How HopeHub Transformed A County

What started 14 years ago as a small group of people trying to help their homeless neighbors has grown into a robust, collaborative community network — a partnership between city leaders, law enforcement, churches, nonprofits, and service providers that’s changing lives on a fundamental level.

In Russellville in Pope County, Mayor Fred Teague, Police Chief David Ewing, and Journey Church Lead Pastor Steve Bullard say the transformation has been years in the making and that the 100 Families Initiative and HopeHub technology have become the “secret sauce” that helped it all come together. 

Mayor Teague reflected on how far the city has come since those early days. “This is 14 years in the making,” Teague said. “It started with just a few people who wanted to help the homeless — with support from Journey Church, who already had great relationships with DCFS and the community. I’m the fourth mayor to support this effort. The collaboration you see now has been building for years.”

That collaboration now includes faith-based partners like Journey Church, community organizations like Russ Bus and One Roof, and dozens of agencies who meet regularly to coordinate support for families in crisis.

“We probably have a dozen different churches supporting Russ Bus every month,” Teague said. “The best thing we can do as a city is get out of their way and let them do what they do best.”

For Pastor Steve Bullard, the movement started with a simple idea — stop going to church, and start being the church. “We built a big organization with multiple campuses and hundreds of volunteers,” Bullard said. “But all our time and money were going into the weekend. I started asking, what if we mobilized our people to love their neighbors instead?”

Journey Church began serving foster parents, supporting child welfare workers, and partnering with local service providers. When the opportunity arose to launch the 100 Families Initiative in Pope County, the church didn’t wait for funding. “We just said, ‘We’ll fund it ourselves until something else happens,’” Bullard said. “And we did.”

Bullard says one of the most exciting shifts has been the ability to measure real transformation — not just church attendance or donations. “Now we can point to families whose marriages are still together, people who’ve been working steady jobs for two years, kids who have food, transportation, and stability,” he said. “That’s something we can measure — and that’s kingdom living to me.”

Police Chief David Ewing said the initiative has also changed the way his officers approach community policing. “We used to be the Yellow Pages for everything,” Ewing said. “People would call us at two in the morning needing food, housing, or mental health help — and we didn’t always know who to call.”

With 100 Families and HopeHub, officers can now connect people directly to coordinated support instead of trying to solve complex social issues alone. “It lets us get back to what we’re supposed to be doing while knowing people are still getting help,” Ewing said.

The HopeHub system, developed by Restore Hope, allows service providers, law enforcement, schools, and churches to coordinate care in real time. “HopeHub gives us one central place where everyone can see what’s happening,” Teague explained. “If DCFS is already helping a family, another agency doesn’t have to duplicate that work. We can focus our efforts where they’re really needed.”

In Pope County, more than 100 organizations are connected through HopeHub — something Teague says has never happened before. “I’ve been in the nonprofit world for 14 years,” he said. “Nothing like this existed before HopeHub came along. It’s true collaboration.”