Our story began in 2001, when seven local congregations came together to serve the needs of families experiencing homelessness in the Greater Nashua community. Their shared commitment led to the formation of the Greater Nashua Interfaith Hospitality Network (GNIHN). With the network established, the congregations began hosting families overnight on a rotating basis, offering support to help them rebuild their lives.
In 2005, the Sisters of the Presentation of Mary Academy opened their unused novitiate building, Anne Marie House, to GNIHN, providing a steady location where families could stay while working toward stability.
Over the years, dozens of local families moved from homelessness into permanent housing. In 2012, GNIHN became an affiliate of the national nonprofit Family Promise, Inc. gaining access to national resources to support its mission and was aptly renamed Family Promise of Greater Nashua (FPGN).
In 2018, FPGN expanded to serve families in Western Rockingham County after that area’s Family Promise affiliate closed. In 2019 the organization was renamed Family Promise of Southern New Hampshire (FPSNH) to reflect its broader service area.
In 2020, FPSNH partnered with St. John XIII Parish to convert the former Infant Jesus School in Nashua into a new transitional housing facility. Families began moving into the building at 3 Crown Street, Nashua, NH in February 2021. The renovated space now provides a safe place to call home for up to 24 families at a time, double our previous capacity.
Given the level of homelessness in Southern New Hampshire, FPSNH sought an additional location in Derry to provide transitional housing for families in that area. We opened our new Derry location in 2025 and modeled it closely after our Nashua program, extending that same sense of home for up to 8 additional families.
Today, more than two decades later, Family Promise of Southern New Hampshire continues that same mission across two locations and two counties. What started as a rotating shelter program has grown into a lasting home for families working to build stable, independent futures.
