SNF extends a new grant to PRAKSIS, in support of the Social Housing Program

The grant ensures support for the project for the next two years and is part of the Foundation’s Initiative Against the Greek Crisis.  

The SNF’s new grant was announced in the US at the annual event of the Washington OXI Day Foundation, during which PRAKSIS was honored with the Second Annual Stavros Niarchos Foundation Philotimo Award, for their outstanding contribution to the field of social welfare  and their commitment to serve the underprivileged populations of Greece.

For the last four years, the purpose of the Social Housing program, which is designed and implemented by PRAKSIS, under the initiative of and through a main grant by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, has been the prevention of homelessness and the provision of substantial support to families living in conditions of poverty or financial uncertainty, due to the continuing economic crisis in Greece. From 2012 until today, the program has provided support for more than 2,500 families. They have been offered economic, food, medical and psychosocial assistance, covering their basic household needs and, therefore, helping families maintain their financial and residential independence. The program also includes support from social workers, employment specialists and financial literacy experts, who work with each family with a targeted and goal-based strategy, empowering them to escape poverty in a sustainable way. 

Most of the families which have participated in the program from 2012 to date, have already secured employment and have reduced or even wiped out their debts, while the risk of homelessness has decreased or completely disappeared for all participating families. 

The Foundation’s new grant is expected to further strengthen the program as, over the next two years, it will provide support to an additional 2,000 unemployed families, in Attica and Thessaloniki. 

Andreas Dracopoulos, Co-President of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, stated: “The new grant in support of the Social Housing Program aims to protect families whose lives have been severely disrupted by the crisis. Furthermore, this grant comes right after PRAKSIS was honored with the Annual Stavros Niarchos Foundation Philotimo Award, as a way to recognize the organization’s efforts to protect all those who are mostly in need of assistance and a stronger safety net today.”

For more information about the program, please contact PRAKSIS, at [email protected].