Friends Association for Care and Protection

Emergency rent & utility assistance (erap)- selected by chester county to distribute funds through the united states treasure and pa department of human services since 2020, Friends distributed almost $8m in assistance in the form of past due rent and utilities for over 1,000 households in chester county.

The emergency housing (family center) houses families experiencing homelessness referred through the county's coordinated entry system, in one of six apartment units. Each family lives autonomously in an apartment for 90-120 days as they work with their case manager to secure permanent housing, create a housing stability case plan, increase income, and access mainstream benefits. Pregnant women and families with infants are immediately engaged with the nurse family partnership to provide education, support, and resource connections. Taking a two-generation approach, we coordinate high quality early learning access (head start, early head start) for all children under the age of 5. Children under the age of 5 make up 23% of the total population at the family center. Friends' family center is currently the only low-barrieremergency housing in the county that can house entire family units together through their time of crisis. In calendar year 2024, 77% of families moved directly to stable housing from the family center.

The eviction prevention case resolution (epcr) program stabilizes vulnerable families and individuals who are facing eviction in participating courts by providing them with free legal and social services support on the day of their eviction hearing. The program provides financial assistance to prevent evictions, and connections to long-term financial services, housing subsidies, housing partnership programs, and social supports needed to prevent future housing instability. 600 households were served in calendar year 2024 ; 3% were senior citizens;10 % were children under the age of 5; and 81% of households served resulted in a favorable tenant outcome with participatns maintaining housing. Since 2020, the program has provided a combination of services to over 1,443 households representing a total of 2,699+ individual household members[1]. [1] figures provided are as per epcr clients in programs data report from the county hmis system.

The housing stability case management (hscm) program provides long-term case management and is available for families currently experiencing homelessness, or recently moved to permanent housing from any emergency housing in the county. This program provides continued case management support, comprehensive guidance, and resources to empower families and reduce the risk of a family's return to homelessness. Our goal is to help families not only obtain housing but to keep it.

The nia program provides intensive case manamement with rental assistance for those affected by incarceration in chester county. This program provides holistic reentry services for women returning to their community and works towards re-establishing critical bonds with their children, and secure long-term stable housing after a period of incarceration.

The homelessness prevention program assists families facing a housing crisis. Short-term financial assistance is combined with landlord mediation, case management and education to keep families safely housed. Services included gender-specific, trauma-informed Care for women with mental health and/or substance use disorders.

Summer enrichment