Cocoon House Receives $750,000 Grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to Expand Programs for Homeless Teens

EVERETT, Wash. -- The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has awarded a $750,000 grant to Cocoon House’s Building Dreams Capital Campaign in support of the agency’s expanding efforts to end youth homelessness. It is the largest gift to the $3.6 million project to date. 

In 2001, Cocoon House turned away approximately 100 teens from its emergency shelter due to lack of space. The Building Dreams Capital Campaign is a proactive measure to address the rise in Snohomish County’s teen homelessness and the overwhelming problems that homeless youth and their families face. 

“We are truly grateful for such incredible generosity,” said Lee Trevithick, executive director of Cocoon House. “We are fortunate the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has made ending homelessness a top priority in their local giving. This support represents a strong vote of confidence not only in Cocoon House but also in the potential of the young people we serve.”

The campaign’s goals include adding two emergency shelters for teens (one in north and the other in east Snohomish County), renovating existing facilities, expanding prevention and advocacy programs, enhancing technological systems to increase efficiency and provide learning opportunities for Cocoon youth and strengthening the agency’s infrastructure – which includes increasing the endowment fund by $1 million. 

Lyle Ryan, the Capital Campaign general chair added, “We are truly excited to have support from a foundation that is a leader not just in the Puget Sound region but throughout the world. This gift will allow Cocoon House to expand and enhance vital services and programs to continue meeting the needs of a population that is typically overlooked – high-risk and homeless teens – well into the future.”

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Pacific Northwest program funds nonprofits in Washington and Oregon dedicated to improving the lives of children and families in need.

Since 1991, Cocoon House has been the only nonprofit organization in Snohomish County to focus on the needs of homeless teens under age 18 by providing emergency shelter, transitional housing and other supportive services to runaway, throwaway and disconnected youth. It has recently added a new prevention program, Project SAFE, which offers a unique continuum of services to parents of adolescents in Snohomish County.

For more information on the Cocoon House’s Building Dreams Capital Campaign, please contact the Capital Campaign Office at 425-259-3342.

On the Internet:
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, www.gatesfoundation.org
Cocoon House, www.cocoonhouse.org