Major Galveston institutions the Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation, the Harris and Eliza Kempner Fund, Ippolito Charitable Foundation of Galveston and the Sasser Family Foundation contributed the first $2 million to the fund, according to Build Galveston, a nonprofit offshoot of Vision Galveston.

The goal is to raise about $5 million in contributions, buy island land and build affordable workforce housing, which island officials argue has been desperately needed for years, according to Build Galveston.

“We’ll look back on this day in the future and say this was really a great path we set forth on,” Mayor Craig Brown said at the announcement on Thursday.

Lauren Scott, executive director of the Harris and Eliza Kempner Fund and a past president of Vision Galveston, talks during a Build Galveston at MarMo Plaza in Galveston.

More than 60 percent of those who work in Galveston commute across the causeway each day, according to Vision Galveston.

Many of those people do so because the cost of living in Galveston is just too high, said Tyler Robert, executive director of Build Galveston, said.

Once the fund has amassed the $5 million, officials will start looking for land to buy on the island, Robert said.

Robert said those homes could take many forms, including single-family home construction or homes renovated into multi-family spaces.

Build Galveston created the fund to support teachers, first responders, city workers and other middle-income workers who make the city run but who can’t typically afford to live on the island.

Build Galveston officials are focused on household incomes between about $52,000 and $78,000 a year.