Homelessness in Orange County
When most of the country hears Orange County, people picture sunsets on beaches, enormous houses and lavish lifestyles. We do not
picture homelessness; we do not picture families crowded into tiny apartments with empty cupboards struggling to make ends meet on
a single parent's income.
About 35,000 people become homeless each year in Orange County, and they suffer unseen. We almost never see people sleeping on
benches amongst their belongings or panhandling on the corner, because homelessness in Orange County does not fit this stereotype.
Less than 8% of homeless individuals here suffer from mental illness or substance abuse. The vast majority --70%-- are families
with children under 18 years old who quietly blend in with the crowd during the day, and at night sleep on the sofa or the floor
of a friend's house, in a run-down motel room, or huddled in their car. Countless other families, not yet homeless, do their best
to get by, but are forced to go hungry in order to keep the lights on and the rent paid.
The programs at Families Forward are designed to assist these families in making better lives for themselves and for their children. They range from
the simplest form of help to putting food on the dinner table with groceries from the food pantry, to weekly career coaching sessions for parents needing
guidance towards a higher income and a better future, to the comprehensive Transitional Housing Program.
Our families have the will and perseverance to succeed and we provide the resources and opportunities required to become self-sufficient. Counselors
and career coaches show parents the way by setting goals, teaching time, stress, and money management skills, job search and retention strategies,
parenting techniques, and other valuable life skills, but the families must take the responsibility and initiative needed to walk through the door. Our
programs emphasize accountability and action on the part of the clients, while simultaneously bringing compassion, dignity and hope to their lives.
Families in the Homeless Intervention program are responsible for paying some level of rent for their transitional home, and they pay their own market
rate utility bills in full. All clients are expected to achieve their objectives and timetables. The process of attaining self-sufficiency is not an
easy one, but more than four out of five families graduate from the Transitional Housing Program feeling more accomplished and empowered to take control
of their own futures and become productive members of the community.
In March of 2008, we will receive our 26th home. This almost doubles the capacity of the Transitional Housing Program in less
than two years. Families Forward depends on community support in order to meet the needs of our families. Eighty-six percent of
all donations directly fund our programs and services. By donating to the Families Forward mission,
our generous contributors invest not only in a family's future, but to the future of our community at large.
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