The number of local people experiencing homelessness has increased significantly in the last several years, with a 50 percent increase between 2017 to 2020 and an additional 11 percent jump from 2019 to 2020.

The Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance’s (MDHA) mission is to make the experience of homelessness rare, brief, and nonrecurring. To accomplish this, they’re leading the charge on a new $72 million historic public-private homeless “rapid rehousing” strategy, the Dallas R.E.A.L. Time Rapid Rehousing initiative, which will house more than 2,700 people and families experiencing homelessness over the next two years. This would result in 50% fewer people experiencing homelessness, many of whom are situationally homeless due to an unexpected life event, job loss, or domestic violence.

$10 million was raised for the initiative from 20 private and corporate funders, including $2 million lead grants from CFT’s W. W. Caruth, Jr. Fund, Bank of America, and Margot Perot and the Perot Family. More than $1 million was contributed from the Collaborative on Homelessness, a group of more than 100 local foundations, nonprofits, and community-focused and governmental organizations, with significant leadership and support from the Meadows Foundation. These dollars will be used to fund move-in kits with beds, linens, and dishes for those being housed, landlord incentives, and necessary administrative and capacity-building expenses for partner agencies to manage the volume of clients they will be serving.

CFT seeks to fund initiatives that are fueled by collaboration and collective impact. “We know that we are all more effective when we work together. This initiative is the definition of collective impact, with multiple governments, agencies, and funding sources coming together to work as a team to tackle homelessness. By connecting people with a home, they can then address other challenges that may have led to their homelessness,” said Dave Scullin, president and CEO.

The rest of the $72 million initiative is being funded through federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) dollars allocated by local governments and the Dallas Housing Authority – Housing Solutions for North Texas. The city of Dallas and Dallas County each committed $25 million in federal stimulus dollars, and more than 750 housing vouchers will be distributed by Dallas County, the Dallas Housing Authority, Mesquite, and Grand Prairie.

“We knew we had a big mountain to climb to raise the dollars needed in time to launch the initiative in fall 2021, and the Dallas community came together in spectacular fashion to support this once-in-a-generation opportunity that will have the potential to create lasting systemic change,” said Peter Brodsky, board chair of MDHA. “Every client will be provided really intensive wraparound services to address whatever barriers they are facing.”

“This collaborative effort is about pulling together our resources to serve our unhoused population in a way that is responsible, equitable, accountable, and legitimate. So many partners have come together to answer the call, showing compassion for our neighbors in need,” said Joli Angel Robison, MDHA CEO. “The real celebration will occur when there are 2,700 fewer people living without a roof over their heads. This is an unprecedented opportunity for us to truly make the experience of homelessness rare, brief, and nonrecurring.”

Anurag and Gunjan Jain are leaders in many community initiatives, one of the most recent being Get Shift Done. One of their shared passions is taking care of people who are hungry, and they’ve been supporting the North Texas Food Bank in a variety of ways for more than a decade. Anurag is a former board chair, and Gunjan has served on capital campaign committees and helped create a “Kids Against Hunger” campaign. Currently, Gunjan serves on CFT’s board of trustees and has been involved with the Global Fund for Children for many years, both locally and globally.

“Alleviating hunger is important to us. It’s not okay that people remain hungry in our society. We believe it is a matter of a distribution problem that can be solved for,” said Anurag. “We care deeply about our neighbors in need, especially the children,” added Gunjan.

“With Get Shift Done, we were looking for the right partner that could move and scale quickly. CFT helped us launch the initiative overnight,” said Anurag. He credits the experience working together on Get Shift Done as the catalyst for creating the Jain Foundation Fund in 2020, their donor-advised fund at CFT.

In addition to making grants from their fund at CFT to local organizations, they support international causes, with a focus in India. “CFT is a great partner in our international grantmaking, helping provide capacity in vetting organizations that are doing good work,” said Anurag. “We want to support organizations across the world. We have 17,000 employees in India, and many family members there. Everyone we know has been deeply impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in India. Hunger needs have spiked significantly, and we knew we had to lean in during the crisis with increased giving. Our relationship with CFT goes a long way in achieving that. It’s what CFT brings to the table, not just for our community here in Dallas, but also internationally, in terms of advice and relationships that come out of that.”

Beyond supporting local and international hunger relief efforts, the Jains have helped fund the purchasing of life-saving equipment, including concentrators and ventilators, during the pandemic.

The Jains live by the tenet that most of what we have in life is meant for others, and they are looking forward to further leading by example and involving their two daughters in their philanthropy. “Our families were giving and taught us to give, and our children are growing up seeing and hearing us talk about giving,” said Gunjan.

CFT’s North Texas Giving Day–the largest community-uniting, generosity-raising giving event in the nation – is a time for celebration, joy, and GIVING! Each September, thousands of nonprofits (this year, more than 3,300!) are supported by the givers in the North Texas region–and friends from around the world–who prioritize lifting the life-changing work done by incredible North Texas organizations every single day. This year, NTX Giving Day marked its 13th annual celebration and broke another record, raising $66 million by way of more than 100,000 donors!

North Texas Giving Day is made possible by generous organizations, individuals, and supporters, including The Ramesh and Kalpana Bhatia Family Foundation, a private family foundation established by Ramesh and Kalpana Bhatia in 2006. Based in Bedford, Texas, the Foundation is dedicated to making an impactful change around the world by funding innovative solutions and programs that enrich communities and serve the common good. After being introduced to NTX Giving Day in 2020, the Bhatias felt that supporting the event was in direct alignment with their mission. The foundation's grantmaking focuses on local, national, and international organizations that support medical and healthcare research, education, mental health, intellectual and physical diversities, human rights and social justice, women and girls empowerment, and emergency responses.

On NTX Giving Day, the Bhatia family experienced the day live and in color, when their family and foundation staff came to visit and spread a little love and joy to organizations across the metroplex. Because of their support, for the first time ever, NTX Giving Day featured and awarded dedicated prizes to nonprofits working in the cause areas of intellectual, developmental, and physical disabilities and mental and behavioral health.

The family and team made site visits to nonprofits, participated in virtual prize announcements, and learned about the transformational work happening right here in the region they call home. While on a site visit to Ranch Hands Rescue-Bob’s House of Hope, a safe house for young men who have endured sex trafficking, the family was so inspired and moved that they awarded the organization another $5,000 grant and sponsored a Thanksgiving celebration for clients and staff.

The Bhatia family and their foundation are prime examples of how a family’s commitment to generosity can build connections and create moments that leave a lasting impact on real people’s lives, one gift at a time. Their generosity translated to showing up, listening, and sharing. They modeled their mission, and that mission was certainly felt on Giving Day and in the days that followed.

CFT’s first six-figure gift came from an African American woman named Pearl C. Anderson. Pearl grew up in rural Louisiana during the days of racial segregation and was prohibited from going to school until the age of 12, when a school for Black children was finally built a few miles from her home.

Pearl had the opportunity to get an education through the generosity of philanthropist Julius Rosenwald, who built more than 5,000 schools across the South for Black children in the early 1900s. Every day, Pearl would walk by a plaque that credited the Rosenwald Fund, a foundation, with establishing her school. Pearl vowed to “pay it forward” when she had the opportunity, and she established the Pearl C. Anderson Fund at CFT in 1955, which continues to make grants in her name to this day.

Her story resonates deeply because it points to our shared human experience; we can be both the one in need of help and the one in a position to help. To advance community equity and honor our history and our first six-figure gift, we’re proud to announce the launch of the #IAMPEARL Fund at CFT.

The #IAMPEARL Fund is an employee-sponsored fund that will help direct charitable dollars to advance equity in the Black community in the focus areas of education, food security, business development, and financial literacy. We hope you will consider helping support this effort, which has an initial fundraising goal of $325,000, the value of Pearl’s initial gift.

Learn more about Pearl’s legacy and donate