Kent County-based Community Rebuilders is one of two dozen national nonprofits receiving a multimillion dollar grant aimed at addressing homelessness. Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos are donating $97.5 million to be shared nationally among 24 nonprofits whose mission is fighting family homelessness. In Kent County, Community Rebuilders is receiving a $5 million grant through the Bezos Day 1 Families Fund.
“We realize that this is really a chance to be transformative with our community’s response to homelessness and really implement some of the best practices that we have been utilizing and know are able to produce long-term solutions,” Vera Beech is Executive Director of Community Rebuilders said.
“We want to make sure that families always have access to low-barrier shelter," she said. "And that means shelter that offers them options and decision making ability as well as the ability to focus on getting into housing immediately versus maybe just coming into shelter and having a place to stay for the night, but no long-term solution. So, we really want families to be able to shorten their length of time in an emergency situation and then quickly move into housing as fast as possible.”
Community Rebuilders works with clients on employment and budgeting strategies along with managing resources like transportation.
Beech tells us in 2017 Community Rebuilders served 323 families with 97-percent of those securing stable or permanent housing.
