Family Promise of St. Tammany

General information

Family Promise of St Tammany is a community response to the issue of homelessness in our parish, specifically homeless families with children, sometimes known as the "invisible homeless.” The families have usually never been homeless before but find themselves without a shelter due to no fault of their own and faced with homelessness for the first time.
According to the Northlake Homeless Coalition, on an average night in St Tammany parish, there are 61 persons comprising 17 families who are homeless. (Northlake Homeless Coalition, January 2013). There are 1250 children in the St Tammany Parish public school system (May 2014) identified as homeless. Over 80% of these families are without a home of their own and are living “doubled up” with family and friends.
The Family Promise program is a unique solution because it assists the families in becoming self-sufficient so they can live successfully in a permanent residence. The program is structured as an interfaith blend of denominations that offer their facilities and their congregations to support these families with children during difficult times. We like to refer to the congregational hosting as “site based mission work.” The lifeblood of the program is the volunteers and their love, compassion and giving spirit. These ingredients are what make the 182 affiliates across the country successful. These are the ingredients that have inspired our faith-based community in St Tammany to commit to helping our homeless families with children in need.