Come as you are: Inside FOFs Low Barrier Shelter

At Friends of the Family, we provide a low barrier emergency shelter service. A Low barrier shelter service eliminates many of the obstacles that shelters often impose. By doing this we are able to help more people, despite possible obstacles they are currently facing.    We believe in the housing first approach. This means that we want to make sure survivors of domestic violence, human trafficking and sexual assault have a safe space to escape to without worrying about passing

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Friends of the Family has been awarded a Top Workplaces 2024 honor by Iowa Top Workplaces. This list is based solely on employee feedback gathered through a third-party survey administered by employee engagement technology partner Energage,LLC. The confidential survey uniquely measures the employee experience and its component themes, including employees feeling Respected & Supported, Enabled to Grow, and Empowered to Execute, to name a few. At the recent awards ceremony for Top Workplaces, Friends

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Monique, office manager, shares a bit about her role. Describe your role.  My role is a complicated one, I wear a lot of hats. I am here to ensure everything is going how it's supposed to be going. I am here to support our full-time and part-time staff in their day-to-day work. It can be making sure they have the folders they need to make client files; it can be making sure shelter vehicles are running properly to get staff and clients from point A to point B safely, it can be fixing

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Athena, housing navigator, talks about her role. Describe your role.  As the Housing Navigator My main role is to Connect with landlords and work on our relationships with them to continue to grow our relationships and help house our clients. With this I also work with Case managers to help get their clients into available rentals within the relationships we have built with landlords in the counties we serve.   What led you to become a Housing Navigator?  I was in

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FOF’s street outreach program is a brand-new program that started a year ago. We have two Outreach specialists - one in Black Hawk County and another that covers North Central & Northeast Iowa. This program's purpose is to meet individuals and families experiencing homelessness where they are: living in their car, encampments, or on the street.  Why are we doing this? Street outreach work can help us to reach people who we normally would not be able to connect with.

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Emma, housing support specialist, shares about her role.  Describe your role.   My role is to fill in throughout each of our housing programs when extra support is needed. Whether that is a staff going on maternity leave or leaving the agency, my role is to assist each program, so it can stay up to standards while there is a gap in staffing.   What led you to become a housing resource specialist?  I really liked the idea of my position always changing. A

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Nicole, outreach & diversion specialist, shares about her day. Describe your role.  I am an in-person access point for people experiencing homelessness or near homelessness. I reach out to them either where they are (bridges, alleys, streets, parking lots) or am available for them to come in the office and seek services. Once contact is made, I can complete an assessment with individuals, getting them on the Coordinated Entry Prioritization List where they can hopefully quickly be pulled

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Housing Support Specialist, Amie, shares about her role.  Describe your role.  I am a housing support specialist. I assist clients with finding housing and provide case management to help them reach self-sufficiency.  What led you to become a housing support specialist?  I always wanted a job in the helping field because it is very fulfilling and rewarding. When I saw the opportunity to be a housing support specialist, I thought it was a perfect opportunity for me

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What is PIT Count? Community agencies and stakeholders will survey the community to conduct a Point in Time Count. PIT Count is where agencies & volunteers go out into the community and connect with individuals experiencing homelessness on the last Wednesday of January every year.   Staff and volunteers are tasked with going into the community to count and connect with the number of people experiencing homelessness in our 17-county community: Allamakee, Bremer, Butler, Buchanan, Chickasaw,

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Alyssa, Diversion & Assessment Specialist, talks about her role. Describe your role.  Conduct housing assessments on the Housing Services Hotline explaining services for clients, setting up expectations for receiving assistance, discussing diversion options for a safe place to stay, provide referrals to community providers for additional resources. I also practice data management and client tracking, attending pull meetings with other housing agencies and engage full circle with the Coordinated

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