Davos, Switzerland — At the World Economic Forum, Community Solutions, a leader in helping communities end homelessness, proudly announced a partnership with Tableau Foundation and The Rockefeller Foundation on the launch of a data acceleration fund to help clear data challenges for communities reducing and ending homelessness.
The $200,000 fund will support communities participating in Built for Zero, a national initiative of more than 80 communities working to measurably end homelessness, beginning with chronic and veteran homelessness.
The fund is the latest development in the partnership between Tableau Foundation and Community Solutions to achieve 75 chronic and veteran functional zero proof points by 2025. In March 2019 Tableau Foundation committed more than $1.3 million in software, services, and financial support, including access to the leading visual analytics software for all communities in Built for Zero.
Now joined by The Rockefeller Foundation, this investment seeks to increase capacity for local data teams and provide access to additional technology platforms and data insights. It will bolster the progress demonstrated by communities using quality real-time, person-specific data to reduce and end homelessness. To date:
- 11 communities have reached functional zero for a population, demonstrating that fewer people are experiencing homelessness than can be routinely housed in a month;
- 44 communities have driven reductions in homelessness; and
- 73 communities know everyone in a population experiencing homelessness by name through real-time, person-specific data.
“We’ve seen first hand how the Built for Zero approach is helping communities across the country put data at the heart of collaboration and better serve the needs of individuals experiencing homelessness,” said Neal Myrick, Global Head of Tableau Foundation. “In that process, though, we’ve seen some that could use some extra support to explore new analytical methods and build new skills to make functional zero a realistic possibility. Teaming up with The Rockefeller Foundation, we’re now able to help those cities so that they can better employ their data to make systems-level decisions, coordinate resources, and track progress.”
“Data has been the catalyst to driving an end chronic and veteran homelessness in communities across the Built for Zero initiative,” said Rosanne Haggerty, President of Community Solutions. “Communities are able to understand the dynamics of homelessness across an entire geography, and use that information to change the way they serve that population, target resources, and test ideas. Helping communities fully harness the power of data will be critical to propelling the movement to end homelessness up and over a tipping point.”
“We know that data science can help communities in Built for Zero deploy their resources in a way that achieves maximum impact for the greatest number of vulnerable people,” said Dr. Rajiv J. Shah, President at The Rockefeller Foundation. “We are committed to working alongside other philanthropic partners like The Tableau Foundation to support the usage of data to build social impact at scale. Built for Zero is a shining example of how analyzing and applying data insights can transform the lives of people in need.”
For more information, please contact:
Maya Acharya
Community Solutions
702-523-1830
macharya@community.solutions
Steve Schwartz
Tableau Foundation
206-410-3003
sschwartz@tableau.com
Nicholas Spence
The Rockefeller Foundation
nspence@rockfound.org
(212) 852-8287
About Community Solutions
Community Solutions is a non-profit organization that works to achieve a lasting end to homelessness that leaves no one behind. We envision a more equitable future where homelessness is never inevitable or a way of life, for anyone. Since 2015, we have led Built for Zero, a movement of more than 80 cities and counties using data to radically change how they work and the impact they can achieve — and proving that it is possible to make homelessness rare and brief. Nearly half of those communities have reduced homelessness in their communities, and 11 of those communities have ended veteran or chronic homelessness. To learn more, please visit www.community.solutions
About Tableau Foundation
The Tableau Foundation is a philanthropic initiative led by the employees of Tableau Software that encourages the use of facts and analytical reasoning to solve the world’s problems. Tableau Foundation grants combine Tableau’s two most valuable resources – its people and its products – with financial support to nonprofits that are using data to reshape communities around the globe. To learn more, please visit www.tableaufoundation.org.
About The Rockefeller Foundation / DSSI
The Rockefeller Foundation advances new frontiers of science, data, policy, and innovation to solve global challenges related to health, food, power, and economic mobility. As a science-driven philanthropy focused on building collaborative relationships with partners and grantees, The Rockefeller Foundation seeks to inspire and foster large-scale human impact that promotes the well-being of humanity throughout the world by identifying and accelerating breakthrough solutions, ideas, and conversations. For more information, sign up for our newsletter at rockefellerfoundation.org and follow us on Twitter @RockefellerFdn.
