia, David and Jacob Nierenberg, Connie and Lee Kearney, Steve and Jan Oliva, The Cowlitz Tribal Foundation and the Mason E. Nolan Charitable Fund. The Columbian controls all content. For more information, visit columbian.com/cfj.
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