Cooper Housing Institute Awards $50,000 Grant to Family Assistance Ministries - PRNewswire

IRVINE, Calif., July 6, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The Cooper Housing Institute, a nonprofit organization that aims to fund effective awareness and education programs related to housing challenges in the United States, announced today that the institute has awarded Family Assistance Ministries a $50,000 grant. The purpose of the grant is to aid in the prevention of homelessness in Orange County, California, particularly in response to the projected economic impact of the current COVID-19 pandemic on the local community.

"The COVID-19 pandemic has created undue stress on individuals and families everywhere, and in particular to those who are already fighting to keep a roof over their heads and call an affordable place home," said Cooper Housing Institute Co-Founder Will Cooper Jr. "The Cooper Housing Institute believes that every person should have access to quality, safe and affordable housing, and that decent living standards increase the quality of life of each person and our community as a whole," said Cooper Housing Institute Co-Founder Will Cooper Jr.

Co-Founder Will Cooper Sr. added, "The purpose of this grant is to assist Family Assistance Ministries in their efforts to help those most at-risk of losing their home as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic. Family Assistance Ministries has a well-earned reputation as one of Orange County's best run and most effective non-profits and we couldn't be happier to provide this grant to assist them with their honorable mission."

Based in San Clemente, California, Family Assistance Ministries is a faith-based charitable non-profit organization assisting those in need in Orange County with resources for food, shelter, and personalized supportive counsel and aid, helping clients bridge the gap from dependency to self-sufficiency. FAM has a full housing continuum to help people avoid eviction with rental assistance as well as help homeless people to get off of the streets. With more than 1,300 volunteers and 33,200 hours worked in 2019, FAM provided nearly 7,300 hours of case management, distributed 2.7 million pounds of food and provided 2.3 million meals to hungry people. FAM also made 1,100 deliveries of food to support homeless college students at Saddleback College.

"FAM is honored to receive the support of The Cooper Housing Institute," said Elizabeth Andrade of Family Assistance Ministries. "Our community is in need of immediate solutions that will help them preserve a safe place to live as they work towards financial stability. We are confident that this investment will make a long lasting impact in the lives of adults and children who are most vulnerable to losing their housing."

The grant to Family Assistance Ministries is the first of a series of grants that the Cooper Housing Institute will be making to community-based organizations in Orange County to address housing crises created by the COVID-19 pandemic.

About Cooper Housing Institute
The Cooper Housing Institute is a private 501(c)(3) foundation founded in 2018 by the Cooper family, whose commitment to affordable housing spans 50 years. The foundation strives to make housing a priority in the United States by supporting research and programs that address housing affordability and homelessness. The organization supports research that focuses on the root causes of the shortage affordable housing and chronic homelessness across the nation, and aims to focus on objective, fact-driven research that brings often divergent groups together to embrace common sense solutions. The Cooper Housing Institute was formed by Will N. Cooper Sr. and Will N. Cooper Jr., leaders of Irvine, California-based WNC, a leading provider of investment, asset management and development services in the affordable housing industry. To learn more, visit https://cooperhousinginstitute.org/.

SOURCE Cooper Housing Institute