Liberty Mutual Foundation seeks to provide security by supporting organizations that deliver immediate, life-saving aid and basic services to men, women and children who are homeless.

Our grants address the capacity of homeless-serving organizations to meet the most basic needs of individuals and families. The Foundation gives priority to programs that deliver emergency shelter, food and medical services to families and individuals.

Every other year, Liberty Mutual Foundation releases a Request for Proposal through our Basic Services Initiative. The aim of the initiative is to boost the capacity of existing basic services networks and safety nets. The initiative follows a two-year funding cycle. The next available cycle is scheduled for Spring 2020.  

Shining a Light on Youth Experiencing Homelessness

Liberty Mutual seeks to be a catalytic leader, pushing collaborative planning and action by our private, public and nonprofit partners. We encourage work, by and on behalf of youth, resulting in organic solutions to significantly diminish, if not eradicate, the number of unaccompanied young people experiencing homelessness in Boston by 2020.

Why a special focus?

Listening to grantees: In 2014, after seven years of making basic services grants, Liberty Mutual began to fund interventions for youth experiencing homelessness when multiple nonprofit partners from all three of our strategic funding areas (Accessibility, Security and Opportunity) reported growing numbers of young people living on their own. The lack of a safe and stable home was a major barrier for teens and it was impeding success in education, employment, and in life. While housing and services existed for homeless adults and families, there was a gap in options that addressed the specific social and emotional needs of unaccompanied adolescents and young adults.

The observations of agency leaders were verified by the Voices of Youth Count Initiative. Research confirmed that as many as one in ten youth and young adults were unstably housed. A sampling  that included Suffolk County as one of 22 locations around the United States found that here-- as many as 56% of the youth experiencing homelessness had either been in foster care and/or the criminal justice system. A disproportionate number of the young people in need of services were Black and Latino and many were LGBTQ. In 2017 and 2018, primarily in Boston, Liberty committed $2,384,000 for 24 local and two national grants that work collaboratively to make certain that homelessness for youth and young adults is brief and episodic. We’re also proud to support efforts in Seattle and Dallas working with nonprofit partners, federal, state and city agencies and other funders on this important issue area.