Mentor A Family Program
is discontinued for lack of funds

Faith And The City e.Newsletter
April 26, 2007

Faith And The City today announced the termination of its Mentor A Family Program, effective April 15, due to discontinuation of funding by the program’s donors, which are placing more emphasis on other initiatives to combat homelessness.

For six years, Mentor A Family partnered with metro area faith and civic organizations, matching them in “mentoring” relationships with working homeless families. Under the program’s supervision, these mentoring relationships enabled hundreds of families to get off the streets, out of shelters, and into stable housing – in short, to achieve enduring independence and self-sufficiency.

For a family to qualify for the Mentor A Family Program, the head of household had to be working and had to identify an affordable apartment or house. Program staff then matched the family with a volunteer “partner,” typically a religious congregation or civic organization that committed to a supportive relationship with the family for six months to a year. Each family/partner match was unique, and the nature of the partnering organization’s support depended on its capacity and on the family’s needs.

Established in 2000 as the Shelter A Family Program, Mentor A Family worked in partnership with a range of congregations and other organizations, spanning the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim communities. Since then, these partnerships have helped more than 700 people – over half of them children – to escape homelessness and move into permanent housing.

During 2005, Mentor A Family’s first year under Faith And The City management, the program increased the number of individuals served by more than 100 percent over the previous year. During its two years with Faith And The City, the mentoring program matched 348 individuals, compared with 153 in the previous two years.

“We regret the demise of the Mentor A Family Program,” said Doug Gatlin, executive director of Faith And The City. “As the numbers indicate, the program staff was very effective in helping families, mostly women and children, to escape the shackles of homelessness. Unfortunately, adequate funding was no longer available.”

Mentor A Family staff included: Margie Shannon Telfair, program manager; Rev. Debra Walters, congregation liaison; and Yolanda Frierson, M.S.W., family liaison. 

Faith And The City is a nonprofit, interfaith-oriented initiative established in 1999 to encourage a sense of community throughout the 20-county Atlanta metropolitan region and restore faith leaders to their vital role as advocates for social justice. Founded and co-chaired by former U.S. Ambassadors James T. Laney and Andrew Young, the organization implements a range of initiatives and forms a variety of partnerships to amplify diverse voices of faith and bring a moral dimension to public discourse.

For more information, visit www.faithandthecity.org.

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