This place is a true nightmare. They refuse to give me a new key for my mailbox and are arrogant and abusive about the fact that my mail is being opened and presents from friends have been stolen
My apartment has been broken into repeatedly. Scary things like security camera wires being cut and the gas left on.
Also sexual harassment and death threats
Top management keeps "forgetting" to get back to me about this.
I am getting close to being a senior citizen and have been very sick.
This is NOT safe housing where you will find God's healing love much less even basic decent treatment.
They put on a good act but are predators abusing those they consider vulnerable. Like sick older women.
Good News Partners provides compassion, support, and a sense of community to anyone that needs it. They do incredible, life-changing work with extremely limited resources and a loving attitude. Their staff go above and beyond to walk alongside residents and take care of each other, making them extremely unique. Good News Partners is a special place and anyone that has spent time there will tell you that.
Though a dinner attended by supporters and residents of Good News I met Cathy. Without help, she would be homeless and probably dead. Over time I helped her out here and there, until first ComEd cut off her power, later someone stole her identity and her social security checks, and most recently the CHA wrongfully terminated her voucher. I found myself inspired to give her the kind of help I would have given my own son had he been in similar straits, and through it all I came to have a new sense of myself, both blessed and a blessing.
As a volunteer at Good News Partners for over a dozen years I have been welcomed into a community that cares for each other. Families experiencing homelessness are welcomed and supported by staff and volunteers -- even fellow residents. Good News Partners truly makes a difference in the North-of-Howard neighborhood.
Good news partners has a lot of great individuals, but there new life interim staff is completely inconsiderate. If they have a bad day the homeless residents will have to feel that backlash. I am completely in awe as to why the heads of new life interim have they’re positions (Kelvin, Ernesta). GNP has a lot of very nice and kind people nevertheless when it comes to the Homeless department I would urge you to donate your time elsewhere. New staff is needed!
Many that come here are grateful for being surrounded by a loving community that offers support on a number of levels. Some have been part of the GNP family now for decades: having first come in need of emergency housing at New Life, then moving through the housing continuum to the Jonquil Hotel, affordable apartments and eventually home ownership - all the while learning more about the love of God for themselves and how to pass that on to others. GNP is wonderful!
What a wonderful organization with very dedicated and passionate staff and volunteers. They are truly making a difference in the Rogers Park community! It is a pleasure to volunteer with this organization and the people they serve. This is a very diverse organization, encompassing all beliefs and faiths.
Good News Partners is an exceptional faith-based organization that serves the neediest of the needy in Chicago's Jonquil neighborhood. The most unique aspect of the organization is its low-income co-op model offering home ownership to folks as a stepping stone out of GNP's transition housing option. The ability to offer home (apartment) ownership to low-income families truly does differentiate this organization.
Good News Partners is an extraordinary ministry bring shelter and hope to many who are hopeless. The love that flows from it is transcendant. The people on the staff are truly mission driven. They reach out to those in need with love and support. What beauty, what specialness! Barbara and Wally Scott
The most rewarding volunteer work I've done has been in serving in a number of capacities with Good News Partners. In a neighborhood familiar with virtually every problem of urban poverty, Good News Partners tries to be a tangible expression of God's love. The focus is on homelessness and housing, but the broader needs for friendship, support and encouragement are addressed as well. For almost 25 years, I have been blessed to be directly engaged as a friend, a board member and an admirer of many people I might otherwise have never known.
GNP is an amazing organization. Founded on a deep desire to be Christ to our neighbors and to do what it can to end homelessness, it is an organization that has stayed true to it's call. They help the homeless in many ways - from providing housing via a women's shelter, via a single occupancy residence, via rental property and finally to resident ownership. They operate wholistically by coming alongside residents to provide support on all levels. They even created a tutoring program for the kids of their residents. I cannot say enough about what terrific work they do and the positive impact they have.
I live about a mile away from Good News Partners. For years I've admired their work to help homeless families get on their feet. In recent years Good News folks and some of us in my church community decided the time had come to build bridges between our two groups. We planned a series of large picnics that brought together lots of families living at Good News with many single and married folks in our community. The fellowship was lively and relaxed and it built many bridges. I and others got involved in volunteer roles and began working out ways for ongoing cooperation that would be mutually beneficial--sharing of ministries, expertise, work projects, etc. Now we're involved with many other congregations that are supporting Good News work to buy, fix up, and rent units in a large apartment building in that neighborhood.
I am just learning about Good News Partners and went for a site visit last month. I am amazed by the the genuine community spirit surrounding Good News. I met several residents, including a woman who was moving into her apartment with her five children from the shelter. She was so filled with joy to be moving her family into a space of their own made beautiful by Good News Builders. Then I met a young man - also a Good News Builder - who is rehabbing a barber shop. He was proud and filled with vision and promise for making his and others lives better.
Our Parish has been supporting Good News Partners financially for many years because they have done an exceptional job in serving the homeless in the Rogers Park area. This year our parish partnered with them to paint, repair, and generally clean-up various buildings under their care. It was a true partnership with staff, clients, and parishioners all involved. Because our working together allowed us to get to know the people of the community, we did not feel like we were dispensing charity. We felt like we were given a glimpse of the Kingdom of God.
Good News Partners personifies unconditional love, acceptance, and generosity. Year in and year out they are meeting the practical needs of people that society and government has left behind while they demonstrate and share the love of Christ. A group of us had the honor of providing and facilitating a Christmas Party for GNP's Jonquil Hotel residents. It was evident that many children and adults are saved from homelessness and hunger as a result of the committed and caring leadership of GNP.
As a member of an affiliated church, I have heard Bud Ogle speak on a number of occasions over the years and have been very impressed with his level of commitment and with the wonderful things GNP has done in the North of Howard area. This year, I became much more involved on a personal level with GNP's shelter for women and children, NeW Life Interim Housing. I can testify from lots of experience now that they do an incredible job helping women and their families get back on their feet and independent, and am very proud to be able to assist them in this effort.
This orginazation is about keeping people off the street, feeding them and starting a program where they can maintain themselves, what a program!
The organizations that comprise Good News Partners are ones that are vital to the North of Howard community in Chicago's Rogers Park neighborhood. New Life Interim Housing (the shelter for homeless women and their children), the Jonquil Hotel and the transitional housing units are generally filled to capacity because of the great need. My experience for at least 10 years has been volunteering at New Life individually and with my church. The women and extremely grateful for the time we spend with them serving meals throughout the year, and at Thanksgiving and Christmas, providing back packs and school supplies, and special events at Mother's Day. They have told me often how blessed they and their children are by our presence. Most recently, since this past summer, I have served as a member of the Board of Directors and the Personnel Committee.
Since 1985 our church, Blacksburg Presbyterian Church in Blacksburg VA, has taken youth to work for a week at GNP and since 1991 GNP has spent a weekend in June at BPC. What has impressed me the most over this time is to see how influential and important Good News Partners has been in the life of the children--giving them love, structure, opportunities, and support. Most exciting is seeing so many of these young people become caring, committed, responsible adults--because of the nurture the received from GNP. The difference GNP makes in the lives of so many is amazing, but I am especially impressed with the difference they make in the lives of our young people.
Good News partners is a wonderful organization. Bud Ogle has spoken at our church and is a man filled with passion for helping those in need, always looking for the best opportunity to make that happen. My personal experience has been primarily with the New Life Women's shelter. We have gathered with the residents both at our church and at the shelter. The staff is organized and gracious of our efforts. The shelter is clean and the women appear to take great pride in the personal space the shelter provides them. All appeared well cared for and the children are happy and playful. A real sense of community can be felt when in the presence of this group.
I first visited GNP on a site visit for a potential donor. I was immediately impressed with the way the staff lives out their mission of bringing dignity and opportunity to each client they serve. I was greeted at the front desk by a resident who lives in GNP housing, I learned how they incorporate their clients in apartment renovations, and witnessed residents who help manage the properties. Each encounter showed me how respect, training and decency positively influence an individual's development and healthy sense of self. Furthermore, the director of the program has chosen to move into the very neighborhood he serves and to become a strategic player in bridging community through genuine relationship.
I have brought two different groups of youth to volunteer at Good News Partners. Both groups were a mix of ages, ranging from 12 to 18. On both occasions, GNP provided age appropriate projects at a variety of locations that were meaningful and contributed to the overall mission of GNP. Both times, I was impressed with the breadth and depth of work that GNP does in the community.