01 Dec Historic News! BTWCSC Awarded Bezos Day 1 Families Fund Grant

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Booker T. Washington Community Service Center to Expand Support for San Francisco Families Experiencing Homelessness with $5 Million Grant from Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez Bezos
32 organizations across the U.S. receive a total of $102.5 million from the Bezos Day 1 Families Fund to connect families with housing and hope

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – (December 1, 2025): Booker T. Washington Community Service Center (BTWCSC), one of the Bay Area’s oldest Black-led nonprofit organizations, with over 106 years of service to San Francisco, today announced that Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez Bezos are recognizing the organization with a $5 million grant from the Bezos Day 1 Families Fund. This investment is the largest one-time gift in the nonprofit’s history. BTWCSC is part of the eighth annual cohort of organizations across the country receiving funding from the Day 1 Families Fund to deepen their work to help every family have a safe, stable place to call home.

“This is a game-changer for us,” said Shakirah Simley, executive director of Booker T. Washington Community Service Center. “With our dignified, intergenerational and village-centered approach, the Day 1 Families Fund grant will expand our work to divert families from homelessness, disrupt the taxing and often demoralizing process towards stability, and move families forward into hope and a forever home.”

This moment is critical. The number of homeless families in San Francisco nearly doubled between 2022 and 2024, an estimated 94% increase. Recent reports indicate that poverty in the Bay Area is on a staggering rise, as the social safety net crumbles and wages have not kept up with the cost of living.

Every day, San Francisco families struggle to navigate a city plagued by high rents, deepening wealth inequality, and a fragmented services system. Parents and caregivers work full-time jobs, but live in temporary shelters and hotels, sleep in cars and/or have their kids stay with family members.

Black families bear the brunt of homelessness; though only 5% of San Francisco’s population, they compose 38% of the homeless population, representing decades of redlining, housing discrimination and structural inequities.

BTWCSC will use its Day 1 Families Fund grant to serve even more families experiencing homelessness in San Francisco, with the goal of ensuring no child in our community sleeps outside. Specifically, BTWCSC plans to use this one-time grant over the next five years to invest in a range of direct interventions — from offering emergency assistance to more homeless families, increasing staff capacity to pair housing navigation and holistic mental and behavioral interventions to help families identify and keep safe and affordable housing, and lastly, seeding support for expansion for future refuge for families.

“I was a mother doing my best to raise my three young sons, when our lives took a challenging twist. My landlord suddenly wanted to sell her home. This situation left us homeless for an arduous six months in San Francisco — going from hotel to hotel and full of uncertainty. Booker T. was not only a haven for my sons’ education, but a crucial turning point in our lives. They proved to be an amazing support and an empathetic guide through our struggles; guardian angels who refused to let hard times define our story. Six months later, we were in our own apartment. If it wasn’t for Booker T., I don’t know if I could have made it to see there was a light at the end of the tunnel,” said L. Pierce, a client of BTWCSC.

BTWCSC was identified to receive this grant by a group of national advisors who are leading advocates and bring expertise on homelessness, housing policy and effective approaches and solutions to family homelessness.

Since its inception in 2018, the Day 1 Families Fund has awarded 280 grants totaling more than $850 million to organizations serving families in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Guam. The Day 1 Families Fund grant recipients have tremendous flexibility to use the funds in the ways that are most impactful in their communities, making the grant a game-changer for organizations on the frontlines of the family homelessness crisis. Recipients will use their funds to support families experiencing homelessness to access critical services, regain stable housing and achieve well-being.

This year, the Fund issued a total of $102.5 million in grants to 32 organizations.

The full list of awardees is available at https://bezosdayonefund.org/day1familiesfund.

Case studies of the impact selected grantees have made with their funds are available at https://www.bezosdayonefund.org/case-studies.

About Booker T. Washington Community Services Center:

Booker T. Washington CSC is the oldest Black-led, Black-serving nonprofit in San Francisco, anchored in the Fillmore and Western Addition community for 106 years. The unique 72,000 sq. ft. community center and permanent affordable housing site is a hub for education, childcare, senior services, family stabilization, food justice, recreation, youth development, and community building.

About the Bezos Day 1 Families Fund:

Through the Bezos Day 1 Families Fund, Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez Bezos issue annual leadership awards to organizations doing compassionate, needle-moving work to help families experiencing homelessness. For more information, visit www.BezosDayOneFund.org/Day1FamiliesFund.