The Road Home Dane County today announced in a press release that it has been selected to receive a $1.25 million grant from the Day 1 Families Fund.
The Road Home Dane County provides opportunities for homeless children and their families to achieve self-determined goals and affordable, stable housing.
“This transformative gift will directly contribute to the reduction and prevention of family homelessness in our community over the next five years,” said Kristin Rucinski, The Road Home Dane County’s executive director, in a statement. “The generous support of the Day 1 Families Fund will be used to empower families through supportive services in new affordable housing units, peer support from staff with lived experience and partnerships with landlords to reduce homelessness. This is a unique opportunity to expand our capacity and ensure that children and families can thrive.”
This one-time grant, awarded to organizations moving the needle on family homelessness, will allow The Road Home Dane County to ramp up its housing navigation efforts, bolster implementation of best practices and invest in new technology that will help case managers better serve families.
The Road Home Dane County 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, according to a release.
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.
