Ballmer Group Awards $1.23 Million Grant to Tacoma Housing Authority

The grant will be used to fund THA’s 2GEN program focused on supporting families with school-aged youth.

TACOMA, WA – February 1, 2024—Ballmer Group has awarded the Tacoma Housing Authority (THA) a three-year $1,233,000 grant. The funds will be used to expand capacity in THA’s successful 2GEN Family Engagement Program, which emphasizes a multi-generational approach to housing and family engagement, stability, and thriving for THA clients. The goal of the program is to create opportunities for families of elementary, middle, and high school students to learn about and practice Social Emotional Learning (SEL) together.

“We are excited to receive this grant from Ballmer Group in support of our 2GEN program,” said Tacoma Housing Authority Executive Director April Black. “2GEN is one of our most critical and successful programs in engaging THA families beyond housing, supporting their social, emotional, educational, and career development growth.” The 2Gen program focuses on whole family engagement and support, and this funding will help us bring on 50% more partners to a total of 18 partner organizations, to provide programming and support on-site and will allow for double the number of families served and goal plans completed. Ultimately, the program will serve no less than 110 families annually, including all members of the household, by the end of 2025.

Grant funding will support 2GEN staffing, professional development, and contracted partnership costs for expanded learning opportunities and mental and emotional well-being. THA’s Client Support & Empowerment (CSE) department, the department that created and oversees the 2GEN program, seeks to use these funds to expand access to our 2Gen program across our THA portfolio, including the Salishan neighborhood. We will continue to expand family-centered coaching practices into a supportive services model that recognizes the natural assets of multi-generational families and the importance of a multi-layered support ecosystem. We will integrate mental and emotional well-being into the model through social-emotional learning, mental health partnerships, and family-driven goal setting.  Professional development dollars will enable CSE to implement The Prosperity Agenda’s Family-Centered Coaching model and help institute a sustainable train-the-trainer model to all 2GEN staff. This funding will also allow CSE to double the number of service contracts with smaller, grassroots organizations providing culturally relevant programming.