Building the Next Chapter of Fifth Street Ministries

This article highlights the thoughtful changes, strategic vision, and community partnerships that are helping us better fulfill our mission

For nearly 40 years, Fifth Street Ministries has stood beside neighbors facing some of life’s most difficult moments. Whether someone arrives seeking emergency shelter, safety from domestic violence, a pathway out of homelessness, or simply hope for a better tomorrow, the organization’s purpose has remained the same: helping people rebuild stability and move toward self-sufficiency.

Today, Fifth Street Ministries is entering a new chapter.

Like nonprofit organizations across the country, the ministry has experienced rising costs, increasing demand for services, and continued uncertainty surrounding public and private funding. Those realities have required difficult decisions, honest conversations, and a willingness to rethink how the organization can best fulfill its mission for decades to come.

Over the past year, the Board of Directors and leadership team have completed a comprehensive review of every aspect of the organization, including finances, staffing, operations, and programs. The goal has never been simply to reduce expenses, the nonprofit’s leaders explained. Instead, the focus has been on right-sizing the organization while protecting the services that create the greatest long-term impact for the community.

“One of the Board’s most important responsibilities is ensuring that Fifth Street Ministries remains strong, relevant, and financially sustainable for the future,” said Board Vice Chair Dorothy Bryan-Kanda. “Good stewardship sometimes requires difficult decisions, but every decision has been made with the same purpose in mind: protecting our mission and ensuring we can continue serving our community for generations to come.”

Executive Director Tamara Roach believes those decisions position Fifth Street Ministries to build an even stronger future.

“Our responsibility is to ensure Fifth Street Ministries remains a trusted community resource for the next 40 years, not just the next 40 weeks,” Roach said. “That means making thoughtful decisions today that protect possibilities for tomorrow.”

For many people, Fifth Street Ministries is still known primarily as an emergency shelter. While emergency shelter remains a vital part of its work, the organization has evolved into much more.

Today, Fifth Street Ministries provides an array of services that includes emergency shelter, a community kitchen, veterans housing, domestic violence and sexual assault services through My Sister’s House, street outreach, counseling, housing navigation, coordinated entry for the regional homeless response system, permanent supportive housing, and intensive case management. Together, these programs help individuals and families move beyond crisis and toward lasting stability.

That broader mission is also shaping how the organization’s leaders talk about its work.

“We want people to understand that Fifth Street Ministries is about more than responding to emergencies,” Roach said. “Our work is about helping neighbors build a future. Shelter may be where someone’s journey begins, but our goal is to help them move toward stable housing, employment, improved health, stronger relationships, and greater independence.”

One of the most visible changes this summer has been a pause in the community kitchen lunch program. The decision generated questions throughout the community. For many residents, the lunch program represented a long-standing tradition of service.

The decision to pause the program, Roach said, was one of the most difficult the organization has made, but also one of the most necessary.

“When resources become limited, leadership has a responsibility to evaluate every program through the lens of long-term sustainability,” she said. “The question isn’t whether something has value. The question is whether we can continue fulfilling our entire mission while remaining financially healthy enough to serve future generations.”

Residents living on the Fifth Street Ministries campus continue receiving breakfast each morning, and the community remains welcome for dinner every evening. That model reflects practices used by many emergency shelters across the country, where dinner serves as the primary congregate meal.Community partnerships have also helped ensure that lunch remains available throughout the summer.

The Salvation Army of Statesville is providing weekday lunches while serving as a cooling station during periods of extreme heat. The Iredell-Statesville Schools Summer Nutrition Program continues providing meals for children through Salvation Army locations. On the Fifth Street Ministries campus, the Iredell Council on Aging is now offering congregate lunches and activities for older adults.

“One of our greatest strengths has always been collaboration,” Roach said. “No single organization can meet every community need alone. When nonprofits, schools, churches, municipalities, businesses, and volunteers work together, everyone is stronger.”

Looking ahead, Fifth Street Ministries is developing plans for a volunteer supported bagged lunch initiative that it hopes to introduce this fall. Once the program has been finalized, churches, civic organizations, businesses, and volunteers across Iredell County will be invited to help make the effort a success.

The goal is simple: continue providing nutritious meals while creating new opportunities for community involvement and shared ownership of the ministry’s mission.

A focus on long-term sustainability

While emergency shelter remains central to the mission of Fifth Street Ministries, the leadership team believes long-term stability requires more than simply providing a safe place to sleep for the night.

It requires creating pathways that help people successfully move into permanent housing.

That philosophy is driving several initiatives the organization plans to launch over the coming year.

Fifth Street officials expect to expand the organization’s veterans housing program by adding a flexible suite capable of serving up to three female veterans or one veteran-headed family. The addition recognizes that the needs of veterans continue to evolve and that housing solutions must evolve alongside them.

The ministry is also preparing to transform what has traditionally been known as the Step-Up dormitories into dedicated congregate transitional housing.

Unlike emergency shelter, transitional housing provides individuals with the time and structure needed to build a stronger foundation before moving into permanent housing. Residents can continue increasing income, strengthening employment, building savings, improving financial literacy, and working alongside case managers to overcome barriers that often make housing difficult to obtain or maintain.

“For many people, the greatest challenge isn’t finding an apartment. It’s having enough time and support to become truly housing ready,” said Mary Williams, Fifth Street’s director of Client Stability & Outcomes.

“Affordable housing remains one of our community’s biggest challenges. Transitional housing gives people the opportunity to build stability before taking that next step. Our goal isn’t simply helping someone obtain housing. It’s helping them keep it.”

Fifth Street’s board and administration has also spent the past year strengthening the nonprofit’s leadership team, improving operational practices, increasing accountability, and preparing for a comprehensive strategic planning process that will help guide the organization’s future.

Leadership has also been working with the board to refine proposed mission and vision statements that better reflect where the organization is headed.

The proposed mission centers on empowering people in crisis to rebuild stability and achieve self-sufficiency. The proposed vision imagines a community where cycles of crisis are broken and every person has the opportunity to rebuild, belong, and thrive.

“We have an incredibly strong leadership team that has stepped forward during a season of change,” Roach said. “Every day I watch talented professionals collaborate, challenge one another, and make thoughtful decisions that protect possibilities for the people we serve today and for those we will serve in the years ahead.”

Looking beyond today’s challenges, Fifth Street Ministries is also asking an important question; How can the organization become less dependent on traditional funding while creating new opportunities for the people it serves?

To begin answering that question, Fifth Street Ministries plans to convene a committee of business leaders, entrepreneurs, workforce development professionals, educators, and community partners to explore the development of a combined workforce development and earned-income initiative.

The committee will research successful social enterprise models from across the country to determine whether Fifth Street Ministries can create a sustainable revenue source that supports its mission while also providing meaningful employment opportunities for program participants.

Rather than viewing workforce development and financial sustainability as separate goals, leadership believes they may become part of the same solution.

“We’re not looking for a quick fix,” Roach said. “We’re looking for ideas that can strengthen Fifth Street Ministries for generations while creating opportunities for people to develop skills, earn income, and build brighter futures.”

Todd Fowler, director of Philanthropy, believes today’s donors want to invest in organizations that demonstrate both impact and accountability.

“Our community has always been incredibly generous,” Fowler said. “Our responsibility is to honor that generosity through transparency, measurable outcomes, and responsible stewardship. Every investment in Fifth Street Ministries represents an investment in someone’s opportunity to move toward stable housing, meaningful employment, and greater independence.”

Volunteer Engagement Manager Sarah Moran said the organization’s future will continue to depend on community partnerships.

“One of the things I love most about Iredell County is that people genuinely want to help,” Moran said. “Whether they’re serving dinner, assembling hygiene kits, mentoring a neighbor, or participating in new volunteer opportunities, our volunteers do much more than invest their time. They create belonging. They remind every person who walks through our doors that our community cares.”

As Fifth Street Ministries approaches its 40th anniversary, its leaders believe the organization is entering one of the most important seasons in its history.

The work ahead includes strategic planning, innovative partnerships, responsible stewardship, and a continued commitment to helping neighbors move from crisis to stability.

“Our responsibility is bigger than operating programs,” Roach said. “It’s about building an organization that will continue changing lives for decades to come. That means strengthening our leadership, embracing innovation, investing in sustainable solutions, and working alongside our community to create pathways toward stability and self-sufficiency.”

“Every decision we make comes back to one simple principle: protect possibilities today so that more neighbors have the opportunity to rebuild, belong, and thrive tomorrow.”

The future is full of promise and hope at Fifth Street Ministries.