Everyone Home DC Receives $2.5 Million Bezos Day 1 Families Fund Grant
Everyone Home DC is thrilled to announce that we have been chosen to receive a $2.5 million grant from the Bezos Day 1 Families Fund. This gift is the largest one ever received by our organization. It is the sixth round of annual Day 1 Families Fund grants, recognizing leading organizations doing compassionate, needle-moving work to help families experiencing homelessness secure housing and stability.
“Everyone Home DC is honored and humbled to be selected by the Day 1 Families Fund to receive this incredibly significant support, the timing of which is transformative for our organization and the people we work alongside,” said Karen Cunningham, executive director of Everyone Home DC. “We will put these critical funds right to work, increasing our organizational capacity and expanding our comprehensive services and housing solutions to ensure that families in our nation’s capital have the safety and stability of housing, the foundation needed for them to thrive.”
This one-time, uniquely flexible grant will support Everyone Home DC in serving as a critical lifeline to children and adults in families experiencing homelessness, who represent more than a quarter of the homeless population nationally. Everyone Home DC intends to use the Day 1 Families Fund grant to expand and enrich its comprehensive support services for families at risk of or experiencing homelessness, with the aim to facilitate long-term positive change.
Everyone Home DC 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 six years, the Day 1 Families Fund has provided 208 grants totaling more than $630 million to organizations around the country working on the frontlines to identify unsheltered families, help families regain housing and connect families experiencing homelessness to vital services. A selection of more than half of the Day 1 Families Fund grantees who received funding between 2018 through 2021 report that, to date, they have used their grants to divert more than 28,000 families from experiencing homelessness, connect more than 30,000 unsheltered families with safe shelter and help more than 75,000 families access the services they need.
This year, the Fund issued a total of $117.55 million in grants to 38 organizations. The Day 1 Families Fund has now granted this award to organizations in 48 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. New states this year include Arkansas, Vermont and Wyoming. The other organizations receiving grants in the D.C. area are Community of Hope, Shelter House and United Communities Against Poverty. The full list of awardees is available at bezosdayonefund.org/day1familiesfund.
Launched in 2018, 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 Bezos Day 1 Families Fund issues annual leadership awards to organizations and civic groups doing compassionate, needle-moving work to help families experiencing homelessness—including those who are unsheltered or staying in shelters—regain safe, stable housing and achieve well-being. The vision statement comes from the inspiring Mary’s Place in Seattle: no child sleeps outside. For more information, visit www.BezosDayOneFund.org/Day1FamiliesFund.
