We are excited to announce the eighth annual Day 1 Families Fund leadership awards. These 32 recipients from 20 states, the District of Columbia, and Guam will receive immediate donations totaling $102.5 million to continue their compassionate, needle-moving work to help families move from unsheltered homelessness and shelters to permanent housing and access services to achieve stability.
See stories of how Day 1 Families Fund grantees are making a tremendous impact in their communities.
ACCESS Inc., Akron, OH • $1.25 million
Associated Ministries of Tacoma-Pierce County, Tacoma, WA • $2.5 million
Big Bend Cares, Tallahassee, FL • $5 million
Booker T. Washington Community Service Center, San Francisco, CA • $5 million
Care Resource Community Health Centers, Inc., Miami, FL • $5 million
Chum, Duluth, MN • $2.5 million
City Care, Oklahoma City, OK • $2.5 million
City Rescue Mission, Oklahoma City, OK • $2.5 million
Community Crisis Services, Inc., Hyattsville, MD • $5 million
DuPagePads, Wheaton, IL • $5 million
Emergency Family Assistance Association, Boulder, CO • $5 million
Family Promise of Greater Indianapolis, Indianapolis, IN • $1.25 million
Friendship Place, Washington, DC • $2.5 million
Friendship Service Center, New Britain, CT • $2.5 million
Harford Family House, Aberdeen, MD • $1.25 million
Hermanos de la Calle, Key Biscayne, FL • $1.25 million
Hope Harbor, Grand Island, NE • $1.25 million
Housing Families, Malden, MA • $5 million
KCEOC Community Action Partnership, Inc., Gray, KY • $5 million
LifeStyles of Maryland, Inc., La Plata, MD • $2.5 million
Mary’s Place, Seattle, WA • $5 million
New Orleans Women & Children’s Shelter, New Orleans, LA • $1.25 million
Residential Youth Services & Empowerment, Honolulu, HI • $2.5 million
St. Vincent de Paul Georgia, Atlanta, GA • $5 million
The Coalition of Homeless Services Providers, Seaside, CA • $2.5 million
The Kitchen, Inc., Springfield, MO • $2.5 million
Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation Mvn'-dvn (Housing Division), Smith River, CA • $1.25 million
Under 1 Roof, Dallas, TX • $1.25 million
Union Station Homeless Services, Pasadena, CA • $5 million
United Way of Greater Milwaukee & Waukesha County, Milwaukee, WI • $5 million
WestCare Pacific Islands, Inc., Hagatna, Guam • $2.5 million
YMCA of Central Ohio, Columbus, OH • $5 million
2025 Day 1 Families Fund Advisors
The Day 1 Families Fund would like to thank the following leaders working to end family homelessness for sharing their expertise during the grantee selection process:
Russell (Rusty) Bennett, Collaborative Solutions, Inc.
David Canavan, Canavan Associates
Iain DeJong, OrgCode Consulting Inc.
David Dirks, DLD Consulting, LLC
Maseta Dorley, The Technical Assistance Collaborative (TAC)
Lori Pampilo Harris, Wayfinders Consulting
Darlene Mathews, Darlene Mathews Inc.
Cynthia Nagendra, National Alliance to End Homelessness
Ann Oliva, National Alliance to End Homelessness
Barbara Poppe, Barbara Poppe & Associates
Nan Roman, National Alliance to End Homelessness (retired)
Mandy Chapman Semple, Clutch Consulting Group
Michele Salters Williams, Michele S. Williams, LLC
About The Bezos Day One Fund
The Day One Fund made a $2 billion commitment to focus on making meaningful and lasting impacts in two areas: funding existing non-profits that help families experiencing homelessness, and building and operating a network of new, tuition-free preschools in under-resourced communities.
The 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.
The Day 1 Academies Fund is building a network of tuition-free, full-day, Montessori-inspired preschools. We have the opportunity to learn, invent, and improve. And we use the same set of principles that have driven Amazon. Most important among those is genuine, intense customer obsession. The customer set this team of missionaries serves is simple: children in under-resourced communities across the country.