Partner Carol Bailey is part of the new program called “Family to Family,” which pairs area churches with new families moving into The Grove at Keith Creek, the new Rockford Housing Authority development on Rockford’s east side.
PRESS RELEASE:
Rockford Area Churches Kickoff Family To Family Program For The Grove Residents
ROCKFORD, IL June 12, 2017 – A collaborative body of Rockford area faith communities today introduced Family to Family, a new program that pairs a Church community with a new family moving into The Grove at Keith Creek, the new housing development on Rockford’s east side. The program aims to support new residents to help them more quickly acclimate to their new home and neighborhood.
On Friday, Rockford Housing Authority announced that all 43 families moving into The Grove had signed up for the Family To Family program. To date, 17 area faith groups have signed up or are soliciting congregation members to form support teams. The initial church members invited Rockford area faith communities to fill the need for 26 more program partners.
The Grove at Keith Creek is a new housing development going up on South New Towne Drive on the east side of Rockford replacing units at Fairgrounds Valley on the city’s west side, the first of three phases that will eventually replace all Fairgrounds housing.
“We want to see the residents of The Grove given a fair opportunity to succeed,” commented Jim Andrews, Program Lead, a lay member of the Sinsinawa Dominicans, a Catholic order. “We proposed and Rockford Housing Authority approved a family support program that aims to give families a leg up. We will dialogue with families on needs they identify they want help with–from jobs to schools–advising and marshaling resources when needed.”
Rather than recreate the wheel, ‘Family To Family will incorporate aspects of the Catholic Refugee Resettlement Program, a highly successful program with years of experience in resettling refugees from other countries into new homes in the Rockford area. Catholic Charities helps an average 90 residents annually settle into their new lives in the Rockford area, an effort dating back several decades. Catholic Charities’ experience in and network of resources in housing, education, healthcare and employment will be employed in the new Family To Family program.
Six initial faith groups will start meeting with families this week to begin getting to know each other and to start discerning family needs as the first families get ready to move into The Grove the first week of July. Teams of five to eight members from Emmanuel Episcopal Church, Pilgrim Baptist Church, River Valley Community Church, the Sinsinawa Dominicans, United Faith Missionary Baptist Church and Zion Lutheran Church will meet with families at Fairgrounds.
Another 11 churches have expressed interest in the program, some of which have begun forming project teams, including Bethel Baptist Church, Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Christ United Methodist Church, City First Church, Holy Family Catholic Church, Promise of Life Church, St. Mark Lutheran, Third Presbyterian Church, Total Faith Community Church, United Lutheran Church and Westside Church of Christ.
“The support of Rockford churches and their individual families will help build bridges between various communities,” commented Father David Beauvais, one of the group’s founding members. “This program has an opportunity to be a game changer– to help us all take a huge step forward for race relations in Rockford.”
For more information about the program, visit www.RockfordHA.org.