By 2035, Foundation funded efforts will prevent homelessness for 10,000 families with young children.
For young children to have a better start in life, they need strong foundations, including stable housing.
Today, too many Philadelphians face housing instability—defined as poor-quality housing, overcrowded housing, and homelessness. Housing instability during childhood erodes children’s physical and mental health, contributes to behavioral problems including violence, and creates barriers to learning in school. In 2024, 3,289 children under age six were identified as experiencing homelessness in Philadelphia, an 18% increase since 2022.1 Also of concern, in 2023 over 43% of households with children in Philadelphia report needing a home repair. Leaving these repairs unaddressed may cause families to need to leave their homes.2
In order to increase the success of children ages 0-8 in Philadelphia, we are focusing on efforts prevent homelessness for families with young children.
We recognize that there are many ways that organizations and communities can contribute to advancing this objective. These efforts may include initiatives that seek to coordinate services, provide direct supports, or help families navigate programs and benefits to keep them in their existing homes or connect them to stable housing. We are seeking to support projects and programs that organizations in Philadelphia believe will be most effective in making progress on the objective above.
We measure progress toward this objective through grantee reporting on the number of families served by funded organizations and the types of services received.
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