Bezos fund awards $5M grant to St. Vincent de Paul Baltimore

On Thursday, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos made an announcement that 32 organizations across the country will receive grants to support work helping people experiencing homelessness.

As part of this funding, St. Vincent de Paul Baltimore is receiving a $5 million grant from the Bezos Day 1 Families Fund. In a news release, the organization said that the funding will help with its existing efforts to provide services that address family homelessness in the region.

We’re honored to receive a Day 1 Families Fund grant which will support our work to address family homelessness. Congratulations to the other organizations around the country who also received this award! Learn more here:
https://t.co/7wo2KkIvox and https://t.co/yts9S8t0a6 pic.twitter.com/bw3DOdkb0D

— St. Vincent de Paul Baltimore (@svdpbaltimore) November 21, 2019

“We feel honored to be in the select group of organizations awarded this funding,” said John Schiavone, president and CEO of St. Vincent de Paul of Baltimore, in the release. “This award will be transformative for our organization and allow us to create new prospects that are critically needed to end family homelessness in the Baltimore region.”

The organization said a “significant portion” of the funding will help to pilot a new coordinated entry system with two service hubs in Baltimore that serve 4,000 people. It will also pilot shelter diversion services for families, which are designed to help families access affordable housing, and seed new opportunities for permanent supportive housing, which provides families with housing and case management services.

In all, Bezos’ org provided $98.5 million in grant funding. The overall Bezos Day One Fund launched last year with $2 billion.