Faith Community Homes
By Danielle Cybulski

Need provokes reaction. When needs arise in a community, it is up to those in the community to provide solutions, and to ensure those needs are met.

One such need arose here and it was the Arlington Heights Ministerial Association who addressed it. Affordable housing for low-income workers in Arlington Heights was once non-existent. The association’s response? To create a program called Faith Community Homes (FCH).

FCH finds affordable rental housing for residents in Arlington Heights. Once a residence is found, a family is paired with a mentor who provides transitional assistance to the family for two years, meeting once a week. The mentor teaches time management, how to budget, to develop goals, assist them in finding helpful resources and help them tap into their potential. The program also assists in subsidizing rent until they are financially stable enough to take on the payment themselves.

Since its start in 2002, FCH has placed 10 families. The number of those who FCH is able to assist is directly related to funding. With its 501 C3 non-profit status, FCH receives funding from the township, but donations are a fundamental supplement. The Village of Wheeling and Elk Grove Village, as well as 15 Arlington Heights churches, donate annually to the program. First Church of Christ, Scientist is one of the contributing congregations. Bonnie Andersen, Clerk of the executive board at the church, believes that this program can “raise people from discouragement to hope.”

Monetary donations are not the only way the churches help FCH; volunteers are also a vital link. Sixteen members of the congregations involved in the Ministerial Association serve as trained mentors in the program. The two-year relationship built between a mentor and family means everything. “It is a blessing for our mentors,” says Sister Carrie Miller, SLW, Case Manager for FCH. Mentors not only educate families on how to sustain themselves financially, but build their self-esteem and confidence. Mentors also teach families how to live differently. It is “different to work to survive versus working to thrive,” reflects Sister Carrie.

About 30 volunteers are involved in the program in an endless number of ways, giving time and talents. Many volunteers help by preparing the new living spaces for tenants. Volunteering adults many times bring their children to help in the effort; Sister Carrie believes it is very important for kids to learn at an early age that there are people in the world who are less fortunate than themselves. Donations of furniture, cars, car repairs and the use of a storage unit, are just a few of the ways people have helped in the past.

To educate the community, FCH has established a committee to bring its message to the public. “Affordable living has pretty much disappeared,” notes Sister Carrie, so the goal of this committee is to let those in the community know that this is a problem which needs to be dealt with, and to let them know that FCH is there to lend a hand. In the future, the organization would like to be able to construct housing for the families they assist. Everyone in the community is invited to help in the efforts Faith Community Homes pursues.

For people to flourish in any situation, their basic needs have to be met. Housing is one of those basic needs, as well as having a stable job and financial situation. “It’s a matter of justice,” states Sister Carrie, that people should be able to live in the area in which they work. Faith Community Homes provides this opportunity for those who may not have been able to do it on their own.