United Way Of Greater Los Angeles Leads Home For Good Funders Collaborative To Advance Unprecedented Collaboration To End Homelessness

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 31, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The Home For Good Funders Collaborative, led by the United Way of Greater Los Angeles and a partnership of 25 private and public funders, today announced new milestones in its ongoing, cross-sector effort to end homelessness. Beginning through a generous seed grant from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation in 2011, private investment in the Funders Collaborative has since increased by 60 percent, and as a result of these investments, housing placement by 140 percent. This year, total local city and community public investment aligned with the Funders Collaborative grew by nearly four times due to the expansion of investments in seven new cities to improve coordination and homeless services with regional nonprofit partners, including Culver City, Bellflower, Burbank, Carson, Norwalk, Pomona, and Redondo Beach, in addition to the Cities of Los Angeles and Pasadena, which have partnered since year one.

The Funders Collaborative has facilitated unprecedented partnership and collaboration between private and public funders to ensure the most effective and coordinated use of tax dollars and philanthropic resources. This has created a more efficient process for organizations to apply for funds, including vouchers, outreach, housing navigation, ongoing case management/retention, move-in costs, and security deposits, all in one place through a streamlined application. This collaboration has not only led to funding alignment, but also systems alignment, including the establishment of the innovative Coordinated Entry System (CES), which has created a countywide system to match individuals experiencing homelessness with available housing and services that meet their needs, and fundamentally changed the way that housing and homeless services providers work together to end homelessness.

"Over the last five years, the Funders Collaborative has made an immense impact through a strong foundation of accomplished service providers and a focused coordination of efforts across regions," said Elise Buik, President & CEO, United Way of Greater Los Angeles. "We have housed over 32,000 chronically homeless individuals and veterans since the launch of the Funders Collaborative. The Funders Collaborative has allowed us to explore innovative new investments like coordinated entry, while growing our region's ability to house our most vulnerable neighbors through foundational and increasing investments in housing and services. We know there is still work to be done, and we continue to ask our partners across public and private sectors to stand united in ending homelessness across L.A. County."

The partnerships created by the Funders Collaborative are particularly critical given the potential for tremendous new resources through the Los Angeles City Proposition HHH on the November ballot. Proposition HHH would bring $1.2 billion in resources to create 10,000 units of permanent supportive housing over the next 10 years. The Funders Collaborative has paved the way for broader applications and investments like Proposition HHH by fine-tuning the funding arrangements, creating the platform to effectively fill units, and implementing training to ensure the highest level of services are delivered to residents.

"The Funders Collaborative is a great example of how the public and private sector can partner together to use their collective powers, building awareness and the support needed to end homelessness.  The success seen in Los Angeles has set the stage for similar models across the country," said Peter Lynn, Executive Director, Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority. "The Funders Collaborative has helped set a framework for efficiently allocating funding with greater effectiveness and optimizing resources from multiple sectors for proven results and permanent supportive housing placements."

The Home For Good Funders Collaborative leverages public investments with private resources from foundations and corporations, including the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, Annenberg Foundation, Weingart Foundation, The California Endowment, JP Morgan Chase, Cedars-Sinai, California Community Foundation, Housing Authorities for the City and County of Los Angeles, Los Angeles County Departments of Health Services and Mental Health, and Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority. Thanks to its sponsors, United Way's annual 5K family run/walk called HomeWalk, is able to dedicate all funds raised to this effort.

Home For Good, now in its fifth year of implementation, started as a joint initiative of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce and United Way of Greater Los Angeles, and has grown into a collective and countywide effort of over 200 cross-sector organizations. For more information on Home For Good visit: http://homeforgoodla.org/  

About United Way of Greater Los Angeles
United Way of Greater Los Angeles is a nonprofit organization that creates pathways out of poverty by helping people experiencing homelessness move into permanent housing, providing students with the support they need to graduate high school prepared for college and the workforce, and helping hard-working families become financially stable. United Way identifies the root causes of poverty and works strategically to solve them by building alliances across all sectors, funding targeted programs and advocating for change. For more information, visit www.unitedwayla.org.

SOURCE United Way of Greater Los Angeles

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