Family Promise is a national 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, founded in 1986 by Karen Olson under the name Interfaith Hospitality Network, in New York. In 1988 the organization went national, and now hundreds of affiliates across the country are dedicated to supporting and empowering families experiencing or threatened by homelessness. Family Promise is secular, though the bulk of its shelter partnerships are with local churches who believe in the mission.

Family Promise of Clark County began in 2019 and serves families in our own community. They have their offices and Day Center right here in Battle Ground.

So far this year, Family Promise of Clark County has helped over a hundred [PEOPLE? FAMILIES] find safe, affordable housing. FPCC works closely with guests to keep families together and develop sustainable independence. At Family Promise, sustainability means competently navigating resources and forming effective habits so that guests can stand on their own. Case management connects guests with community resources and creates targeted, actionable plans to secure stable housing. For many people who approach FPCC, this means accessing their prevention and diversion services, which direct families towards alternate housing options in the area, temporarily shelter them in hotels, and assist with applications for housing and services.

Family Promise of Clark County can take up to 14 guests (3-5 families) at a time, with an average of 54 days in-shelter for each family. During the days, guests can stay in the Family Promise Day Center, equipped with a kitchenette, laundry, a dining and living room, private family rooms, and a shower and bathroom. Guests also have use of a lovely outdoor garden. At 5pm, a Family Promise bus arrives to convey families to local church partners for a dinner and private overnight shelter. Each church that donates their space to provide part of the rotational shelter also staffs 2 overnight volunteers, who undergo background checks and additional training in best practices, causes of homelessness, child safety, and trauma-informed care.

Out of all of the families who graduate from Family Promise (also referred to as stabilization), Diversion and Prevention Case Manager Niccole Miller says that 99% remain housed. After graduation, Family Promise checks in with families every three months for a year, to continue providing support. In 2023, Family Promise served 73 families. In 2024, that number grew to 103, and they are currently on track to meet their 2025 goal of 150 families. In 2026, they will set an even more ambitious goal of 200 families.

          FPCC is scaling up its operations, because the housing crisis is ramping up as well. Niccole Fuller reports that in Clark County, there are 3 affordable housing options for every 10 families that need them, and that number is expected to worsen. The primary cause of homelessness for families in Clark County, she continues, is not drugs or violence, but this housing crisis. When Executive Director Shane Scalf added up numbers from all of Clark County's school districts, an estimated over 3,000 children were homeless or housing-insecure during the 2024-2025 school year.

          Shane Scalf feels that in the wider conversation about homelessness, families are often overlooked. "But families should be the priority," he says. "When you look at the impact of homelessness on kids' outcomes—like their schooling and later in life—we should be making sure that every child goes to sleep in a bed, and not under a bush or in a car."

Family Promise helps those kids by helping their parents. Shane noticed something about parents during his early days as a volunteer co-ordinator for Family Promise, and as the night ministry shift lead for the Portland Rescue Mission: parents have something powerful to fight for. Even battling addiction, abuse, and struggle, their children gave them something bigger than themselves.

Shane Scalf has been executive director of FPCC for three years. Before then, he was a U.S. Marine (from 1994-98, preceding an honorable separation as a Corporal) and then a U.S. Army soldier (1999-2008, preceding honorable separation as a Staff Sergeant). Afterwards, as a veteran using his G.I. Bill to study business, he was forced at the end of his degree to ask himself, What now? Shane says he felt strongly called to serve people struggling with homelessness or housing insecurity. In the way that things like this will sometimes work out, he was shortly introduced to Jean Brown at Meadow Glade Adventist, who was beginning the affiliate that would become FPCC. Shane, on fire for the idea, requested his own church become part of the rotational shelter service. "I told them, 'If you guys want to do this, I think it would be great, but I'm going to do it no matter what.'" His church was fully on board, and in 2019, Shane became a volunteer coordinator for the newly-minted Family Promise of Clark County.

          To expand his understanding, a few years later Shane took a position as the night ministry lead at Portland Rescue Mission. "I asked when they hired me, what was the burnout like in the job, and they said about a year." Shane lasted about 14 months. In 2023, when an interim director position opened with FPCC, Shane volunteered for it, got it, and went on to interview for and receive the permanent position as well.

Niccole Fuller, predating him at the organization by several months, was an important resource for him as he settled into the role. Shane describes her as "an expert at getting people housed." Niccole brings an impressive academic career in human development to her role as prevention and diversion case manager, as well as the grit and empathy that come from personal experience with housing insecurity. As a case manager, she diagnoses and defines areas of focus for each family, helping them to holistically confront their struggles. But she also serves as a light in the dark. "People can see that I did it," Niccole says. "...I graduated from Clark College and Washington State with a 4.0. So they know it's possible."

Niccole is now one of two case managers at FPCC; in July of 2025, Maggie Sullivan joined FPCC as the shelter case manager. Differentiating between the shelter case manager and the prevention and diversion case manager has created bandwidth within the organization as Shane and Niccole's roles continue to demand more time and effort. Maggie comes with her own impressive academic record (culminating in a master's in public administration) and two years of experience working with the Boys & Girls Club.

The very first person you are likely to encounter, whether you're calling in or showing up to FPCC, is Cyrus McClain, the intake coordinator. He is also Niccole's son. Vibrant, animated, and friendly, he makes an immediate impression. Waiting for my meeting with the director, I have a moment to absorb the atmosphere, and to faintly overhear the constant stream of calls for help, along with Cyrus's sincere, upbeat suggestions and explanations. His help, and his sensitive pauses and silences, are crucial to the culture that FPCC wants to create. "I told him when he started," Shane says, "take the time to just listen. You might be the only kind voice someone hears in a day of calling around to every center. And he's been great at that."

          Equally as essential to the mission as their staff are the 13 church partners of Family Promise who make up the rotational shelter, and the volunteers that staff them. As need increases in the community, FPCC badly needs more churches and other safe, private locations that can offer shelter. Locations must make their facilities available for one week in the evenings, 4 times a year.

Family Promise is also looking to expand their Day Center to accommodate more families, and to expand their network of local businesses and community members who want to join the mission. Those interested should contact Shane Scalf at sscalf@familypromiseofclarkcounty.org.

In March of 2026, there will be a major giving event where the community can receive updates about the work FPCC is doing and make contributions.  For more information, follow the link at the QR code below.