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Introducing the Family Promise Center
Our search for a new home continues…
Family Promise is actively pursuing every viable lead to secure a property that will become The Family Promise Center. In the meantime, the requirements for a potential site listed below still apply. The Family Promise Center will be where temporary housing and comprehensive support services can be provided at one location. The Center will offer families the stability, support, tools, and time they need to become stronger and more confident as they move to self-sufficiency. Homeless prevention programming will also be available to families who are housing insecure to empower them to remain stably housed.
The Family Promise Center in Bergen County would be located close to jobs, mass transportation, schools, shopping, parks, houses of worship, and other essential services that are important to our families.
The Family Promise Center will feature:
Headquarters:
- Offices for our employees
- Communal spaces for families, such as a library and playroom
- Workshop and community conference rooms
Transitional Housing:
- Eight separate family living units
- Individual bathrooms and kitchens in each unit
- Communal laundry facilities
Frequently Asked Questions
1. How many families can reside at The Family Promise Center?
The site will be designed to include temporary living units for six-eight families, depending on their size. To be able to do this, we will have a combination of one and two-bedroom units.
2. What is the “profile” of a typical family?
Family Promise serves working families with dependent children under the age of 18. A typical family is comprised of a single mother and one or two children under the age of 18.
3. Where do these families come from?
Family Promise of Bergen County provides temporary housing and wrap-around services to families from Bergen County who are in a housing crisis. During our 39-year history, Family Promise has assisted families from every municipality in Bergen County. In fact, housing insecurity is an issue in every municipality in Bergen County.
4. What services are offered to the families?
Each family is assessed individually to determine their needs, their goals, and how Family Promise can help. We provide:
a. Intensive, personalized case management
b. Life coaching
c. Career exploration and job training
d. Financial education and professional financial coaching
e. Help with childcare and transportation
f. Life skills and empowerment workshops
Family Promise does not do anything for families that they can do for themselves. We empower families to accept responsibility for their success; if they put in the effort, we “have their backs.”
5. Where do the children go to school?
Under Federal law, children who experience homelessness may continue to attend the school in the district where they became homeless or they may choose to attend schools in the district in which they are residing. In the latter case, the “sending” district is responsible to pay for the cost of their attending schools. However, in our experience, 98% of children continue to attend the schools where they were before becoming homeless.
6. Where do the families go after they graduate from the Family Promise programs?
Approximately 95% leave Family Promise and move into market rate housing. This is possible in part because, while families are with us, they participate in a mandatory savings program and contribute a minimum of 40% of their income into an escrow account overseen by Family Promise. When they graduate from the program, most have accumulated a sizeable nest egg that allows them to pay the rent, and associated costs, in their new housing.
7. Who will be responsible for the maintenance of The Family Promise Center?
Family Promise will be responsible for the care and maintenance of the building and property.
8. What kind of insurance do you have?
We have comprehensive insurance policies that provide liability coverage for families, staff, and volunteers as well as for the physical building itself (damage, fire, flooding, etc.).
Status Updates:
Wealthy NJ town rejects plan to convert office into housing for homeless families (Gothamist, April 2025)
Officials in Emerson, New Jersey, have rejected Family Promise’s request to rezone commercial property it had contracted to purchase last year. The organization hoped to convert a soon-to-be-closed office building into a hybrid facility containing Family Promise’s offices and eight apartments.
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Emerson Land Use Board Votes Down Zoning Application for The Family Promise Center; Family Promise has announced it is seeking legal counsel on next steps
During a hearing on February 20, 2025, the Emerson Municipal Land Use Board voted against the non-profit’s plans to renovate a commercial property located at 436 Old Hook Road to serve as a permanent location for its headquarters and programs.
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Family Promise weighs options after site denial (Pascack Press, March 2025)
Family Promise of Bergen County has time to appeal the Borough of Emerson’s decision to reject its proposal to open The Family Promise Center, which aimed to provide temporary housing for working parents with children facing homelessness.
Read the article