Last Updated on November 21, 2023 9:48 am
BOONE, N.C. – (Nov. 21, 2023): Hospitality House of Northwest North Carolina, a regional nonprofit homeless services agency working in seven rural counties to provide housing, shelter, food access, homeless prevention, street outreach, counseling, and crisis assistance, today announced that it has received a $2.5 million grant from the Bezos Day 1 Families Fund—the largest gift in the organization’s history. This is the sixth round of annual Day 1 Families Fund grants, which recognize leading organizations doing compassionate, needle-moving work to help families experiencing homelessness secure housing and achieve stability.
“Housing unsheltered families has been one of our top priorities for several years now,” said Tina B. Krause, executive director of Hospitality House. “This grant will enable us to expand our solutions-based approach to ending homelessness. This award, outside of the federal and state grant system, allows us to have a more diversified funding portfolio and will open up more innovative opportunities to house families experiencing homelessness.”
This one-time, uniquely flexible grant will support Hospitality House 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. Hospitality House plans to use its Day 1 Families Fund grant to expand critical life-saving shelter services to High Country families experiencing homelessness, resulting in permanent housing solutions for the seven rural counties it serves. In addition, the agency will utilize the funds to expand domestic violence transitional housing and permanent supportive housing in Wilkes County on a newly acquired 19-acre parcel of land.
Hospitality House of Northwest N.C. 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 North Carolina are Family Promise of the Triangle and The Salvation Army of Greater Charlotte. 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.
About Hospitality House of Northwest N.C.
Since 1984, the mission of Hospitality House of Northwest N.C. has been to rebuild lives and strengthen community by providing a safe, nurturing, healthy environment in which individuals and families experiencing homelessness and poverty-related crises are equipped to become self-sufficient and productive. From humble beginnings of a donated house used as a shelter on King Street in downtown Boone, N.C, the organization now operates nine housing programs across seven counties that encompass Watauga, Wilkes, Avery, Ashe, Mitchell, Yancey, and Alleghany.
