This week, the Franklin County Commissioners voted to approve a set of 14 grants totaling almost $2.2 million to community agencies aimed at helping our residents continue to recover from the pandemic and spark meaningful change in the lives of Franklin County residents. The largest is for $711,000 to the Homeless Families Foundation which serves more than 700 families in our community annually. The other grants are divided among 13 local social services agencies and organizations as part of the commissioners’ yearly Catalyst Grant program.
“We know that the impact of COVID-19 will be felt in many of our households for a long time to come,” said Board of Commissioners President Kevin L. Boyce. “My colleagues and I are committed to tackling the challenges made clear by the pandemic while continuing to follow the Rise Together Blueprint to make the long-term investments necessary to help all our neighbors recover and thrive.”
The grant to the Homeless Families Foundation will help to fund that agency’s Resiliency Bridge program, which works to help low-wage workers build a stable career and achieve financial independence by blending affordable housing, worker development, and wrap-around supports. The program is a partnership with several other funders and aligns multiple human services systems to provide immediate short-term interventions in order to set clients up for long-term financial autonomy. Under this contract, the Homeless Families Foundation will provide assistance to at least an additional 60 households that are at or below 80% of the median area income.
“Throughout the pandemic, this board has committed an unprecedented amount of resources to keeping our most vulnerable Franklin County families in their homes,” said Commissioner John O’Grady. “Programs like Resiliency Bridge are transformational for the families who have borne the economic impact of the last year, providing them with the supports they need to move forward and setting them on the path to long-term success.”
The commissioners’ annual Catalyst Grants program began in 2019 as part of the
Rise Together Blueprint for Addressing Poverty, and funds partners that work to provide personal and family empowerment, community enrichment, economic stability and crisis stabilization, and other basic needs for Franklin County families. This year’s Catalyst Grants total $1,486,601, and a full list of recipients can be found
here.
“The community grants help address critical needs for children and families in our community,” said Commissioner Erica C. Crawley. “These strategic partnerships help us continue attacking poverty by addressing the social determinants of health by assisting with access to food, housing, healthcare, diapers, and so much more. We build a brighter tomorrow for Franklin County by investing in people today.”
During the pandemic, the commissioners have allocated more than $8 million to help Franklin County residents stay in their homes. Click
here to learn more about rental, mortgage, and utility resources that are available and how to access them. To keep up with everything the commissioners are working on, follow the Board of Commissioners on social media:
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