FamilyAid Boston Receives $5 Million Bezos Day 1 Families Fund Grant to Help Solve Homelessness
Day 1 Families Fund grants $98.5 million to 32 nonprofits assisting families experiencing homelessness
FamilyAid Boston, a leading services provider to families who are homeless, today announced that it has been selected to receive a $5 million grant from the Day 1 Families Fund.
“We are incredibly excited and honored to be acknowledged by the nation’s leading funder of solutions to family homelessness,” said Larry Seamans, president of FamilyAid Boston. “The Bezos Day 1 Families Fund will allow us to build upon our current support and address the growing family homelessness crisis in Massachusetts by rapidly expanding our nationally-recognized housing and family support initiatives.”
This one-time grant, awarded to organizations moving the needle on family homelessness, will allow FamilyAid to help more than 6,000 homeless children and their parents obtain and sustain permanent housing over the next three years.
FamilyAid Boston is one of 32 nonprofits across the U.S. to receive the second annual Day 1 Families Fund grants, as part of a broad investment by the Day 1 Families Fund to help solve family homelessness. The Day 1 Families Fund issued a total of $98.5 million in grants this year. The fund worked with an advisory board of homelessness advocates and experts who identified and invited organizations to submit grant proposals to support their efforts to address homelessness. This year, the grant recipients from around the country include: Bethany House Services, Catholic Charities Eastern Washington, Catholic Social Services Alaska, Coburn Place, Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness, Covenant House, Family Gateway, FamilyAid Boston, ForKids, Goodwill Industries of Northern Michigan, Great Lakes Community Action Partnership, Homeless Services Network of Central Florida, HOPE Services Hawaii, HopeWorks, Interim Community Development Association, Lafayette Transitional Housing Center, Mary’s Place Seattle, MIFA, Our Family Services, Pathways of Hope, St. Joseph Center, St. Joseph’s Villa, St. Stephen’s Human Services, St. Vincent de Paul, The Road Home, The Road Home Dane County, The Whole Child, UNITY Of Greater New Orleans, Upward Bound House, Welcome House of Northern Kentucky, West Virginia Coalition to End Homelessness, and YWCA Columbus
“More than 3,000 homeless children and parents sleep in shelter every night in Boston,” continued Seamans. “The Day 1 Families Fund support sheds light on this invisible issue and creates a foundation for our new strategies to solve it.”
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 FamilyAid BostonFounded in 1916, FamilyAid Boston is Boston’s largest provider solely focused on resolving homelessness for children and their parents. With a mission to empower parents facing homelessness to secure and sustain housing and build strong foundations for their children’s futures, the agency annually supports more than 1,600 homeless children and parents with outreach, prevention, diversion, shelter, housing and supportive services. For more information, visit www.familyaidboston.org.
