About Us

Contact Ministries impacts lives through Christ love and compassion.

Contact Ministries serves the greater Springfield community by providing food, shelter, clothing, financial assistance, referrals, and life skills education and training through Christ’s love and compassion.

Our goal is to see transformation in the lives of the people we serve. We believe churches and organizations, working together, can accomplish more for Christ. Contact Ministries provides a full range of services to meet a variety of needs for our clients, in an effort to provide them with the best chance for successful lifestyle changes. Contact Ministries is often the point of initial contact with other community service agencies. This is an important first step that allows CM to rapidly identify and respond to recognized problems and make appropriate decisions with assistance and referrals to other agencies for specific programs.

Our Emergency Shelter is open to single women and women with children of all ages (up to age 17) 7 days a week from 5:00pm to 8:00am, 365 days a year. It is a short-term emergency/crisis shelter. Although temporary, it provides a safe place for our clients to sleep, have an evening meal, take a hot shower, do laundry, and obtain access to additional services and programs.

Once staying with us, a resident will meet with a case manager to begin their journey to restoration through safety and support. Life skill classes, counseling, money saving and housing are some of the services provided. This is all done in an effort to help maximize the potential for stabilized independent living upon leaving our shelter.

The Contact Ministries Transitional Shelter for women with children, displaced by homelessness, is a safe-haven with a concentrated 6-month program with required life skill classes (i.e. budgeting, parenting, nutrition, job skills, etc.), case management with weekly goals and mental health counseling services available. Long-term self-sufficiency is the ultimate goal for our women and children. The Transitional Shelter is open and staffed 24 hours per day, 7-days per week, 365 days per year.

To seek residency in either shelter you must have a valid photo ID for all adults and a birth certificate/medical card or other form of identification for every minor accompanying you.

Our Facility

Located at 1100 E. Adams Street in Springfield, Illinois, Contact Ministries is often the point of initial contact with other community service agencies. This allows our staff to rapidly identify and respond to problems and make appropriate decisions with assistance and referrals. Our facility provides a safe and stable environment for homeless women, and women with children of all ages (up to age 17) who find themselves in a crisis homeless situation.

Many things can lead to homelessness — mental health, addictions and domestic abuse. Our shelters offer women and women with children of all ages (up to the age 17) programs and services that can change their lives.

Learn about Programs

Our History

Contact Ministries was founded in 1978 by five Springfield churches- First United Methodist Church, Westminster Presbyterian Church, First Congregational Church, First Christian Church and Christ Episcopal.

These founding churches wanted those in need to be able to easily access social services in our community. Thus, Contact Ministries became an informational, referral and advocacy agency for the most vulnerable in our community.

As Contact Ministries became established within the social service delivery system of Springfield, it became evident that many of the clients who sought services were still “falling through the cracks” of the system. This realization, along with a commitment to follow the commands of God to love and serve your neighbor, prompted the Board of Directors to redirect the focus of Contact Ministries to one of providing direct services. Contact Ministries had established itself as an agency committed to providing assistance to those in need. The agency provided rental and utility assistance when funding was available, counseling and advocacy, food referrals, clothing, prescription, transportation assistance, holiday assistance and seasonal assistance such as fans in summer and coats and blankets in winter. The agency also directed an extensive referral system that linked clients with other human service agencies.

In November 1993, Contact Ministries expanded its service to the less fortunate of the area by opening a Transitional Shelter program for homeless women with children. The shelter provides all of life’s basic needs – food, personal care items, clothing, and laundry facilities. In addition, residents are given access to phones, transportation, job notices, housing possibilities and child-care so that the mothers can find employment and permanent housing. The Contact Ministries staff and volunteers provide individual assessment, case management, job counseling and mentoring, special programs and activities and other supportive services to the shelter residents.

In November 2013, Contact Ministries further expanded its services by opening an Emergency Shelter for homeless single women and women with children of any age, up to the age of 17, becoming the first shelter in Central IL with this availability. The shelter is open 365 days a year and is open daily at 5:00 pm. Residents are provided a safe place to sleep, dinner, a place to take a shower and do laundry. While residents are staying in the shelter, they have regular case management that allows our staff to evaluate their needs to connect them to all the services that they qualify for in our community.

Our Clients

Contact Ministries serves the most vulnerable in our community; women and children of all ages.

Our programs are designed specifically for long term success through our Emergency and Transitional Shelter. The goal for all our clients is that they never face homelessness again. Our women and children receive ongoing and continued support even after they graduate from our program.

Our Partners

Contact Ministries is a member of the Springfield area Continuum of Care and United Way of Central Illinois. These alliances make it possible to address the needs of our local citizens such as mental health, homelessness and poverty.

Together with the help of many local churches, businesses and organizations we work towards a common goal of providing assistance to all who are in need. We believe that we are all better when working together.