WASHINGTON, DC -- The increasingly desperate affordable housing crisis has led nine U.S. foundations, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and The Melville Charitable Trust to announce on Tuesday that they are launching a partnership to tackle systemic problems in the housing market. The aim: to ensure that the more than 11 million families across the country that spend more than half of their paycheck on rent and those who are homeless have access to safe, affordable housing. The partnership, called Funders For Housing and Opportunity, has divided an initial $4.9 million in grant money between four nonprofits that tackle housing insecurity. This first tranche of money is aimed “mostly in the area of policy, advocacy and organizing,” said Susan Thomas, senior program officer at Melville Charitable Trust and chair of Funders for Housing and Opportunity.
Member News
WASHINGTON, CD -- Nine foundations, including The Melville Charitable Trust, have pooled about $10 million to build a three-year public-advocacy campaign to ensure Americans have secure, affordable places to live. The collaboration includes several foundations that haven’t previously concentrated on housing, such as the Annie E. Casey Foundation and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The new coalition, called Funders for Housing and Opportunity, today announced $4.9 million in three-year grants to four coalitions and projects, each of will mount public-awareness campaigns to call attention to housing issues.
DANBURY, CT -- Danbury has won the Working Cities Challenge put forth by the Boston Federal Reserve and been awarded $450,000 in a multi-year commitment to improve the lives of low- and moderate-income residents.
SHARON, CT -- The Foundation for Community Health has launched a new publication series, Cultivating Solutions, designed to share information, raise awareness and advocate for change. The inaugural publication, "Addressing Northwest Connecticut's Addiction Crisis," tackles the addiction epidemic via an issue brief, future editions may vary in composition or format depending on the topic.
HARTFORD, CT -- The Connecticut Early Childhood Funder Collaborative (ECFC) with the CT State Department of Education and the Office of Early Childhood presented a Symposium on Family and Community Engagement on December 13, 2017 at Gateway Community College in New Haven.
HARTFORD, CT -- As people fleeing Puerto Rico begin to trickle into Connecticut, an informal coalition of city officials, philanthropists, hospitals, public schools and faith groups have been mobilizing, even as they face a big unknown: How many families will need their help? The disaster in Puerto Rico also has brought together a network of potential partners including Travelers, MetroHartford Alliance, United Way of Central and Northeastern Connecticut, and Hartford Foundation for Public Giving.