Flagstaff Shelter Services has received a $2.5 million grant from a foundation started by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
It marks the largest private gift that the local nonprofit, which serves those experiencing homelessness, has ever received.
The Day 1 Families Fund was founded in 2018 and benefits groups that work to move unsheltered families to permanent housing with services.
Flagstaff Shelter Services’ director Ross Schaefer called the grant a “new chapter” for the organization and says it’ll allow them to significantly scale up their efforts to combat family homelessness.
A bulk of the grant will be used to purchase a hotel and convert it into a long-term housing facility and hire more staff.
The Day 1 Fund has provided 170 grants totaling more than $520 million in the last five years.