Family Promise of the Palouse is a non-profit organization that will help homeless families with children gain independence in both housing and other life activities.  Family Promise will join Sojourners Alliance, the Hope Center, Alternatives to Violence on the Palouse, Habitat for Humanity and other agencies to address many complex and underlying causes of poverty.  Family Promise of the Palouse will serve Moscow, Pullman, and nearby locations.

This service will support homeless families with children who are facing short-term problems that would probably lead to longer-term poverty and more family dysfunction.  Homeless children are the fastest growing segment of the homeless population in the United States.  Family Promise’s aim is to help families be strong and resilient so that children will thrive in a healthy setting.  Many local agencies are on the front lines of poverty issues; no other area program assists families with children who have emergency housing needs… and keeps the family together during the time of distress.

Family Promise brings faith communities together to help families who are temporarily distressed due to job loss, unexpected health costs, domestic violence, or a car accident that eliminates transportation or access to a job.  “Host congregations” and “partner congregations” will provide shelter, food, and fellowship while a small professional staff will coordinate services and volunteers.  Congregations will provide service approximately four times a year.Homeless families with children who qualify for Family Promise must submit to an extensive application and screening process.  Participating families must agree to a set of expectations that will lead to an independent and sustainable life.  Typical Family Promise programs serve 25-30 families and 100-120 people a year.  Approximately 77% of families who commit to Family Promise move into their own housing within 9 weeks.  Sojourners Alliance staff report that 10-12 families a week seek shelter assistance.

More than 20 congregations in Moscow/Pullman have committed to Family Promise and our congregational recruitment process continues.

Our grant was for capacity with an emphasis on developing our donor base.  We wanted to talk about some of the results we’ve seen with our increased efforts in donor stewardship this year, but also what we’ve been able to accomplish in terms of our mission.

In terms of donor base development:

• This year we’ve seen a 72% retention rate for members
• Our number of gifts this year is up 30%, and our average gift amount is up 25% from last year.
• With new donors this year, our average gift has doubled from last year’s average for new donors.
• We’ve reactivated 31 donors from prior years

Of the 40 key donors we were looking to reactivate this year, we’ve renewed over half of them, with a number of them promising to give a year-end gift.

This grant made a big difference to our organization in our first year with a paid staff person, and I wanted to share a little about what we’ve been able to accomplish this year:

• We’ve updated our website to a new platform that allows it to be much more dynamic and useful as an outreach and engagement tool.  Check it out at www.palouselandtrust.org
• We’ve updated our strategic plan this year to include goals of expanding our outreach throughout our large service area, and enhancing education efforts at Idler’s Rest to collaborate more with educational institutions for the study of and enhancement of the preserve.  We recently had 6th graders from PPSEL out at Idler’s Rest to map the trails as part of their study of Lewis and Clark.

• We trained a group of volunteers this summer to help us with our annual easement monitoring to make sure that the land we’ve already protected stays that way
• We’re currently working with two landowners in Troy.  Both projects will protect important forest and stream habitat and critical wildlife corridors, and we’re working closely with one of these landowners to design her easement so that the property can be used as a center for youth agricultural education in the future.
• We’ve reopened an easement project that was previously turned down by PLT because it requires some more complex facilitation to get it done.  We’re currently working with state resource agencies and other partners to get this property protected.  It will protect over 600 acres – 300 of which is in active agriculture.  The rest of the property is a critical wildlife corridor, and would protect almost 2 miles of the south fork of the Palouse River.  According to WA DFW, the Palouse River corridor is the only quality wildlife habitat left in Whitman County (two pictures in slideshow).
• We’re working with IDFG on a project in Latah County that will protect about 200 acres of important meadow habitat and will involve a major restoration project to restore in-stream flows for fish.
•  We’ve been partnering with USFWS to go after some large-scale funding that would allow for regional scale protection and restoration of Palouse Prairie habitat.
• We’ve seen a great amount of additional interest from regional partners like WA Department of Fish and Wildlife, Idaho Department of Fish and Game, the Heart of the Rockies Initiative, and the national Land Trust Alliance over the past year.  They’re all excited that PLT is growing and has a dedicated staff person.  A number of these groups have offered technical support and training opportunities so that we can start to address the needs of landowners throughout our service area.

We wanted to thank you all so much for this grant and your support this year – it’s made a HUGE difference.  THANK YOU!

MY OWN HOME
PROGRESS REPORT

My Own Home received a $5,000 grant from the Giving Circle to assist in our first year of operation as we build our capacity to grow and provide services to members.

At the time of our application we had 16 members, 5 family and 6 single, and had not yet started providing services.  With the Circle’s support, we were able to begin offering services this past July and currently have 23 members, 6 family 11 single.

We were also able to develop our list of volunteers, which now includes 30 community members willing to perform a wide variety of services for our members. All of the volunteers have now undergone background checks and an initial group has gone through our training program. 

As a result of being operational, we have been able to participate in three student service events sponsored by the University, where members had yard clean up work performed and windows washed.  An added bonus was how pleased the members were to have this kind of contact with university students.

Most recently we were invited by Moscow High School to give a presentation about My Own Home.  Approximately 120 students attended the presentation and 80 of them completed volunteer forms.  Not that we, or at least some of us, want it to snow a whole lot this winter, but if it does having so many student volunteers should be a real asset in being able to provide snow removal services for our members who need it.

Some of the other services we have performed for our current members include: moving furniture so that carpets could be cleaned, transportation and minor house repairs.  We have also held two get togethers for members to have an opportunity to meet one another and tell us what services they are most interested in receiving. We’ve also sponsored trips to a movie showing at the Kenworthy and a performance of the IRT’s summer play.

Organizationally we have recently strengthened our board with the addition of three new members: Andrea Beckett, a well known and highly regarded CPA; Jim Prall, who has extensive experience providing services to seniors on a volunteer basis;  and Susan Ripley, who has worked for Latah County’s Assessor’s Office for more than 27 years, most recently as Technical Systems Manager, and who has performed countless hours as a volunteer and board member for a number of local organizations.

Our major goals for the coming year are increasing our number of members and becoming financial sustainable through securing funding from grants and private donors.  To that end, we have scheduled a facilitated board retreat in early January to develop a concrete action plan for accomplishing them.

Debbie Bell, second grade teacher at McDonald Elementary School sent us the following update about the school's use of its 2010 Circle grant:

Our school has been proactive in supporting this project this past school year.  The purpose of this project continues to enhance the outdoor classroom at McDonald Elementary. In doing so, we can continue to provide an  integrated teaching style and an alternate learning environment for both faculty and students.

The following is a list of volunteer groups who have made this project a success:

• Backyard Harvest – Amy Grey, Director
• Adventure Club – Moscow School District
• Brad and Kate Jaeckel – McDonald School parents
• Saturday of Service – University of Idaho Volunteer Services
• Make A Difference – University of Idaho Volunteer Services
• Brian Carhart and Karen Trippei – McDonald School Teachers

Wish list for the future:

• Greenhouse - $1,200
• Grow lights for the classrooms - $500
• McDonald School Garden sign - $150
  

Contact information: If anyone is interested in donating items or volunteer their services you may contact me at:

belld@msd281.org

Thank you again for all your support.

Palouse Prairie School:

Palouse Prairie School is a non-tuition based public charter school.  Our goals are to engage children and the community of the Palouse in an inspiring and collaborative education of the highest standards by following the educational design principles of Expeditionary Learning. 

Last semester, nineteen kindergarten students embarked on a semester long expedition called, "Feed from Seed."  There were two components of this project; students learned about the characteristics of plants and they were involved in building a greenhouse for Palouse Prairie School.  The students collected 1500 2-liter bottles from the Moscow Recycling Center.  Washington State University Architecture students were integrated into the program as part of a service learning project.  The entire architecture class spent a day with the kindergarten students in building the walls of the greenhouse. 

After completion of the greenhouse, students grew vegetables for Backyard Harvest, a local non-profit fresh food bank.  Students presented their produce to Backyard Harvest and the greenhouse will provide many opportunities for student engagement for the years to come. Volunteer opportunities: Palouse Prairie School-  teaching children about planting and growing  teaching children about plants, gardening, farming, etc.

Wish List:
1. worm bin
2. soil
3. terra cotta pots
4. Garden tools: trowel

Contact:  Jeneille Branen  jbranen@palouseprairieschool.org

Hey there -- I'm just checking out the new blog function of our new website.  I hope that once we get going, this will be a spot for information about community volunteer opportunities, giving circle meetings, discussion about grants, and other information that Circle members might find interesting or useful. 

Our next meeting is October 3 at 2:00 -- at the 1912 Center!  Hope to see you all there!

jb