The Homeless Families Foundation Receives $1.25 Million Bezos Day 1 Families Fund Grant to End Homelessness
Day 1 Families Fund grants $105.9 million to 42 nonprofits helping families gain housing support and stability
COLUMBUS, Ohio – (December 9, 2020): The Homeless Families Foundation, a leading provider of programs and services for families, children and transitional age youth experiencing homelessness in Columbus, Ohio, today announced that it has been selected to receive a $1.25 million grant from the Day 1 Families Fund. Launched in 2018 by Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, the Day 1 Families Fund issues annual leadership awards to organizations and civic groups doing compassionate, needle-moving work to provide shelter and hunger support to address the immediate needs of young families.
“Homelessness is an incredibly traumatic event for far too many families and children in our community,” said Beth Fetzer-Rice, Executive Director of the Homeless Families Foundation. “Support from the Day 1 Families Fund will strengthen our ability to protect parents and children from its profound impact; helping them regain housing, security and stability for their family.”
This one-time grant, awarded to organizations doing meaningful work to connect families with shelter and support, will allow the Homeless Families Foundation to expand and strengthen its best practice programming, providing holistic, integrated family stability services to assist in transitioning parents and children from homelessness to housing stability.
The Homeless Families Foundation is one of 42 nonprofits across the U.S. to receive the third annual Day 1 Families Fund grants, as part of a continuing commitment by the Day 1 Families Fund to help end homelessness for families. The Day 1 Families Fund issued a total of $105.9 million in grants this year. To select these organizations, the fund worked with an advisory board of homelessness advocates and leaders whose expertise spans housing justice, racial equity, direct services, homelessness policy, equity for Native American communities and anti-poverty work. This year, the grant recipients from around the country include: Anchorage Coalition to End Homelessness; The Cathedral Center, Inc.; Catholic Charities of Acadiana; Coalition for Homelessness Intervention & Prevention; Coalition for the Homeless of Central Florida; Community Action Council for Lexington-Fayette, Bourbon, Harrison and Nicholas Counties, Inc.; Congreso de Latinos Unidos; Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio; Denver Indian Family Resource Center; East Los Angeles Women’s Center; East Oakland Community Project; Facing Forward to End Homelessness; Families Together; Family Life Center; Friendship Place; HELP of Southern Nevada; The Homeless Families Foundation; Homeless Outreach Program Integrated Care System; HOPE Atlanta; House of Ruth; Housing Matters; Housing Up; Kahumana; MAHUBE-OTWA Community Action Partnership, Inc.; Metro Denver Homeless Initiative; MUST Ministries; The National Center for Children and Families; Native American Youth and Family Center; North Carolina Coalition to End Homelessness; One80 Place; Poverello House; Rainbow Services; Refugee Women's Alliance; Safe Haven Family Shelter; Samaritan House; Solid Ground; St. Vincent de Paul CARES; Su Casa – Ending Domestic Violence; The Salvation Army Austin Area Command; Time for Change Foundation; United American Indian Involvement, Inc.; and WestCare California.
The Bezos Day One Fund was launched in 2018 with a commitment of $2 billion and a focus on two areas: funding existing nonprofits that help homeless families, and creating a network of new, nonprofit tier-one preschools in low-income communities. The Day 1 Families Fund issues annual leadership awards to organizations and civic groups doing compassionate, needle-moving work to provide shelter and hunger support to address the immediate needs of young families. The vision statement comes from the inspiring Mary’s Place in Seattle: no child sleeps outside. For more information, visit www.BezosDayOneFund.org/Day1FamiliesFund.
About the Homeless Families Foundation
The Homeless Families Foundation (HFF) is an independent, community-based nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization whose mission is to educate and nurture children while empowering families to achieve stable housing and self- sufficiency. HFF was founded in 1986 by community members who believed it was unacceptable for any child to be homeless, and that same core belief is our call to action today: “Not One Child, Not One Night.” HFF impacts more than 700 families and 1,000 youth annually through multi-faceted, integrated family stability programming focused on preventing and ending family homelessness. To learn more about The Homeless Families Foundation, please visit www.homelessfamiliesfoundation.org.
