One of only nine organizations chosen across the US the award also includes access to a global learning community and support network
CHICAGO – The Community Builders joins a cohort of 50 community organizations around the world as a Citi Foundation 2024 Global Innovation Challenge recipient working to address homelessness.
Housing instability has created a homelessness crisis within the United States – particularly, in major cities like Chicago. A staggering 51% of Chicago renters are cost-burdened (paying over 30% of income in rent) and 68,000 people experience homelessness. Nearly 65% of those residents live in temporary, often precarious, housing situations, perpetuating a cycle of instability, marginalization and poor health.
This grant support will help scale up TCB’s HOME ROOM 2.0 (HR 2.0) initiative that aims to enhance housing stability and access across the housing continuum. TCB will increase the supply of affordable homes while developing and expanding transformational resident services through our Community Life model. HR 2.0 partners with residents who have lived experience to advance the economic and social mobility of people who have experienced homelessness and low incomes with a three-part approach at an individual, community, and neighborhood level.
The Citi Foundation’s 2024 Global Innovation Challenge provides a collective $25 million in catalytic funding to support community organizations around the world working in novel ways to address homelessness.
“The Community Builders is committed to building and sustaining strong communities where all people can thrive”, said Elizabeth Gonzalez Suarez, vice president of Community Life for The Community Builders. “With TCB’s HOME ROOM 2.0 initiative, TCB will support unhoused Chicago residents to successfully transition into permanent supportive housing. Working with resident leaders and local partners, we will support residents to achieve housing stability, while ensuring they feel connected to other residents in the mixed-income apartment building and with the larger community.”
“We are proud to partner with Citi Foundation to address homelessness in the United States and thrilled to be selected as a Global Innovation Challenge awardee,” said Stephanie Garrett-Stearns, The Community Builders vice president of communications fund development. “TCB’s HOME ROOM 2.0 initiative is a scalable model for addressing homelessness that disproportionately impacts major cities.”
“Since launching the inaugural Global Innovation Challenge in early 2023, we’ve continued to see how community-based solutions are poised to accelerate impact on the ground,” said Brandee McHale, President of the Citi Foundation and Head of Citi Community Investing & Development. “We call this grant support ‘catalytic’ given the multiplier effect it can have on low-income communities. Each organization will not only directly impact the lives of people in crisis today, but also create models that can be replicated in other communities around the world tomorrow.”
“This grant will provide us with the resources to fill in gaps for individuals who have recently experienced homelessness, this begins with resident leaders and TCB Community Life,” explained Cyndi Polk Blocker, Senior Director of Community Life for TCB in the Chicago and Mid-Atlantic regions. “At TCB we go beyond providing residents with four walls. We connect them with wraparound resources to tackle food insecurity, obtain primary healthcare and discover employment opportunities.”
As a grantee, The Community Builders will also have access to a learning community and global network of community organizations working to address this pressing issue. For more information on the Citi Foundation’s Global Innovation Challenge, please visit citifoundation.com/challenge
About The Community Builders
The Community Builders’ mission is to build and sustain strong communities where all people can thrive. Our mission-driven businesses work with partners to develop, finance, and operate residential communities, neighborhood amenities, and opportunity programs for families, seniors, and adults with disabilities. Since 1964, we have advanced housing equity through award-winning affordable and mixed-income communities and our pioneering Community Life model for resident success. Today, our ownership and management portfolio include over 14,000 apartment homes. Anchored by offices in Boston, Chicago, Columbus, New York, and Washington D.C., we operate across 15 states.
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