PO Box 1001 Abilene, TX 79601 Phone: 325-676-3883 https://cfabilene.org/

Primary Contact

Michelle Parrish
Grants Director
mparrish@cfabilene.org

Organization Type

Community Foundation

Mission

Our goal is to make our community a better place to live by partnering with compassionate people like you. We bring donors’ philanthropic vision to life by building endowments that enrich the quality of life in Abilene and the surrounding areas.

		1800 North Lamar Street Dallas, TX 75202 Phone: 214-978-0000 https://unitedwaydallas.org/

Primary Contact

Amanda Brundage
Senior Vice President, Community Impact 
abrundage@unitedwaydallas.org

Organization Type

United Way

Mission

United Way of Metropolitan Dallas treats 360 degrees of need. We tackle complex social problems by surrounding North Texas with programs that make real progress in the areas of Education, Income, and Health—the essential components of a thriving community.

With support from Funders Together Houston, The Frees Foundation, and The Simmons Foundation, the Houston Police Department created a Homeless Outreach Team and documented their efforts in a documentary called The Shepherds in Blue.

On March 10, the Los Angeles Homeless Funders Group hosted nearly 50 foundations to talk about the role of funders networks and collaboratives in preventing and ending homelessness.

January 2014

At Funders Together, we make it a goal to share the work of funders across the country so you can learn what's working and adapt these strategies to your own community.  One way we do that is through our Featured Members.  Some are featured because of their innovative grantmaking.  Others are featured because they are making connections and bringing new people into the conversation about ending and preventing homelessness.  Still others are featured because they are challenging the very systems that allow homelessness to persist.  In each case, our Featured Members are an integral part of the solution to homelessness.

The Houston affiliate of Funders Together to End Homelessness organized intentionally as a public-private funders collaborative in order to align efforts, build on each other's strengths, leverage resources and work at a systems level.

The mission of Funders Together Houston is both simple and powerful: build a local network of funders who are committed to reducing homelessness through strategic collaboration and grantmaking.  In practice, this means that funders are learning with each other, promoting best-practice models in Greater Houston, and advocating for more effective policies.

Since its launch in September 2011, Funders Together has conducted educational site visits around the Houston area and formed two work groups: Advocacy and the Public-Private Funders Collaborative.  After spending some time pooling resources, Funders Together Houston is beginning to fund pilot projects to build awareness about what works among community stakeholders and provide accessible housing with appropriate wrap-around services.  And Funders Together Houston members are working together to rethink the system that allowed chronic homelessness to exist in the Houston area at all.

Funders Together Houston At-A-Glance:
 

		including private foundations, corporations, faith-based groups, a United Way, and government agencies
		who are committed to working together to end and prevent homelessness

Funders Together Houston Strategic Partners:

• One Voice Texas
• Greater Houston Community Foundation
• Coalition for the Homeless of Houston/Harris County
• Corporation for Supportive Housing

In 2013, Funders Together Houston ...

• Formed a steering committee to provide governance to the collaborative;
• Hosted five community events covering topics like how the faith community can help to end chronic homelessness and developing and financing permanent supportive housing to end homelessness;
• Conducted six site visits at area mental health units, transitional housing units for homeless youth and young adults, permanent supportive housing units, and more;
• Launched (through the Greater Houston Community Foundation) the Community Impact Fund to End Homelessness; and
• Funded the Houston Police Department's Homeless Outreach Team Video, highlighting a community policing initiative as an alternative to incarceration.

To learn more about Funders Together Houston, read through their bulletin archive here, read their one-year anniversary blog here, or contact Nancy Frees Fountain.

In 2011, Funders Together launched the regional affiliate group, Funders Together Houston. The regional affiliate group comprises public-sector, faith-based, and private funders as well as corporate partners. The group also includes an Advocacy Working Group and a Public/Private Partnerships Working Group.

Newsletter Archive

Vol. 2, Issue 3 - August 2013

Vol. 2, Issue 2 - May 2013

Vol. 2, Issue 1 - February 2013

Vol. 1, Issue 1 - September 2012

Convening Organizations

• The Andrews Foundation
• Bank of America
• The Baxter Trust
• City of Houston Housing and Development Department
• Enrico and Sandra di Portanova Charitable Foundation
• Episcopal Health Charities
• The Frees Foundation
• Greater Houston Community Foundation
• Harris County Community Services Department
• Harris County Housing Authority
• Healthcare & Nursing Education Foundation
• Heartspring Methodist Foundation
• Harry S. and Isabel C. Cameron Foundation
• Houston Endowment
• Houston Housing Authority
• Lewis and Joan Lowenstein Foundation
• The Powell Foundation
• Robert & Janice McNair Foundation
• Rockwell Fund
• The Simmons Foundation
• St. Martin's Episcopal Church
• United Way of Greater Houston

Partners

• One Voice Texas
• Corporation for Supportive Housing