Day 1 Families Fund grants $96.2 million to 32 nonprofits across the country to provide shelter for children and families in need
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CHICAGO – All Chicago Making Homelessness History, the organization responsible for leading a system of more than 100 partners that work to address homelessness through Chicago’s Continuum of Care, today announced that it has been selected to receive a $5 million grant from the Bezos Day 1 Families Fund—the largest private grant in All Chicago’s history. Launched in 2018 by Amazon founder and executive chair 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.
“This grant allows us to extend the impact of the Expedited Housing Initiative, a program developed during the pandemic to find a more efficient way to rehouse people experiencing homelessness,” said Carolyn Ross, CEO of All Chicago Making Homelessness History. “The grant helps us as we strive to move beyond a short-term emergency response to a long-term system change that secures a home for the families and individuals facing homelessness.”
This one-time grant will allow All Chicago Making Homelessness History to provide its partners on the frontlines with funds and resources to extend their housing services and support for families. This will include building on its state-of-the-art Expedited Housing Initiative, which has rapidly rehoused more than 1,200 Chicago families and individuals in the last year through Accelerated Moving Events that allow families to find and select a home, complete applications and obtain furniture all in one day. Through this and other efforts of its partners, All Chicago plans to help an additional 350 families divert from homelessness over the next year.
“With the help of All Chicago, I had a better thing to look forward to. It didn’t even take two months; just that fast. I got a two-bedroom apartment. I am able to invite others over now. It’s support. It’s help. It’s housing,” said Leonard McGruder, a participant in the Expedited Housing Initiative.
All Chicago Making Homelessness History was selected as a Day 1 Families Fund grant recipient by an independent advisory board comprised of homelessness experts with experience in policy, advocacy, racial equity, child welfare and housing and service delivery, as well as firsthand experience in homelessness.
This year, the Day 1 Families Fund issued a total of $96.2 million in grants to 32 organizations across the country. The 2021 Day 1 Families Fund grant recipients are: ACLAMO; Adopt-A-Family of the Palm Beaches; Alabama Rural Coalition for the Homeless, Inc.; All Chicago Making Homelessness History; AACI (Asian Americans for Community Involvement); Building Changes and Africatown International; Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Santa Rosa; Colorado Coalition for the Homeless; Covenant House Alaska; Destination: Home; Doorways; Family Life Center; Family Service League; Friends of the Family; Homeless Action Network of Detroit; Homeward; LifeMoves; Lubbock Open Door; Mesilla Valley Community of Hope; Mid-Maine Homeless Shelter & Services; Mississippi United to End Homelessness; Newcap, Inc.; Orange County Asian and Pacific Islander Community Alliance (OCAPICA); Portland Homeless Family Solutions; Project Community Connections, Inc.; Rural Alaska Community Action Program (RurAL CAP); Sacramento Steps Forward; SHELTER, Inc.; Texas Homeless Network; The Link; Tri- County Community Action Agency, Inc.; and Union Station Homeless Services.
“With the help of All Chicago, I had a better thing to look forward to. It didn’t even take two months; just that fast. I got a two-bedroom apartment. I am able to invite others over now. It’s support. It’s help. It’s housing,” said Leonard McGruder, a participant in the Expedited Housing Initiative.
The Bezos Day One Fund made a $2 billion commitment to focus on making meaningful and lasting impacts in two areas: funding existing non-profits that help families experiencing homelessness, and creating a network of new, non-profit 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. Since 2018, the Day 1 Families Fund has issued 130 grants totaling more than $398 million to organizations around the country working to combat homelessness and help families gain housing support and stability. 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 All Chicago Making Homelessness History
All Chicago Making Homelessness History is dedicated to preventing and ending homelessness across Chicago through four signature approaches: Emergency Financial Assistance, Community Partnerships, Data Analytics, and Training and Research. We provide critical financial assistance to people experiencing an emergency that could lead to homelessness or other crises. We convene key stakeholders and drive collaboration to lead Chicago’s city-wide response to ending homelessness. We manage a citywide database to collect and analyze data on people experiencing, or at risk of, homelessness and the services they receive. We provide our partners with trainings, tools, information and research to address homelessness more effectively.
Media requests should be directed to Hank Sartin, Director of Communications at All Chicago, at hsartin@allchicago.org or 872-291-1278.
