North Star guides Chester County’s single working parents with dependent children who are at risk of homelessness toward stability and financial independence. They help families remain in clean, safe affordable housing as they work to secure their future through a structured program of financial assistance, mentoring, and support services. During the COVID-19 Pandemic they did NOT close, they continued having monthly budget meetings and included a separate meeting with families to conduct wellness checks, address layoffs, unemployment benefits, stimulus payments and tax refunds. At last count, 9 of their 27 parents had been laid off. The others have been working the front lines at low paying jobs, and have been providing needed services that would be considered essential.
North Star’s expenses are significantly higher this year than last. One year ago they were
supporting 14 families per month and now they are helping on average 24 families a month. Last month they provided rental assistance to 26 families and next month 27 families. They also decided to not pursue their normal practice of gradually decreasing rental assistance during the pandemic. All families are receiving the same or more during this trying time.
As they move forward in the re-opening process, they anticipate the support for these families will be on an even greater scale than before as the full effects of the pandemic continue to be felt. Any support provided will be used to continue this important work with both existing and new participants. Click here to learn more and make a donation
