Fairfield County’s Community Foundation commits $10,000 to Hurricane Maria Relief

Grant of $10,000 will help divert Puerto Rican evacuees from shelter

May 22, 2018

Fairfield County’s Community Foundation has made a generous grant of $10,000 to the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness (CCEH) to provide relief funds to evacuees from Puerto Rico displaced by Hurricane Maria.

This grant is part of a state-wide effort to meet the housing needs of Puerto Rican evacuees and was made as part of the statewide Hurricane Relief Evacuee Support Planning Work Group convened by the Connecticut State Department of Housing together with the United Way of Connecticut in close collaboration with the United Way of Central and Northeastern Connecticut. Through this initiative, Fairfield County’s Community Foundation and other foundations around the state are working together to ensure that Puerto Rican evacuee households facing a housing crisis do not need to enter the homeless response system.

“Allowing the influx of evacuees who require assistance to enter homelessness would not only be morally wrong, it would place an enormous strain on that system,” explains Lisa Tepper Bates, Executive Director of the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness. “This funding will allow us to prevent that from happening while continuing to focus on our existing efforts to end homelessness in our state”
Fairfield County’s Community Foundation promotes philanthropy as a means to create change in Fairfield County, focusing on innovative and collaborative solutions to critical issues impacting the community. Individuals, families, corporations and organizations can establish charitable funds or contribute to existing funds. The Community Foundation is in compliance with the Council on Foundations’ national standards, and has awarded $180 million in grants to nonprofits in Fairfield County and beyond. For more information, visit www.fccfoundation.org.

To learn more about the efforts to assist Puerto Rican evacuees and the work of The Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness please visit www.cceh.org or for more information how you or your organization can be involved, contact Madeline Ravich at mravich@cceh.org.