The Future is FAIR

Julia DeChristoforo has been with NNCC for 8 years, starting as a home visitor and then transitioning to supervising other home visitors for the Mabel Morris Family Home Visit Program. She shared with us the experiences she had with FAIR’s Family Support Program as a nurse home visitor and the impact it had on her families.

Julia's Perspective on FAIR's Impact

I have had the pleasure to watch and participate in each stage of the evolution of what we know today to be FAIR. This partnership between family support professionals and lawyers is essential to addressing the structural problems that derail a family’s ability to survive, let alone thrive.

For my entire career as a nurse home visitor, I have had the benefit of working with a medical-legal partnership. I screened every family I served for unmet legal needs, and it was uncommon for a family to not be referred for legal services.

Recently, a home visitor from my team was on vacation. During this time, a client with active legal and FSF referrals needed additional support from the FAIR team. As a supervisor, I often act as a pinch hitter. This client has the grit and tenacity you see in this work—grit and tenacity necessary to survive in a world set up to make your life harder—grit and tenacity that we all see too much of.

This client has survived and been exposed to violence most of her life, and as much as she tried to protect her daughter, she has also been exposed to violence most of her life. Like many families, this family’s primary goal is to secure safe and affordable housing.

$175 co-pay for summer care for her daughter, $175 that she was told about the week before school ended. Childcare provides a respite from the chaos of this family’s home and allows the mom to work and ultimately reach her goal of a safe home for her and her child. While $175 is no small sum, it also is not insurmountable. For this family, the support of the FSF made all of the difference. And, later in the week when I got a call that her EBT card had been hacked, I made a referral to the lawyers.

The fund provides direct aid which we know makes an immediate difference—for the family I spoke of it means a child that is safe and learning with a caregiver that is working to give her daughter something different than she had. It is the union of the legal team and the family support fund that propels this project and mobilizes change for the families we serve and on a larger scale the community we live in.

How You Can Get Involved

The FAIR Family Support Fund provides urgent financial relief to Philadelphia Families, as shown by the stories above. The project was made possible with the generous support of the William Penn Foundation. Moving forward, FAIR hopes to sustain and expand this fund in part through donations. Please help keep families housed, warm, and fed this holiday season with a donation to the FAIR Family Support Fund. All donations go directly to supporting families in need.