Bezos grants $5M to Africatown, Building Changes for homelessness fund
Seattle organizations Africatown International and Building Changes will receive a $5 million grant to help revitalize and strengthen the Centralized Diversion Fund, their community-based effort to transition homeless people quickly into housing.
They were among 32 recipients announced Wednesday by Jeff Bezos' Day One Fund, which is disbursing $96.2 million to the organizations across the country. The fund was launched by the Amazon.com Inc. founder in 2018 and has awarded $398 million since then.
"This is an investment in a proven, community-based solution to our region’s homeless crisis,” said Yalonda Sinde, finance and development director at Africatown, in a news release. “Support for the Centralized Diversion Fund will ensure people move quickly from homelessness into housing.”
Africatown and Building Changes established the Centralized Diversion Fund in 2018. It provides families housing opportunities by providing money for move-in costs, application fees, eviction debt and other obstacles. The $5 million from Bezos' fund will help "an additional 500 families a year for each of the next five years," Building Changes said in a news release.
https://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/news/2021/11/17/building-change-and-africatown-receive-bezos.html
