Community Impact Family Resource Centers: Christy - Single parent Christy grew up in public housing…

Neighborhoods

Meet Randy

A good husband and a proud father, Randy is a hard working mechanic who had a good job at a local body shop until the economy took a nosedive. Unable to find work for four months, and having run through his savings, he found himself in a tough spot: broke and unable to care for his family. “I have always been able to pay for the basic things my family needed,” he said, “and I could not pay my rent or electric bill, or buy any food, I was at a total loss. And not only that, I was embarassed and didn’t want to ask for help, or even know where to begin to look for it.”

Relief for Randy came in the form of a gentle suggestion from a visiting neighbor one afternoon who told him about St. Luke’s Community House. Looking back, he says he is glad he worked up the courage to go through the organization’s signature red door. The welcoming staff and volunteers shared their resourceswith Randy helping him find grants for rent assistance and utilities. They supplied him with an emergency box of food and an application for food stamps, and they directed him to United Way’s 2-1-1 helpline for help with school supplies and uniforms for his child. Over the course of several months, Randy walked through that door numerous times always encouraged by the staff to come back to apply for holiday assistance, like the Toy Store and Adopt-a-Family, until he could get back on his feet. He did find his footing again and his photo speaks volumes about the important role United Way Family Resource Centers play in helping people mend the tears in their lives and feel whole again.

Randy say’s it best, “They opened the door, they invited me in, and they gave my family hope.” Randy’s story is just one of the many lives that have been changed through one of United Way’s program partners. To read about other lives changed visit our Success Stories page.

Neighborhood Statistics

• In FRC neighborhoods, 38% of residence are below poverty level compared to the 16% for Davidson County.
• Over twice as many people receive public assistance in FRC neighborhoods compared to the rest of Davidson County.
• Seven disadvantaged communities in Nashville now have Family Resource Centers available.  Last year alone over 28,000 people got face to face services in their own neighborhoods, helping them break down transportation barriers and get the services they need.

Neighborhoods Focus Areas

By focusing on Building Strong Neighborhoods and Community based Family Resource Centers, United Way of Metropolitan Nashville helps at risk neighborhood residents get the services they need to lead stable, healthy and productive lives through programs that address barriers such as high rates of poverty, unemployment, under-employment, crime, teen pregnancy, single parent households, lower education levels, and high rent burden. 

Many of the programs supported through the focus areas of education, income and health are offered to our neediest citizens through a community-based Family Resource Center.

Neighborhood Focused Days of Action

Summer Day of Action: Neighborhoods to Stuff the Bus, 2010
December Day of Action: Live United for the Holidays, 2009
May Day of Action: Neighborhoods, 2009

Neighborhood Program Partners

• East Nashville Community Organizing Program (Neighborhoods Resource Center)
• Future of Nashville Coalition Project (Neighborhoods Resource Center)
• Nashville Prevention Partnership - Community Coalition Development and Action (Oasis Center, Inc.)
• Nashville Prevention Partnership - Neighborhood Bridges Initiative (Oasis Center, Inc.)
• North Nashville Community Organizing Program (Neighborhoods Resource Center)
• Organized Neighbors of Edgehill (ONE – Organized Neighbors of Edgehill)
• South Nashville Community Organizing Program (Neighborhoods Resource Center)
• Southeast Nashville Latino Services (Catholic Charities of Tenn. Inc)
• West Nashville Community Organizing Program (Neighborhoods Resource Center)
• Community Based Family Resource Centers (Lead Agencies)
• Bethlehem Family Resource Center (Bethlehem Centers of Nashville)
• Cayce Family Resource Center (Martha O’Bryan Center, Inc.)
• Edgehill Family Resource Center (Organized Neighbors of Edgehill)
• McGruder FRC (Walker Comprehensive Health Center Inc.)
• Northeast Family Resource Center (Salvation Army)
• South Nashville Family Resource Center (Vanderbilt Center for Health Services)
• St. Luke’s Family Resource Center (St. Luke’s Community House)

 

Mary’s Story

Mary Jones and her two children fled her abusive husband and eventually found themselves at the YWCA’s domestic violence…
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