We were delighted to have Layren Calvo be our gest speaker today, Born in Cuba, Layren Calvo emigrated to the United States at age 14. After graduating Magna Cum Laude from Florida Atlantic University in 2013, Ms. Calvo joined Adopt-A-Family’s Housing Stabilization Program team, which provides short-term financial assistance to keep families in crisis from becoming homeless. Showing a natural aptitude for sharing the agency’s mission and an incredible work ethic, Ms. Calvo later moved into special events coordination and in 2015 was promoted to the newly created position of Director of Agency Relations, where she has served with distinction. 
Layren is directly responsible for overseeing an events revenue budget of $1,000,000. Under her leadership, Adopt-A-Family has consistently achieved record breaking results in all fundraising initiatives – including its well-known Tree Lighting event. Additionally, Layren helped to create and implement the agency’s most recent capital campaign, Hope Begins with a Home, which raised over $6,000,000 to date.
Layren has been identified as a 2020 Emerging Leader through the Neighborhood Builders Leadership Award of Bank of America. Layren lives in Delray Beach with her husband Rob, and her two teenage daughters. In her free time. Layren enjoys running, cooking, and cruising along the intra coastal.
Adopt-A-Family started in 1983 when one family three Palm Beach County residents adopted one family and prevented them from going homeless. Homelessness takes many forms with some just living in their cars. Adopt-a-Family restores families through –
  1. Homeless prevention via education and interceding with short-term assistance.
  2. Afterschool programs for homeless children to break the cycle of having children ending up homeless.
  3. Other programs including those for middle and high school students and mental health services and job assistance.
They wrap families with help so they won’t ever go homeless again. They ensure children’s school outcomes by partnering with local schools. Layren says this gives them real metrics to measure outcomes, e.g. grades, attendance, graduation and subsequent employment.
Last year they received almost 10,000 phone calls asking for assistance. They have 110 units of housing shelters (rooms/homes). They are the largest provider of housing for homeless and low-income family units in the county. On any given day, they currently support serve 322 families which includes 600+ kids and 348 adults. They provide total support for the children and families. Many families have suffer from mental and physical disabilities, and every family is different. They also provide special assistance for moms under 24. The goal is helping each family reach self-sufficiency.
Because they are serving so many families with children, they could use more food for the shelters. And due to the demand and limited resources, they currently have a wait list. You can reach Layren Calvo at Layren Calvo [email protected] or via phone at (561) 253-1361. They are located at 1712 2nd Ave North, Lake Worth FL 33460. Their website is https://adoptafamilypbc.org/.