Nonprofit Expands to Help Working Families Facing Housing Insecurity with Loan from Community Loan Fund
Two years ago, Family Promise of Southern New Hampshire was ready to expand services but needed a bridge loan to purchase space.
Building Bridges to Stability
Family Promise of Southern NH has built a bridge for families to progress from being housing insecure to gaining stability, independence, and homeownership since 2002.
From a converted private school in Nashua with room for up to 24 families, the nonprofit offers transitional housing with financial literacy education, parent skills training, and case management. More than 120 volunteers and 24 religious congregations, across multiple religions, help support these clients.
“Families can stay with us for up to a year, and in that time, we help them overcome every obstacle, each barrier that has prevented them from owning their own home,” said Executive Director Pam Wellman.
Two years ago, however, the nonprofit needed a bridge of its own when the organization was preparing to meet increasing demand for its services by purchasing a building in Derry.
“We had a deadline and we were kind of scrambling as to how we were going to fund the acquisition,” said Executive Director Pam Wellman.
The deadline was set by the seller — Derry Housing & Redevelopment Authority — but Family Promise needed more time to secure the federal and private funding it needed to buy and renovate the former adult daycare center.
Pam was already well acquainted with the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund and our mission. We’ve been a resource on financial literacy for Family Promise’s clients and we also help their program graduates qualify to purchase manufactured homes.
So, she reached out to our lending team.
“We went to the Community Loan Fund and they immediately partnered with us,” she said. “They saw the value. They saw what we were trying to do and our missions aligned.”
We quickly approved an interest-only bridge loan. It means that Family Promise will be able to do what they do best: help more families rebuild their lives.
More Working Families Becoming Housing Insecure
Family Promise’s clients have low-to-moderate incomes, a category which encompasses many working families. It’s also the largest growing population of people who are housing insecure.
“They've got great potential, great careers, but they can't make it so they're working two jobs,” Pam said. “They're in front of you at Hannaford, and they're behind you at Market Basket. You don't know they're homeless.
“These are the average working families. They’re the fiber of our communities. And they fall through the cracks.”
Family Promise has a diversion program to keep families housed where they are in their community in addition to the transitional housing program.
Clients who need housing sign a contract as they enter the program to follow a mandatory savings program, take required classes, and receive any necessary counseling. For up to 12 months, they’re connected with all the resources they need to achieve sustainable financial independence, from on-site childcare to home-cooked meals.
After graduating from the program, Pam said quite a few families have qualified for a Welcome Home Loan from the Community Loan Fund — a fixed-rate, long-term conventional mortgage for the purchase of new and pre-owned manufactured homes.
Graduates Can Achieve Financial Independence — and Homeownership
Preschool teacher Lindsay Fuller is one of those graduates. After experiencing unemployment and housing insecurity, she came to live at Family Promise and started the financial literacy program.
“Family Promise is an incredible program,” she said. “I know there are so many people who need this.”
When she applied for a Welcome Home Loan from the Community Loan Fund, she received coaching that helped her lower her debt-to-income ratio and finally get pre-qualified for a mortgage. She spent several months looking and then purchased a home and moved in with her two children in August 2025.
She was excited to have “a place that we can call ours.”
Eighty-six percent of people who graduate remain self-sufficient after the year-long program, according to Family Promise.
Expanding to Better Serve Rockingham County
With more than 20 families on Family Promise’s wait list, Pam said it was always part of the organization’s vision to have a second location to better serve Rockingham County.
After an official ribbon cutting in April when the building’s renovation was complete, the Derry location secured enough staffing and volunteer support to begin housing clients in September. By November, it was full.
As Sarah Marchant, Community Loan Fund Chief Operating Officer and Senior Vice President of ROC-NH, said at the ribbon cutting, our organization often does its best work behind the scenes and on a deadline.
“This is exactly where the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund fits — we are here to help projects like this one across the finish line,” she said.
Family Promise is still fundraising and seeking volunteers to support the new location.
“The fact that we can offer another eight apartments for our families… and help them stabilize their lives, have children sleeping in their own beds, and guide them through rebuilding their lives is just amazing,” Pam said.
8
Families who can call the new Derry location home for up to a year while they are part of the Family Promise program
86
Percent of graduates who remain self-sufficient after the year-long program
50
Percent of graduates who qualify for a mortgage
$10K
Average savings of a graduate family after 12 months of saving 70% of their disposable income
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