Agency Details:

Families Forward

Families Forward is a non-profit agency dedicated to helping low income families in need. Families Forward addresses families needs at any point in their crisis by providing a broad spectrum of services, including: housing, counseling, food, education, case management, and life-skills training.

Description:
Each year, hundreds of families in our area find themselves without a home. Thousands more go to bed at least one night a week without having had anything to eat that day.

Most homeless families in South Orange County go unseen. They live in their cars, on couches and floors of friend's houses, and in other temporary shelters. They are desperately struggling to maintain some kind of stability for their children.

At Families Forward, we see the sense of isolation and hopelessness of parents who feel they have lost the ability to care for their children. We give families renewed self-confidence and the tools they need to succeed in life.

For 25 years, Families Forward has addressed the needs of low-income and homeless families in Orange County. The comprehensive array of services offered at Families Forward empowers families to regain stability and self-sufficiency. Our homeless prevention services include career coaching, life-skills education, and food assistance. These services are supplemented by the rigorous Transitional Housing Program, which has resulted in more than 4 out of 5 families successfully transitioning from dependence to financial stability and returning to being productive residents of the community.

History:
Families Forward is an Irvine-based nonprofit organization founded in 1984 by a group of dedicated community members in collaboration with the City of Irvine and the Irvine Company, who shared the same vision of providing housing for families in crisis. The agency began with only five apartment units and one part-time counselor. Families Forward quickly grew in response to the community need and now has twenty-three transitional housing units as well as a comprehensive array of services to prevent homelessness.

Families Forward is well known and well respected in the Orange County community for its quality services provided to thousands of families each year. In 2005, the agency was recognized by United Way with the "Striving Towards Excellence" award.

The agency has been recognized by the Irvine City Council, and the Orange County Register, and has also received the Disneyland Community Service Award. Executive Director Margie Wakeham was selected by Orange County Metro as one of "10 Women Making A Difference" in 2000, and in 2002 was honored by Concordia University with the Servant Leadership Award. In 2002, Families Forward was invited to the White House in Washington, D.C. by the National Interagency Council on Homelessness to participate in a focus group with other homeless agencies to share ideas and solutions for ending homelessness. This was an extraordinary honor since only eight agencies were across the country were selected out of the thousands that serve the homeless population.

Contact person: Kelly Banks, Resource Coordinator, (phone), (email)

Main office number: (949) 552-2727
Office fax number: (949) 552-2731

Address:

9221 Irvine Blvd Irvine, CA 92618 (See a map)

Web Site: http://www.families-forward.org

Last updated on January 23, 2009