The Bezos Day One Fund, a $2 billion philanthropic fund launched in 2018 by Amazon.com founder and CEO Jeff Bezos and his then-wife, MacKenzie Scott, has announced grants totaling $105.9 million in support of efforts to assist families experiencing homelessness.

Awarded through the Day 1 Families Fund, one of the philanthropy's two programs, the grants will support forty-two organizations in twenty-four states working to provide shelter and support for young families in need. Selected with the help of an advisory board of homelessness advocates and leaders, the recipients include Catholic Charities of Acadiana in Lafayette, Louisiana ($5 million), the Columbus-based Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio ($2.5 million), Philadelphia-based Congreso de Latinos Unidos ($5 million), Chicago-based Facing Forward to End Homelessness ($1.25 million), Kahumana in Waianae, Hawaii ($2.5 million), the Native American Youth and Family Center in Portland, Oregon ($5 million), One80 Place in Charleston, South Carolina ($5 million), and the Refugee Women's Alliance in Seattle ($2.5 million).

"Homelessness has its most destructive impact on young children, but thanks to the Day 1 Families Fund, we will ensure some of our youngest neighbors move into stable housing with the supports they need to get their lives off to the best start possible." said Rev. Doug Bradshaw, executive director of Facing Forward to End Homelessness, which will use its grant to launch a new program aimed at providing housing solutions and services to expectant mothers or those with young children and their families.

"This grant from the Day 1 Families Fund is transformational in the truest sense of the word," said One80 Place CEO Stacey Denaux. "This gift will change how One80 Place ends and prevents homelessness for families, particularly young families who face so many challenges in finding and maintaining a permanent place to live....From providing nightly shelter to supporting families once they have ended their homelessness, this Day 1 Families Fund grant will truly change lives."

(Photo credit: GettyImages)