Strong neighborhoods provide an opportunity for social connection and economic mobility that reaches all individuals and families. The Foundation prioritizes planning and development solutions that are community-informed or driven and responsive to needs and aspirations that reflect everyone in the community, especially those whose voices have historically not been heard. We combine grantmaking, capacity building, and early-stage planning and design investment with real-time understanding of regional housing conditions. We support both organizations addressing urgent housing needs as well as those focused on improving systems and policies that shape housing access, affordability, and quality over time.
While the pace of growth in home prices and rents has slowed nationally, housing costs remain high. Record numbers of renters are severely cost-burdened, spending a disproportionate percentage of their income on housing and making difficult decisions about budgeting for housing, food, and health needs. When housing consumes such a large portion of income, households have little capacity to absorb unexpected expenses, increasing the likelihood that they will have missed payments and deferred maintenance or face eviction. The shortage of affordable housing is a central structural driver of instability. According to the 2025 Connecticut Fair Share Housing Study, low-income residents face a shortfall of approximately 120,000 housing units statewide, and the overall housing gap may be as large as 380,000 units. At the current pace of production, closing this gap could take decades.
Examples of 2025 grants:
The
Hartford Neighborhood Development Support Collaborative (HNDSC), administered by
LISC Connecticut (LISC), is a place-based initiative created to strengthen the capacity of community development corporations (CDCs) and advance equitable revitalization in Hartford’s historically disinvested neighborhoods. The HNDSC has provided more than $14M in general operating support to ten CDCs to support housing opportunities to more than 2,500 Hartford residents each year. In 2025, the Foundation and LISC conducted a comprehensive evaluation to assess strengths and challenges of the Collaborative over the past three decades, providing recommendations to strengthen the HNDSC’s structure, processes, and intended community outcomes.
In 2025, the Foundation awarded a three-year core support grant to the
Partnership for Strong Communities to support its ongoing efforts to create lasting change in housing policy to expand access to quality, affordable housing. The Partnership coordinates advocacy with community partners, producing research and tools, and uniting people and partners around solutions.
The Foundation provided a two-year core support grant to
Open Communities Alliance (OCA) to ensure that Greater Hartford’s housing structures and resources (including vouchers, housing authorities, municipal zoning, and state/federal investments) effectively provide every family the opportunity to live in a thriving neighborhood of their choice. OCA assists people receiving rental subsidies, mounts legal challenges to inequitable zoning policies, conducts research, and builds coalitions to educate the public and policymakers about the need for equitable zoning.
We supported Year 2 of the Connecticut Council of Philanthropy’s Housing Affinity Group’s statewide Suburban and Rural Housing initiative, building on 2024 funded efforts and learning by the Center for Housing Opportunity, All In Alliances, and CT For All to provide backbone support for disparate local resident groups organizing around housing issues. Through technical assistance, convening, and coordinated infrastructure, this work aims to build a stronger base of suburban and rural housing advocates and more effective statewide policy change. The collaborative funding will advance a regionally focused approach designed to leverage existing place-based infrastructure statewide, building local resident group support and informing a statewide steering committee that can develop advocacy strategies and statewide messaging around housing needs.
