HOW WE HELP
At IHN, our guests feel at home while they work toward one.
58% of those we have served since June 2004 are children under the age of 18.
Unexpected job layoffs, long-term illness, or illness of a child, divorce, or death of a loved one can turn entire families homeless almost overnight. JoCo IHN is an interfaith homeless intervention program that helps restore stability to these motivated and capable “situationally homeless” families and single women in Johnson County.
JoCo IHN works with a network of approximately 30 congregations who transform classrooms used for religious education on Saturday or Sunday into bedrooms one week at a time. Each congregation hosts our guests for four or five weeks per year. Our guests stay with JoCo IHN for a total of 90 days, with the possibility of one 30-day extension.
JoCo IHN is humbled to have wonderful volunteers who walk alongside our guests as the travel they journey back to stability. As of June, 2023 the IHN network has worked together to provide 57,454 bednights and 172,362 meals. JoCo IHN has been blessed to lift up 886 individuals, 510 of those served were children under the age of 18.
Our congregations become our guests’ homes, and our volunteers and other guests become their families. Many guests keep in touch with us, and each other, long after they graduate.
With their basic needs for food and shelter met, our guests focus on learning to break the cycle of homelessness. During the day, they either work or stay in the JoCo IHN Family Center. While at the Family Center they learn essential life and financial skills from our case manager, and a Licensed Specialist Clinical Social Worker. Programs include:
- Budget counseling using the FDIC’s financial literacy Money Smart curriculum
- Family and individual case management
- Job search assistance
- Education and connection to community resources
- Education focusing on life, parenting, and coping skills
While in our care guests are responsible for completing and submitting weekly budgeting paperwork. They are required to save 100% of their disposable income, after documented bills are paid.
We are pleased to share that 70 – 75% of all guests who successfully graduate from JoCo IHN obtain permanent and sustainable housing.
Would you like to be a part of the JoCo IHN family? We would be honored to have your support. Please considering donating and volunteering. If you’re in need of our help, please contact us.
Testimonials
“The lessons that we learn here at IHN…the skills I learned here are still there. I can’t say thank you enough. We have volunteers staying up all night to make sure we are safe while we are sleeping. The fact that my child is having healthy food… prepared by someone who cares about our well being… I hope they understand the impact they have on us”
Audrey
“You don’t know when you are going to become homeless, you just don’t know when and it can happen to anybody. They got me out of the cold weather, I was fed, I had … a warm place to lay my weary, head, my soul was weary IHN helped me breathe... This program strengthens us and it gives us self-will to keep moving forth with each step no matter how heavy that step is"
Theresa
"This program has been such a blessing to me, it kept me from drinking, it helped build my faith back up, taught me how to budget This program brought back the joy of Salvation to me and the learning that I am a person and I can be successful"
Denise
Contact Us
Phone
(913) 345-2121
Address
6315 W. 110th Street
Overland Park
KS 66211