The local nonprofit Ending Community Homelessness Coalition has selected three organizations to split a $2 million grant in a new partnership meant to help more unsheltered people of color in Austin. Two of the nonprofit organizations, Sunrise Homeless Navigation Center and We Can Now, are based in Austin and already work with people experiencing homelessness here. A third organization, Urban Alchemy, is based in California and is hiring staffers for Austin.

St. David’s donates millions to help Austin nonprofit improve outreach.

One day five years ago, they showed up. Mark Hilbelink, the pastor at the small Sunrise Community Church near Ben White Boulevard and Menchaca Road, noticed that among his flock that Sunday were worshipers who he knew were experiencing homelessness.

Jane Angelo woke up Thursday morning and felt a tinge of despair. She lives alone out of her car, a decision she chose but one with reminders of solitude on days like Thanksgiving and during times like the coronavirus pandemic. A regular visitor to the Sunrise Community Church on Menchaca Road in South Austin, Angelo knew this year’s Thanksgiving meal offered by the church for people experiencing homelessness would be different.