The Maternity Housing Coalition (MHC) is excited to announce three new features now available to Heartbeat International affiliates.
The MHC was formed in 2012 with the goal of inspiring excellence among maternity housing providers and articulating a collective voice to advance the culture of life and the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
The coalition provides training and tools, facilitates exchanges of knowledge and experiences, and fosters fellowship among members.
This year, the MHC has partnered with Option Line, the 24/7 bi-lingual pro-life contact center powered by Heartbeat International, to offer a few new features that will significantly aid life-affirming maternity homes.
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First is the housing locator tool, which does two things.
The first is it provides the opportunity for centers to filter by the needs of the client needing housing.
“For example, maybe she has a specific drug addiction, multiple children, etc. The locator tool will only show you homes capable of accepting residents with those criteria,” said Valerie Harkins, director of the Maternity Housing Coalition.
Once a matched home is found, the locator tool will allow the client to immediately and directly apply to the home.
Before this tool, centers would have to cold call homes to not only see if they were capable of meeting specific needs but also find out if the home even had an empty room. Now, the locator tool expedites the process by only showing available, appropriately matched locations and allowing direct applications.
A process that has previously taken days now takes only minutes.
“This is a game changer in and of itself,” said Harkins. “What is most exciting to me is seeing the gap of services provided at the center and services at the home close. This tool allows each entity to focus and do what they do best, and that has never existed before.”
Nafisa Kennedy, Director of Option Line, says Option Line receives, on average, more than 100 calls per month from expectant moms who need help finding housing.
“Heartbeat International has numerous affiliates that meet this need through maternity housing, which includes much-needed long-term referrals and services to help moms thrive, and historically, we have needed to provide clients with multiple options so that they can find the best fit for their circumstances,” said Kennedy.
The Maternity Housing Coalition's new locator allows Option Line consultants to narrow down the housing options and find the best fit for a client without requiring her to do additional work or take too much time.
Option Line is also providing call forwarding to maternity homes as part of the partnership.
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“Our consultants are thrilled about the Housing tool and have already been using it to assist callers in dire circumstances,” said Kennedy. “Proponents of abortion are often quick to suggest that mothers and their babies are left without any tangible support after making a life decision for their child. The Maternity Housing Coalition, Option Line and our network of pregnancy help are proving every day that tangible support for moms is available at the exact moment it is needed- and now it can be accessed more conveniently than ever.”
For more information about the MHC or how to register a center or a home, visit natlhousingcoalition.org.
Editor's note: Heartbeat International manages Pregnancy Help News.
