The Pueblo Area Interfaith Hospitality Network (PAIHN), a Colorado non-profit corporation, provides safe transitional shelter for homeless families in the Pueblo area using the facilities of affiliated churches. The professional staff, located at our Family Resource Day Center, provides guest families with the necessary tools to regain self-sufficiency while providing a nurturing environment for their children. Families selected by IHN must demonstrate a willingness to help themselves, have specific goals and show initiative towards improving their financial and social situations. Before a family is discharged the head of the household must be working at a position which will provide sufficient income to maintain the stability of the family in independent living.
The mission of PAIHN is to provide shelter, sustenance, and support services to homeless families with children in the Pueblo Community. PAIHN works to alleviate the problem of homelessness and assist clients in their return to productive self-sufficiency thereby reducing their dependence on governmental assistance. The organization is able to provide 5,840 bed/nights and 17,520 meals a year.
Early in 2000, students of Colorado College completed a Gaps Analysis in Pueblo that stated that on any given night there are nearly 100 families with children whose housing and sustenance needs were not being met by the community. The report was presented to and discussed at the Pueblo Continuum of Care meeting (a monthly meeting of citizens and agencies working on the issue of homelessness).Several individuals who were in attendance expressed their concerns and later gathered to form a steering committee to respond to this need. Among those involved was Rev. Eve Grimes who saw that faith based communities with their understanding of compassion would be the appropriate resource to respond to the problem of homeless families.
After extensive research and reflection the group felt that the well established national program, known today as Family Promise, offered the model most in keeping with their research. The model uses existing local programs and facilities to provide the space and expertise needed for families to return to independent, self-sufficient living. By summer the steering group had recruited area faith-based communities and established a Network of volunteers who, with the backing from their congregations, would serve families who have no place to live. PAIHN was incorporated in the State of Colorado on March 5, 2001 and received a favorable 501(c)(3) ruling from the IRS on March 12, 2001. The first family moved into the program in early September 2002.