Our mission is to help families in Northwest Florida achieve housing stability through community-based response, one family at a time.
By working together with individuals, organizations, and businesses in our community, we provide shelter and necessities to help homeless families get back on their feet as well as supply resources to assist them in achieving sustainable independence. Our vision is of a community in which every family has a home, a livelihood, and the chance to build a better future.
Our Impact
2,000
In 2019 alone, nearly 2,000 children were identified as homeless in Escambia County. When including immediate family members, that number jumps to a whopping 6,500 individuals. Our goal is to keep these families together, and not separate them during the most difficult time in their lives. Through the National program, more than 88% of families secure housing because of the intensive case management and community support provided by Family Promise.
Homeless in Escambia County
Our History
It all began in 1986, after a woman named Karen Olson had passed a homeless woman on the street and saw how homelessness was affecting people in her community. She knew she had to do something and began connecting homeless people who needed help with organizations and volunteers that were happy to provide it. Congregations began offering space for shelter, and the YMCA offered showers and a family Day Center, and so began the first Interfaith Hospitality Network - later renamed Family Promise.
Family Promise has since grown into a nationwide organizationwith over 200 local affiliates, serving more than 125,000 people a year and engaging 200,000 volunteers.
In 2018, local advocates saw a crucial need for shelter and support for homeless families and after learning of the Family Promise model, a group of volunteers committed to forming our affiliate here in Escambia County. Family Promise of Escambia County (FPEC, Inc.) was officially established in January 2020.
"Our vision is of a community in which every family has a home, a livelihood, and the chance to build a better future."