MONROE, La. (KTVE/KARD) –The Wellspring has been selected as a recipient of the 2022 ‘Bezos Day 1 Families Fund Award’ to help end homelessness for families in Northeast Louisiana.
The big investment comes to our area to provide stability for families in the community
Wellspring CEO, Caroline Cascio, says their goal is to address the enormous amount of need for sheltering families experiencing homelessness as well as the need for mental health support.
“So, what we are looking to do is really to step back and take some time to really assess strategically how we can best use these resources in order to create the infrastructure that could support families experiencing homelessness for the long term.”
The $1.25 million grant will be invested in analyzing and researching ways to extend resources to help end homelessness in Monroe and Northeast Louisiana.
Cascio says the goal is to come up with a strategy that could make a great impact.
“Not only put a bandaid on a situation but to really help us get to the root of the issues that had led families into homelessness and help to provide the support that they need to move forward self-efficacy.”
Cascio says the pandemic and inflation take part in the increase of homelessness in the community, however, mental health is also one of the main components.
She says Wellspring aims to address this issue and expand those resources.
“Those folks make up the largest percentage of our homelessness population here in Northeast Louisiana. Second, behind that are survivors of domestic violence, so that is another area in which the Wellspring has great expertise and has served this community for decades.”
Cascio says the next step is to plan the infrastructure and resource development
“These are private dollars, so our hope is to be able to use this to leverage government dollars that we can bring to our community. Certainly to reach out to partners to those who can really maximize the impact of this award.”
The Wellspring provides a variety of family resources from mental health to domestic violence.
For more information on these services, you can call (318) 807-6200 or visit their website at The Wellspring – Changing our community, one life at a time. (wellspringofnela.org)
