Today we’d like to introduce you to Brian Diggs. They and their team shared their story with us below:
Rev. Brian Diggs was raised in rural Arkansas. After completing his BA in Sociology at the University of Central Arkansas, he left to pursue an M.Div. at Duke University and was ordained in the United Methodist Church in 1994. Diggs spent 15 years in parish ministry, 10 of which were at First United Methodist Church in Salt Lake City.
It was there that he embraced the mission and vision of Family Promise calling it “the most important outreach ministry we do in the city.” He then spent 11 years working for the United Methodist Committee on Relief before taking the executive director job at Family Promise Salt Lake in March of 2021.
Diggs helped bring FPSL out of the Pandemic and has grown capacity in the FPSL Emergency Shelter Program to serve even more families.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Family Promise opened its doors for service in 1996.
The unique community-based non-profit shelters families in churches and uses community volunteers to offer food and other resources. The work the staff does at Family Promise Salt Lake can be quite difficult. Our goal, and we had an 85% success rate last fiscal year, is to get families into sustainable housing of their own within 3 months.
Due to rising rents in recent years, this has become increasingly difficult. The staff is dedicated to our mission and continues to work with our families weekly to get them “back on their feet”.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Since moving to SLC in 1997, I have been actively growing non-profits that were previously struggling. At the age of 30, I was appointed lead pastor at First United Methodist Church in SLC. While there, Sunday morning attendance doubled, and the congregation became financially stable. I suspect a major factor in this growth was engaging the people in regular and intentional outreach in SLC, other states, and even other countries like Guatemala and Pakistan.
From 2009-2020, I developed a 22,000 warehouse into a humanitarian center that welcomed mission groups from all over the USA. Given only the front door key and using an upside-down kitchen trash can as a desk, UMCOR West became a place where groups built disaster relief kits that were sent around the world to aid the poorest populations.
When I accepted the job as ED of Family Promise Salt Lake, I was charged with restarting the entire organization that almost collapsed due to the COVID-19 pandemic (as you can imagine, it was hard to place unsheltered families in churches if churches were closed). Since reopening in November of 2022, I have been working on increasing the capacity of the Emergency Shelter Program. Working alongside the FPSL Board of Directors, I planned to double (100% increase) the number of families in shelters by the spring of 2024. Even before 2024, we have increased by 75%. Now, I suspect our increase will be 150%. This will be the first increase in FPSL history.
I suspect most people would say one of my strongest attributes is that I can motivate people to action. I believe a large part of my success at First United Methodist Church, UMCOR West, and here at FPSL is my love of people and my ability to engage them in the mission and vision of the organizations I have led.
What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
I believe the most important quality I have is being genuine and passionate in my work. This often acts as a catalyst to bring others in the community to help in this vital outreach.
Pricing:
- $200 helps feed 4 shelter families for a week
- $500 helps FPSL staff support families in pursuit e of affordable housing
- $1000 helps a family move into sustainable housing.
- $5000 helps support the salary of additional full-time case managers
Contact Info:
- Website: www.familypromisesaltlake.org
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/familypromisesaltlake
Image Credits
Brian Diggs and Lisa Fladmo
