Fund grants $123.45 million to 40 nonprofits across the U.S. to move the needle on re-housing and supporting families experiencing homelessness
HONOLULU – (November 22, 2022): Family Promise of Hawaiʻi, a local nonprofit working to end homelessness for families with children, today announced that it has received a $2.5 million grant from the Bezos Day 1 Families Fund—the largest private gift in the organization’s history. Launched in 2018 by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, the Day 1 Families Fund issues annual leadership awards to leading organizations on the frontlines that are employing compassionate, needle-moving work to help families move from unsheltered homelessness and shelters to permanent housing with the services they require to achieve stability.
“Family homelessness is one of Hawaiʻi’s most urgent challenges, and we’re deeply grateful to the Day 1 Families Fund for sharing in our vision to address this crisis,” said Ryan Catalani, executive director of Family Promise of Hawaiʻi. “This grant will make a transformational impact for our organization as we expand to serve even more families in need. We look forward to working with the entire community to sustain these efforts as we work toward ensuring every child has a home.”
This one-time grant to Family Promise of Hawaiʻi will change the lives of children and families on Oʻahu who are struggling with housing instability. The organization plans to use the grant funds to expand its emergency shelter program, provide additional rental assistance and wraparound services and scale up its shelter diversion program, which helps families experiencing homelessness avoid entering the shelter system. All of Family Promise of Hawaiʻi’s programs aim to help families quickly move back to permanent housing.
Family Promise of Hawaiʻi was selected as a Day 1 Families Fund grant recipient by a group of national advisors who are leading advocates and experts on homelessness and service provision. National advisors brought expertise on housing justice, advancing racial equity and helping programs employ resources effectively to assist families out of homelessness.
Over the past five years, the Day 1 Families Fund has provided 170 grants totaling more than $520 million to organizations around the country working to combat homelessness and help families gain housing support and stability. This year, the Fund issued a total of $123.45 million in grants to the following organizations: Carpenter's Shelter; CATCH, Inc.; Catholic Community Services of Southern Arizona; The Center for Women and Families; Changing Homelessness; Chapman Partnership; Coalition for the Homeless of Houston/Harris County; Community Action Partnership of San Luis Obispo County, Inc.; Community Services & Employment Training (CSET); Ending Community Homelessness Coalition (ECHO); Family Promise of Hawai'i; Family Promise of Northern New Castle County; Family Services of Tulare County; Flagstaff Shelter Services; Gateway180; Heartland Alliance; H.O.M.E. Inc.; Homeless Alliance; Hope House of Milwaukee; Housing First, Inc.; Housing Forward; HRDC; Ka Hale A Ke Ola Homeless Resource Centers, Inc.; LA Family Housing; Mother Nation; Nashua Soup Kitchen & Shelter, Inc.; New Reach; Oglala Sioux Tribe; Partners for HOME; PATH; The Salvation Army, Denver Metro Area; Samish Indian Nation; San Diego Regional Task Force on Homelessness; Sojourner Truth House; Solo Por Hoy, Inc.; Start Corporation; Strategies to End Homelessness; The Wellspring; YWCA Cass Clay; and YWCA Missoula’s Housing Programs.
The Bezos Day One Fund made a $2 billion commitment to focus on making meaningful and lasting impacts in two areas: funding existing nonprofits that help families experiencing homelessness, 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 Family Promise of Hawaiʻi
Family Promise of Hawaiʻi is a 501(c)3 nonprofit whose mission is to help homeless and low-income families in Hawai’i achieve sustainable independence by mobilizing existing community resources and support. Learn more: familypromisehawaii.org.