Our Impact
Explore the tangible outcomes of our efforts in transforming the lives of families in Blount County. Through our community-based approach, we measure and celebrate the positive changes we collectively achieve, creating lasting impact and hope.
So far in 2024 we have served...
Family Shelter
Impact Story
Payment Error Predicament
A family entered our Shelter Program with a very bizarre predicament—there had been a payment error on their rental agreement that had gone on for years. As new management took over, this error was found and the family was charged the back rent in lieu of an eviction. The amount was too high for the family to pay out of pocket, and management assured them that everything could be settled in court.
One missed court date later, and this mother and father and their two kids were now facing an eviction. With the judgment having already been made, there was little that could be done to stop this process.
Knowing that there was nothing that could be done to save their current lease, Family Promise of Blount County brought this family into the Shelter program. In this time, Family Promise was able to assist the family by providing them a safe place to stay at no cost so they could focus exclusively on their finances, as well as providing food, basic necessities, and clothing.
The family worked alongside a Case Manager, as well as one of our partners, Operation Hope, to revise their budget and get their credit back on track. They set goals to eliminate their biggest barriers to finding housing—eliminating previous debts, the eviction, and getting their credit back on track. Through months of budgeting and saving, this family was able to successfully graduate to the Transitional Housing program with ease.
In Shelter, they began working towards paying off debts they had accrued before any of this began, being able to completely pay off every single one throughout the duration of their Shelter stay. They worked with their former apartment complex to make an agreement, and even were sent letters of recommendation from their previous renters to assist them towards housing in the future.
Transitional Housing
Impact Story
New Beginnings
A mother and her two young children graduated from our Shelter program into our Transitional Housing program, but the work does not stop there.
While Shelter is about building up finances and learning those skills, Transitional Housing is about putting all of that into practice. In Shelter, this mother took cooking classes geared specifically towards learning how to make a food budget stretch with SNAP benefits.
In Transitional Housing, Family Promise halts routine food assistance in order to allow the families to learn how to manage their food budget in a safe environment. With the information she learned from this class, she was able to create and maintain a food budget that she continues to use to this day.
In Shelter, this mother had been able to complete Family Promise’s New Beginnings educational course, which meant that in Transitional Housing, she was ready to take the Keys to Good Tenancy course to prepare her for all of the trials and tribulations that come with being a first-time renter.
One of the biggest goals this mother had was to rein in her spending and use of credit cards. By working with a Case Manager, she was able to pay off debts with multiple cards, and close many of them out that were no longer needed to encourage healthier spending habits. She created a budget with an assumed rent and was able to prove that she was ready to enter her own lease.
Family Promise of Blount County assisted her with her deposit into her first apartment this year, leaving her with some money to save in the event of an emergency. Thanks to the education she received from our program, she has been able to successfully maintain this apartment with her two children.
Going Home, Staying Home
Impact Story
Happily Ever After
Finding housing after an eviction is difficult, and especially so when you have a limited budget and a large family. This was the case for a family in our Going Home Staying Home program—a mother and father with three kids in their household, and two children for whom they had shared custody with another parent. They worked alongside their Case Manager to locate housing that would work with them, and they were able to find it.
Family Promise of Blount County assisted with their deposit and first month’s rent to move them into a home early this year. Utilizing the skills they learned through participating in our Shelter and Transitional Housing programs, they have been able to maintain this housing throughout the year.
Family Promise of Blount County reaches out on a regular schedule to check in on recently graduated families via our Going Home Staying Home program, and in every conversation, they have been happy to report that all is going well.
They have been able to maintain the budget they worked out with a Case Manager when they first moved, have kept up their relationship with their current landlord using skills they learned in Keys to Good Tenancy, and have even kept their housing clean—a skill they worked on collaboratively with a Case Manager while in Transitional Housing, after not understanding all the ins and outs of cleaning having never lived in a home of their own before.
More Impact Stories
Taylor’s Story
I had an infant and a 4 year old when I came into the program....
Mariah’s Story
I was currently unemployed at the time, and my husband was trying to get his...
Misti’s Story
In her own words: Alright. So here goes one of the hardest posts I have...
Kelly & Casey’s Story
We are originally from Blount County but we were in Florida at the time. We...
Jan’s Story
I have been volunteering since the very beginning of Family Promise. I remember I was...
