What is Funders Together to End Homelessness and why is it important?

 

What is Funders Together to End Homelessness and why is it important?

Funders Together to End Homelessness (FTEH) is a national nonprofit  with a mission to “harness philanthropy’s expanding potential for impact and change to help end homelessness in America.”

Since 2004, the organization has created a network of grantmakers  across America, uniting some of the nation’s brightest, most driven minds in an effort to solve homelessness in our country. Currently, FTEH is the only network of grantmakers of its kind, and the organization recently announced a San Diego chapter, bringing their efforts to our doorstep.

Local funders including United Way of San Diego, Alliance Healthcare Foundation, McCarthy Family Foundation, Brailean Family Trust Equity Partners, La Jolla Coin Shop, San Diego Housing Commission, and The Parker Foundation pooled and aligned their work with FTEH’s goals to help solve homelessness locally.

For FTEH – San  Diego, there is some history and past work to lean on. Since FTEH is a national organization, we can look at counterparts in other areas of the country and apply best practices, analyze challenges and pitfalls, evaluate previous successes, etc. We have direction, and we have the right team in place to go out and make a change.

It is my personal hope that FTEH—as a nationwide, diverse, and widespread effort—is able to bring together all of the efforts across the country to implement best practices,, affecting future generations in a positive, helpful manner.

Right now FTEH – San Diego is focusing on systems change for San Diego County so we have a coordinated assessment that uses our limited resources efficiently and effectively for solving homelessness.  While this is a valiant effort, I recently participated in a conversation about homeless youth. We need to continually shine the light on this issue, get young people off the streets, and wrap them with compassion and services that ensure they are not the chronic homeless of the future.

This problem is both similar and different to adult homelessness, so we’re using the FTEH umbrella as a resource to learn from and to apply to our cause.

How can you help end homelessness in San Diego? We’d love to hear from you, and we’d love your support. Leave a comment, and we’ll discuss the matter.

-Nancy Sasaki, Executive Director
Allaince Healthcare Foundation
NSasaki@AllianceHealthcareFoundation.com

 

 

 

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About Alliance Healthcare Foundation

Alliance Healthcare Foundation is a San Diego-based nonprofit which works with nonprofit, government and community agencies to advance health and wellness throughout the San Diego and Imperial Counties. AHF works to serve the most vulnerable – the poor, working poor, children and homeless by providing grants, advocacy and education to support its region.

To learn more about AHF visit:   AHF on Facebook, AHF on Linkedin, AHF on Google+, AHF on Youtube, AHF on Twitter

To learn more about our grantees visit here: AHF’s Grantee Page