Neighborhood House Receives $125,000 Operating Grant from Bill and Melinda Gates

SEATTLE -- Neighborhood House today announced a five-year gift of $125,000 from Bill and Melinda Gates to support essential services to Seattle/King County public housing residents.

"This represents the largest grant for general operating support we have ever received from a local foundation," said Mary Moore, Neighborhood House's Acting Executive Director. "It gives us the flexibility to target our resources where they can have the most impact."

The gift will support initiatives throughout Neighborhood House – from helping to purchase new paratransit vans for the Transportation Program, to installing brand new playground equipment for the NewHolly Head Start program, to funding after-school tutoring sites in South King County.

Neighborhood House is a United Way member agency serving thousands of low-income public housing residents throughout Seattle and King County. Neighborhood House provides critical services such as Head Start, childcare, case management, youth tutoring, transportation, and community organizing. Neighborhood House also publishes The Voice, a 16-page monthly newspaper for public housing residents, and coordinates the Seattle school-based Health and Nutrition Education Project. The agency's multilingual staff works with immigrant and refugee families from all over the globe, including East Africa, Southeast Asia, and Eastern Europe.

"This type of support makes the job of our Board of Trustees much easier," said Cathy Cooper, Neighborhood House's Board President. "As volunteer trustees, we're just so grateful for the confidence that the Gates Foundation has shown in the work of our agency.