This Christmas season, leadership at Restore Hope challenges its employees and community partners to consider the word "with" as it relates to collective impact and empathy. Restore Hope is an international software and services organization dedicated to helping communities create transformational change. Karen Phillips, Associate Director of Community Outreach, shares her thoughts with her colleagues at the 2024 Restore Hope Christmas Party:
There isn’t a Christmas that goes by that I don’t think of the word “with.” If you believe Jesus was who He said He was, then you already know why. The prophet Isaiah declared it: He shall be called Immanuel—God with us. What an extraordinary gift it is to have God Himself with us.
I can think of no greater blessing. Even as I stand before you now, I feel His presence with me.
About a month ago, I began reflecting on this word in the context of our work. I was attending a meeting at Belmont University in Tennessee, where I met Brad Ketch, a community developer and author of The Flourishing Community: A Story of Hope for America's Distressed Places. One of the things Brad discussed with me at our round table was how he had taken a deep dive into the community organizations in his area and charted them on a graph.
Inspired, I decided to chart the programs in our state in a similar fashion.
Relief programs include income-based housing, free childcare, SNAP, WIC, TEA, rental assistance, food pantries, furniture, and clothing aid.
Development programs focus on education, workforce training, financial literacy, and initiatives like sweat-equity homeownership.
Partnership programs involve peer recovery, attending court alongside families, and CarePortal church members who walk with families through their challenges.
What you will see is that there are many, many programs that are in the relief area and are providing the relief for someone in need and there are less available in the development and with areas of the chart.
As Brad explains in his book, relief is essential. Families cannot access development opportunities if their basic needs are unmet. However, families aren’t meant to stay in the relief zone forever. Our goal is to see families thriving, and that requires intentional steps toward development and partnership.
The 100 Families Initiative is unique because it spans the entire chart. Families often begin in crisis, requiring immediate relief, but our goal is to help them move toward long-term stability and thriving. The initiative works by bringing together existing community resources and aligning them in a way that maximizes impact.
100 Families is the whole chart—community-led, drawing on the strengths of over 1,300 alliance members from non-profits, government agencies, churches, and other helpers. Together, we form a network that truly works with families, not just for them. We all need these services, but we need them to be working with one another, in a way that has never been done before. That is 100 Families!
As an example, I thought about a typical family that might be served by the 100 Families Alliance:
Susie comes to us in crisis. Through motivational interviewing, we help her identify goals that align with her values and dreams. A care team is set up for her family, and she begins therapy with one of our mental health partners.
She stops answering your calls but you know she needs food so you drop some off at her house. Then you back up and say, "Ok, Susie, next thing we do, it will be together." You work alongside each other to apply for some financial relief, you go to court with her to help her cope with the stress of it all and so she’s not alone. She feels more in charge of her future. She has hope. She starts working as an apprentice and later begins working full-time. She’s no longer alone, you’ve helped her build social capital, she has friends that don’t just want things from her but do life with her.
She moves from crisis to thriving.
Do you see the cost versus the value? Do you see the growing benefit to the community?
The family advocate role makes sure the participants are active participants in their goals and plans and never leaves the participant behind. The family advocate is with the family every step of the way.
Advocates don’t create plans for families; they create plans alongside them, empowering participants to actively engage in their own journey.
But this work isn’t just about being with families—it’s also about being with other providers. The 100 Families Initiative brings together non-profits, government agencies, and community helpers in unprecedented collaboration. We can accomplish so much more together than apart.
What a privilege it is that 100 Families Initiative has over 1,300 different people who have signed a declaration of participation saying we are with each other for the good of our families and our community. The 100 Families Initiative is proof of what can happen when we work with each other.
This Christmas, let’s celebrate the power of with—a word that reminds us of collective impact.
Smart Justice is a magazine, podcast, and continuing news coverage from the nonprofit Restore Hope and covers the pursuit of better outcomes on justice system-related issues, such as child welfare, incarceration, and juvenile justice. Our coverage is solutions-oriented, focusing on the innovative ways in which communities are solving issues and the lessons that have been learned as a result of successes and challenges.
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