Arlington Hts. housing group confident of future

Things that impress Chuck Warner about the clients of Faith Community Homes: In more than half of the families at least one parent went back to school.

And it's not just the parents who get that message, but the children, too.

"The parents realize more education is the only way they are going to be able to make the kind of money they need to have in order to survive," said Warner, who was recently hired as the first executive director of the 8-year-old organization.

Parents in the program have gotten nursing degrees or been certified as nursing assistants. One who earned a bachelor's degree is working on a master's.

"One family has a high school boy who was playing around," said Warner. "The mentors sat down and started talking to him about what his mother was doing. He realized she was working hard to improve things for the family. He went out and got himself a job and now is talking about going to college."

Ostensibly, Faith Community Homes finds affordable rental housing for working families with children in Arlington Heights, but in reality it does much more.

The program helps with rent for two years, and clients are supposed to be on their own after that time. Obviously, this does not happen by magic. Each family is assigned two volunteer mentors who meet with them every week.

"The main thrust of our efforts is to mentor families to a point where they can become much more independent with the confidence to be able to survive in our society," said Warner.

This can mean evaluating budgeting, goals and plans. They can help the parent find a better job or fix their credit or reduce debt or get back to school.

The organization, which was started by the Arlington Heights Ministerial Association, now helps about six or seven families a year, and has worked with 23 over the years.

With the addition of a half-time executive director, the hope is that can expand to as many as 20 people annually, and eventually the organization plans to own a small apartment building.

Warner will work on finding more money to support the program through fundraising as well as getting better known both inside the churches that support the group and in the general community. Advocating for more affordable housing in Arlington Heights is another goal.

His experience includes directing the social work department at Elmhurst Memorial Hospital for many years, then directing a small senior services agency in LaGrange for 15 years.

"Chuck has extensive expertise and is approachable. He is very comfortable with our type of organization, and we love his experience," said Donna Anderson, a member of the Christian Church of Arlington Heights.

Faith Community Homes' budget is about $100,000 a year, and one of the major fund raisers is a golf outing May 22 at Chevy Chase Golf Club in Wheeling.

"It has become a joy," said Anderson. "When you are able to make a difference in a family's life - a family that's at risk of homelessness, a family that might fall between the cracks.

"When you can see them achieve and help them move forward with an 80 percent success rate, that's a joy."