We are very excited to announce that the Melville Charitable Trust has awarded
$86,000 to Journey Home for its operations through June of 2018. In recent
years, the City of Hartford has allocated a similar amount to Journey Home
through its annual budget.
“Journey Home changes lives every day, and I am deeply gratified that thanks to
the Melville Charitable Trust their work will continue,” said Mayor Bronin. “As
the City has had to step back from funding events and programs we value, local
organizations have stepped up again and again. This is another demonstration of
the tremendous commitment and generosity we are fortunate to have in Hartford
and in Connecticut.”
“Journey Home is delighted and grateful to receive this support from the Melville
Charitable Trust. This grant makes it possible for us to continue our focus on
ending homelessness in Greater Hartford in 2017 and 2018. Systems will be
improved, positive changes will be made, and lives will be transformed because of
this award. We are pleased that this grant will fill a gap for this year, but we do
continue to have concerns about sustaining this funding going forward. We
appreciate and understand the tight fiscal constraints that are facing the City of
Hartford and we have greatly appreciated our partnership with the City over the
last several years. We are grateful for the efforts that the City of Hartford and
Mayor Bronin have made to ensure that we are able to secure funding for another
year to keep our vital services intact,” said Matt Morgan, Journey Home’s
Executive Director.
Morgan continued, adding that, “Housing people who have experienced chronic
homelessness is not only the right thing to do, but it is also a wise investment in
our future. Study after study has proven that money spent on supportive housing
– housing where subsidies to pay for rent are combined with flexible, voluntary
support services – decreases the costs that we would otherwise spend to support
them in homeless shelters, hospitals, emergency rooms, jails and prisons.”
The focus of the work of Journey Home for the past 11 years has been finding
creative solutions to ending chronic homelessness. People who have experienced
chronic homelessness have been homeless for long periods of time and are often
the most ill and most likely to struggle through the processes to access housing.
Many have languished in the system for years and most are high utilizers of
incredibly expensive public services. Working with outstanding partners
agencies, the Hartford region has witnessed an almost 50% decrease in chronic
homelessness over the past two years.
The Melville Charitable Trust is the largest foundation in the U.S. exclusively
devoted to ending homelessness. The Trust invests in proven, lasting, and costeffective
solutions that enable people with the least resources and biggest barriers
to success to reclaim their lives. And where solutions have not yet been identified
they support exploration and innovation to find the most promising approaches.
The Trust’s grantmaking dollars are roughly split between efforts to end
homelessness in their home state of Connecticut and in creating a better policy
environment at the national level. Since their founding in 1990, they have
invested over $140 million to end homelessness for good. Learn more at
melvilletrust.org.