Recent Investments
Transitional Housing Corporation Helps Create Housing, Economic Stability
"The best way to offer stability is to be much more than just a landlord," said Polly Donaldson, executive director of D.C.'s Transitional Housing Corporation (THC). "We provide the kind of supportive services that can really transform these families' lives, whatever their need. And we couldn't do it without the support of the Freddie Mac Foundation."
THC has used recent Foundation grants to strengthen its transitional housing program and the "Housing First" program, which focuses on rapidly moving families from shelters to permanent housing. "We can focus specifically on each family's most pressing need, whether it's job training or counseling, to help them get back on their feet and headed to a more permanent solution," said Donaldson.
The organization got its start serving 13 homeless families in 1993 at its first transitional housing building. Today, THC offers job and life skills services to more than 175 Washington, D.C. families. And, coming next year, they will complete a new permanent affordable housing development to support an additional 114 families.
Covenant House Helps Young People Become Self-Sufficient
At Covenant House Washington (CHW), the Foundation's investment supports the Young Families and Youth Aging Out of Foster Care programs. These efforts focus on homeless young mothers and their children, and disconnected youth who turn 18 and "age out" of the foster care system – and become homeless.
The nonprofit's case workers provide these vulnerable families and young people with a comprehensive, structured set of supportive services, including educational assistance, job training, and childcare, paired with an appropriate housing program. The program enables them to eventually move to permanent housing with the skills necessary to create a home where their children are safe and can thrive – and where they can become productive and contributing members of the community.
"Every case is different; it can't be a cookie-cutter approach," said Carlette Mack, CHW's director of external affairs. "The Foundation grant helps us create an individualized approach that works for each child, whether our kids walk through the door, or we meet them on the street, and helps them achieve not only stability, but also self-sufficiency."
Other recent Foundation grant recipients include:
- Doorways for Women and Families, which provides transitional housing for families in Arlington County, Va., many of whom are homeless due to domestic violence
- Bright Beginnings, which helps children get a good start in life by offering early childhood education to homeless and vulnerable families
- Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Washington, which supports the educational needs of children in low-income Washington, D.C., neighborhoods through its Growing Smart, Getting Smart program
- The National Center for Children and Families, which supports academic and community programs at J.C. Nalle Community School, one of the Foundation's signature programs
- Higher Achievement, which helps middle school students in underserved Washington, D.C., and Alexandria, Va., neighborhoods, through Achievement Centers that provide rigorous academic enrichment to help fifth- and sixth-graders attend a college-preparatory high school
As one of the top corporate philanthropists in the Washington, D.C., region, the Foundation helps make home a place where children and families thrive. Sustained by its endowment, the Foundation invests in programs to create stable homes and families, find adoptive homes for foster children, and help youth improve academic achievement and achieve career success.