Axess Family Services uses $5M award to make lasting local change

A year ago, Axess Family Services received an unexpected $5 million award from the Bezos Day 1 Families Fund, which is backed by multi-billionaire Jeff Bezos and his wife, Lauren Sanchez.

The Day 1 fund provides annual leadership awards to organizations and civic groups working to help families facing homelessness regain safe, stable housing. With such programs in Portage, Summit, Stark, Mahoning, Geauga and Trumbull counties, Mark Frisone’s phone soon started ringing off the hook.

The executive director of Axess Family Services knew he couldn’t approve every project. He also knew he didn’t want to replicate what had happened to other award recipients, who spent the funds until they were gone, only to see programs and projects shutter for lack of continuing local support.

AFS has instead been insisting on community partnerships, reserving the award money to fill gaps local contributions can’t cover.

“We don't want to be the first dollar in with this. We want to be the last dollar,” he said.

On AFS’s project radar is a new $3 million facility for Safer Futures, which was built 26 years ago in Portage County to house about five moms and their children who are victims of intimate partner violence. The new facility will triple the number of people Safer Futures can serve, he said.

The existing facility will be used to house homeless young adults aged 18-24 who aged out of the foster care system. The request came from Portage County Job & Family Services “to help with this burgeoning need,” he said.

What AFS’s financial contribution will be remains in flux as funding sources are still being identified, he said.

AFS also authorized $50,000 for Residential Resources for the Developmentally Delayed, a Portage County all-volunteer non-profit organization that builds housing for that population.

AFS partnered with Trumbull County’s Mental Health & Recovery Board to expand its homeless outreach program in that county. The program has been in existence for a number of years, but needs about $50,000 in gap funding to complement the local contribution.

Frisone’s team is negotiating a similar program in Summit County.

In Stark County, AFS is also helping to fund Honor Home, a transitional housing program for homeless veterans. Once the new project is completed, individual male and female veterans, as well as female veterans and their families, will all be housed on the same campus. It’s a multimillion effort, with the Bezos money filling the gaps, Frisone said.
 
“We’re keeping our promise to the Bezos fund to deal with the homeless population across the region,” he said.

The rest of the money is in the bank, gaining interest as Frisone continues to meet with community members who have building projects on their mind.

Though no plans are underway, he said he’d also like to expand capacity at Miller Community House, a 30-day emergency shelter in Kent that can house up to 30 people at a time.

Since Miller House is landlocked, Frisone said a possible option would be to find a new home for Freedom House, an attached 14-bed transitional housing facility for homeless male veterans. Frisone said he’s put feelers out, but has run up against zoning issues and pushback from people who don’t want a homeless shelter in their neighborhood.
 
The Bezos funds are not being earmarked for emergency warming centers, which Frisone said help a small number of people for a limited amount of time. When AFS receives calls for supplies, food or clothing from the county’s two warming centers (Shepherd’s House and Neighborhood Development Services), he said AFS responds through its established pathways.

“We are actively involved in these efforts more than anybody realizes,” he said.