Grant Helps House of Refuge Support Homeless Teens

Mesa-based House of Refuge, Inc. received a $30,000 grant from the Donald C. Brace Foundation to support the nonprofit’s life-changing work with homeless teens and their families.

Ongoing research shows that the trauma of homelessness and the complex circumstances that lead to it can have a devastating impact on young people’s physical and emotional health, both immediately and later in life. Without timely intervention, this trauma may contribute to a multi-generational cycle, where youth who lack housing stability grow up to experience homelessness again as adults with children of their own.

Since 1996, House of Refuge has worked to provide transitional housing to homeless families with minor children in a neighborhood setting. Located on a 20-acre portion of the former Williams Air Force Base in southeast Mesa, the nonprofit provides case management and wraparound supportive services to help residents overcome homelessness, achieve self-sufficiency and obtain their own permanent housing.

With this gift from the Donald C. Brace Foundation — a private family-based philanthropic foundation created in 1988 by Donna Brace Ogilvie in honor of her father, Donald C. Brace, publisher and founder of Harcourt, Brace & Co. — House of Refuge is pleased to announce the creation of a new Youth Engagement Program specifically designed to connect teens to community resources to support mental health, substance abuse prevention, and healthy habits and life choices. The program will also promote the development of positive relationships, the avoidance of violence or abuse, and education and career exploration to give homeless youth a fighting chance at a successful future.

For more behind this Frontdoor, visit houseofrefuge.org