San Francisco, CA—September 26, 2024

DignityMoves Selected as a Recipient of $500,000 Grant from the Citi Foundation in 2024 Global Innovation Challenge to Advance Solutions to Homelessness

DignityMoves joins a cohort of 50 community organizations around the world as a Citi Foundation 2024 Global Innovation Challenge recipient working to address homelessness.

DignityMoves works to end unsheltered homelessness by building Interim Supportive Housing (ISH) as a rapid, cost-effective, and scalable solution. The DignityMoves model confronts some of the systemic challenges of homelessness and pairs ISH with critical wrap-around services, enabling individuals to stabilize and transition to permanent housing more quickly. To date, DignityMoves has successfully implemented its model in San Francisco, Santa Barbara, Rohnert Park, Grover Beach, and Alameda, serving over 1,100 individuals.

The Citi Foundation grant will support the expansion of DignityMoves’ interim supportive housing model through the Transforming Communities with Dignity Initiative, which aims to scale the ISH solution across the U.S. Funds will facilitate the development of interim housing communities, dissemination of our “open source” playbook, and community outreach, while catalyzing the movement to end unsheltered homelessness. With this grant, DignityMoves aims to serve 44,000 individuals by 2036.

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. DignityMoves is one of nine in the United States and one of 50 globally to receive this award.

“We are deeply honored to be recognized by the Citi Foundation and to receive this catalytic support,” said Elizabeth Funk, Founder and CEO of DignityMoves. “This grant will empower us to scale our innovative interim housing model nationwide, providing immediate housing and a pathway to stability and long-term recovery to people living on the street. Through radical collaboration and public-private partnerships, we can end this humanitarian crisis and restore not only dignity to those experiencing unsheltered homelessness but dignity community-wide.”

“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 support from Citi Foundation will help continue the work DignityMoves has pioneered — the creation of interim housing units that are safe, dignified, and streamlined to get more people off the street faster,” said San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan. “It’s innovation like this that will help local governments finally end the era of encampments with solutions that scale.”

“What’s important about [a DignityMoves community] is having my own space and stability. That’s why this program works for me. Now I can get on with my life and take care of myself,” said a resident at DignityMoves’ 33 Gough Street community.

As a grantee, DignityMoves 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 DignityMoves
DignityMoves is an innovative nonprofit organization that is reimagining scalable solutions to unsheltered homelessness. In partnership with cities, supportive services agencies, and private stakeholders, DignityMoves rapidly builds cost-effective interim supportive housing communities. Utilizing unused land, relocatable prefabricated units, and emergency building provisions, the organization empowers municipalities to address the homelessness epidemic with appropriate urgency.

DignityMoves is also committed to driving systemic change to build an ecosystem that supports the growth of interim supportive housing as a powerful tool in ending unsheltered homelessness. Learn more at dignitymoves.org.

Contact

Richard Laermer
RLM Public Relations
dignity@rlmpr.com