NEW ORLEANS – The New Orleans Women & Children’s Shelter (NOWCS), the region’s leading shelter for intact families, has announced that Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez Bezos are recognizing the organization with a $1.25 million grant from the Bezos Day 1 Families Fund. This investment is the largest gift in the nonprofit’s history. NOWCS is part of the eighth annual cohort of organizations across the country receiving funding from the Day 1 Families Fund to deepen their work to help every family have a safe, stable place to call home.
“This generous gift from the Day 1 Families Fund is truly transformational,” said Dawn Bradley-Fletcher, NOWCS chief executive officer. “It means more families will come in from the streets and into safety, more children will fall asleep in warm beds instead of cars and more parents will have the chance to rebuild their lives with dignity and hope. We are deeply grateful to the Bezos Day 1 Families Fund for believing that every family deserves a place to call home — and for helping us make that a reality in New Orleans. This support strengthens our foundation and expands our ability to bring more families home.”
NOWCS will use its Day 1 Families Fund grant to serve even more families experiencing homelessness in New Orleans, with the goal of ensuring no child in our community sleeps outside. Specifically, NOWCS plans to use this one-time grant over the next five years to strengthen and expand vital programming and holistic support for women, men and children experiencing homelessness.
NOWCS was identified to receive this grant by a group of national advisors who are leading advocates and bring expertise on homelessness, housing policy and effective approaches and solutions to family homelessness.
“We’re excited to be at this significant point in NOWCS’ history,” said NOWCS Board President David Schlakman. “This extraordinarily generous grant from the Day 1 Families Fund is greatly appreciated. It provides needed funding for vital programming and will enable the Shelter to continue to help the women, men and children we serve to break the cycle of homelessness in New Orleans (with a 98% success rate) and contribute to the general well-being of our collective community.”
National Impact of the Bezos Day 1 Families Fund
Since its inception in 2018, the Day 1 Families Fund has awarded 280 grants totaling more than $850 million to organizations serving families in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Guam. The Day 1 Families Fund grant recipients have tremendous flexibility to use the funds in the ways that are most impactful in their communities, making the grant a game-changer for organizations on the frontlines of the family homelessness crisis. Recipients will use their funds to support families experiencing homelessness to access critical services, regain stable housing and achieve well-being.
This year, the Fund issued a total of $102.5 million in grants to 32 organizations. The full list of awardees is available at https://bezosdayonefund.org/day1familiesfund. Case studies of the impact selected grantees have made with their funds are available at https://www.bezosdayonefund.org/case-studies.
About New Orleans Women & Children’s Shelter
As one of the only homeless shelters for intact families in the region and among the largest in the metro area, the New Orleans Women & Children’s Shelter (NOWCS) is committed to breaking the cycle of homelessness while keeping families together through coordinated, family-centered support and services. Since 2007, NOWCS has served more than 4,700 parents and children experiencing homelessness. Less than 2% of the families NOWCS has served have returned to shelter. For more information, visit www.nowcs.org.
About the Bezos Day 1 Families Fund
Through the Bezos Day 1 Families Fund, Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez Bezos issue annual leadership awards to organizations doing compassionate, needle-moving work to help families experiencing homelessness. For more information, visit www.BezosDayOneFund.org/Day1FamiliesFund.