$425K Bezos Grant To Benefit Manahawkin-Based Family Promise

STAFFORD, NJ — A $425,000 grant from the founder and CEO of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, is set to benefit a local charity fighting family homelessness.

Manahawkin-based Family Promise of the Jersey Shore recently announced that they are the recipients of the grant from Bezos and Lauren Sánchez through the Bezos Day 1 Families Fund. This is the seventh year that the Day 1 Families Fund has awarded grants to organizations across the country that are leading the way to move the needle on family homelessness with the goal of ensuring that no child sleeps outside.

“We are incredibly grateful for this opportunity to continue serving families at the Jersey Shore,” said Elizabeth Golla, executive director of Family Promise of the Jersey Shore. “The Day 1 Families Fund will directly impact the families we serve by providing the needed resources and basic necessities and creating a path toward self-sufficiency.”

Family homelessness in the U.S. rose dramatically from 2022 to 2023, and families now represent more than 28 percent of the country’s homeless population, according to a 2024 report from the National Alliance to End Homelessness. With its one-time Day 1 Families Fund grant, Family Promise of the Jersey Shore will work to reverse this national trend by serving families experiencing homelessness in the Jersey Shore, the nonprofit said in a news release.

Specifically, Family Promise will use the money to conduct mobile outreach, facilitate transportation for families to critical services and provide rapid rehousing financial assistance to help families secure stable housing.

A group of national advisors who are leading experts on family homelessness and its solutions, including the intersection of homelessness and housing policy, child welfare, racial equity and service provision, identified the organizations selected for funding.

“This will increase opportunities for local families that feel there is no hope,” said Tammy Staub, director of operations at Family Promise of the Jersey Shore. “This grant will provide a light in the community for families to get access to resources that they couldn’t get otherwise.”

Since 2018, the Day 1 Families Fund has awarded 248 grants totaling nearly $750 million to organizations serving families in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. The grants are uniquely flexible and enable organizations to support families experiencing homelessness—including those who are unsheltered or staying in shelters—to regain safe, stable housing and achieve well-being.

This year, the Fund issued a total of $110.5 million in grants to 40 organizations, and for the first time, nonprofits in Kansas and New Jersey are among the awardees. The other organizations receiving grants in New Jersey are: Family Promise of Essex County, Family Promise of Morris County and Monarch Housing Associates. The full list of awardees is available at bezosdayonefund.org/day1familiesfund.