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Help for homeless veterans – "Soldier On" recieves $400K grant

LEEDS, Mass. (WWLP) – There’s some much needed relief for homeless veterans in Western Massachusetts trying to make their way back into the workforce. One non-profit organization in Leeds is helping our heroes get hired. 

Soldier On’s president John Downing says the homeless veteran population is at risk of being permanently unemployed. Downing told 22News close to 60% of homeless veterans are unemployed and more than a quarter of returning vets have no job.

Soldier On helps homeless veterans in western Massachusetts with housing, health care, and employment. On Monday the Department of Labor awarded a $400,000 grant to Soldier On. Downing says the money comes at a critical time.

Click here to read the rest of this story at WWLP.com.

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BRTA setting up call center to connect vets with rides

PITTSFIELD — The Berkshire Regional Transit Authority has received $2 million in federal funding to invest in an existing transportation system and set up a call center to help military veterans and their families take advantage of transportation opportunities.

BRTA Administrator Gary Shepard said the funds will allow the organization to complete its rural Intelligent Transportation System, which helps schedule and dispatch motor vehicles for veterans’ needs.

The funds also will be used to establish a “One Call/One Click Trans portation Center” that will be located on the first floor of the Joseph Scelsi Intermodal Transportation Center on Columbus Avenue. An art gallery connected to Berkshire Community Col lege currently is located in that space.

Click here to read the rest of this story at BerkshireEagle.com.

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Mass. veteran assistance agencies to receive $1.1 million in grants to combat unemployment, homelessness

Both U.S. Senators and three U.S. Representatives from Massachusetts announced this week that the Bay State will receive $1,113,840 million from the U.S. Department of Labor to help homeless veterans get job training and an overall hand up.

The money comes from a combination of grants and will be split among three organizations that work to assist military veterans in need in Western Massachusetts, the central part of the state and in Boston.

According to the office of U.S. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass, the grant money will help homeless veterans receive occupational training, job search assistance, placement services and follow-up services aimed at helping them reintegrate into society.

Click here to read the rest of this story at MassLive.com.

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Soldier On Receives $400,000 to Continue Veteran Job Training

LEEDS: Soldier On, an organization committed to ending veteran homelessness with programs in Pittsfield and Leeds, has been awarded two third-year grant renewals by the U.S. Department of Labor.

The organization was granted $200,000 for third-year funding of their Homeless Veterans Reintegration Program (HVRP) and $200,000 for third-year funding of their Incarcerated Veterans Transition Program (IVTP), totaling $400,000. These grants, awarded originally in July of 2010, provide funding for job training for homeless veterans or veterans at risk of becoming homeless throughout Hampshire and Berkshire Counties.

The Department of Labor has awarded 90 grants, totaling $20 million, to provide 11,000 veterans with job training. Grantees will provide the veterans with case management, occupational, classroom and on-the-job training, as well as job search and placement assistance, including follow-up services while coordinating their efforts with various local, state and federal social service providers.

“Americans who have served their country should not find themselves without a home,” said Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis. “The grants announced today will help these heroes find good jobs and take us one step closer to the goal of ending veteran homelessness altogether.”

The main focus of the HVRP program is to enable homeless veterans to secure a job and re-enter society as productive citizens. Soldier On, since first receiving this grant, has proven that they can effectively assist veterans in the job search and placement process all while providing them with a continuum of care where they live.

“Solider On has a proven track record of success working with community partners to effectively assist homeless veterans,” said Representative John Olver.  “This funding allows Soldier On to continue to provide veterans in Hampshire and Berkshire counties with quality job training and job-placement assistance that will help them succeed in civilian careers.”

“Education, skill development and job readiness skills are major impediments for homeless veterans to re-enter the employment market,” said Soldier On President /CEO Jack Downing. “These grants help us eliminate those barriers and prepare our veterans for long term employment that is productive and financially rewarding.”

Soldier On is an organization that is dedicated to providing formerly homeless veterans with safe, affordable housing with a continuum of care where they live, including treatment and recovery, food, clothing, case management, and job related services.

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THE DOT FUNDS PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN SOLDIER ON AND BERKSHIRE REGIONAL TRANSIT AUTHORITY

PITTSFIELD: Soldier On, an organization that has been committed to ending veteran homelessness since 1994 with programs in Leeds, Mass., Pittsfield, Mass. and Eastern New York, is partnering with the Berkshire Regional Transit Authority (BRTA) to increase veteran access to public transportation. Congressman John Olver and Senator Scott Brown announced that the BRTA will receive a $2 million grant and partner with Soldier On in the Veterans Transportation and Community Living Initiative (VTCLI).

The grant, awarded from the U.S. Department of Transportation, will go towards leveraging the implementation of a state-of-the-art Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) to also include veteran transportation services and establish a one call-one click call center within the BRTA Intermodal Transportation Center. The grant will be implemented within 12 months.

“This critical federal funding allows the BRTA to enhance its state-of-the-art rural intelligent transportation system,” said BRTA Administrator Gary Shepard. “BRTA is committed to working with community partners like Soldier On and the Red Cross to raise awareness of transportation options and available services for veterans and their families.”

The VTCLI is an innovative, federally coordinated partnership that will make it easier for veterans and their families to learn about and arrange for locally available transportation services. They will have the ability to quickly and conveniently turn to trusted sources for help accessing transportation and other support services.

“This critical transportation funding is yet another way to honor the veterans who have served our country. Connecting our veterans with transportation to meet their daily needs, get to work or visit  a VA Medical Center makes life a little easier and ensures they have access to the benefits they have earned,” said Senator Scott Brown.

With a lack of cars and licenses, veterans face a number of transportation barriers and challenges in Berkshire County. The rural public transportation system has limited frequency and routes and makes it difficult to access jobs and housing. Soldier On has been called upon to respond to these increasing needs. This funding provides the community with an opportunity to expand and integrate other human service transportation needs into a coordinated transportation plan.

“Approximately 4 in 10 veterans live in rural areas with limited access to affordable public transportation. This funding allows BRTA to enhance their services, thereby providing veterans and their families with convenient access to the transportation they need in order to further their education, reach their place of employment, receive medical treatment, and take advantage of a variety of community services,” said Congressman John Olver.

Currently, Soldier On employs resident staff to maintain and operate transportation planning, housing, and service development. Soldier On provides transportation for their veterans to and from their two facilities in Pittsfield, Mass., their facility in Leeds, Mass., school, work, and appointments and services that are not offered where they live. Soldier On and the BRTA currently collaborate on a training/certification program for the drivers who operate Soldier On’s transportation program. This provides a link between Berkshire County, Hampden County, and Albany, NY.

“We thank Congressman John Olver for his support of the BRTA and its effort to expand its service and commitment to veterans in western Massachusetts. The relationship between Soldier On and the BRTA will be a model that will be used around the country that should allow community based veterans to access services from the VA and other designated agencies more easily,” said John F. Downing, President/CEO, Soldier On.

The Veterans Transportation and Community Living Initiative will not only provide veterans all over Western Mass with more efficient and reliable transportation but also provide more formerly homeless veterans with jobs within Soldier On’s transportation department.

Soldier On is an organization that offers veterans a continuum of care that includes immediate and long-term housing, treatment and recovery for addiction, food, and clothing, as well as medical, counseling and job-related services.

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Berkshire Eagle: Soldier On gets grant to aid in N.Y. training

Friday June 22, 2012

PITTSFIELD — Soldier On has received a $300,000 federal grant to provide employment training for veterans in 18 counties of eastern New York.

Two of those counties, Columbia and Rensselaer, border Berkshire County. A nonprofit, Soldier On provides services to homeless veterans at facilities in Pittsfield and Leeds. The veterans in Pittsfield live at the Gordon Mansfield Veterans Community on West Housatonic Street.

Soldier On’s funding targets employment training for 110 homeless veterans who live in the four counties of Western Massachusetts, said President and CEO John F. Downing. The funding goes into effect July 1.

Downing said the grant funding shows that the U.S. Veteran’s Administration and the Department of Labor realize places such as Soldier On need to be proactive to find veterans who can access their services.

“They realize that we have to go out and find these vets,” Downing said. “We can’t wait for them to come to us. The VA serves 25 to 29 percent of the vets because they wait for them to come.

“These grants put us out there in finding the veterans and giving them the services that we can give,” he said.

Soldier On is one of five veterans organizations from across the state that received a total of $1.5 million from the U.S. Department of Labor to provide homeless veterans job training that will help them succeed in civilian careers. Nationally, 64 grants totaling more than $15 million have been awarded to provide 8,600 homeless vets with job training skills.

The funding, awarded through the Homeless Veterans Reintegration Program, will go toward assisting homeless veterans with reintegration into the work force. Under this program, homeless veterans may receive occupational, classroom and on-the-job training as well as job search and placement assistance, including follow-up services.

Those receiving grants coordinate their efforts with various local, state and federal social service providers to ensure the employment of veterans who are homeless.

“It’s a life-saver for vets who have been struggling in the transition back into civilian life,” said U.S. Sen. John F. Kerry, D-Mass.

For Soldier On, the funding continues a program that began in November, when the nonprofit received a $1 million grant from a program associated with the Department of Veterans Affairs to help at-risk veterans and their families avoid falling into homelessness in those same 18 counties.

So far, that program has housed 154 previously homeless veterans and has served a total of 484 veterans, spouses and children.To reach Tony Dobrowolski:

tdobrowolski@berkshireeagle.com,
or (413) 496-6224.
On Twitter: @tonydobrow

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Soldier On Press Release Regarding DOL Grant Award:

Soldier On, the organization that serves homeless veterans with programs in Leeds and Pittsfield, Mass., and Eastern New York, has been awarded a $300,000 grant to provide veterans with employment training.

The grant, from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Homeless Veterans Reintegration Program (HVRP) is among 64 grants totaling more than $15 million that are aimed at providing approximately 8,600 homeless veterans nationwide with job training to help them succeed in civilian careers. The Soldier On grant targets employment training for 110 homeless veterans. The grants were announced June 19 by Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis, and go into effect July 1.

“Today, the Department of Labor is taking an important step to help homeless veterans reintegrate into the American labor force,” said Secretary Solis.

Under the HVRP grants, homeless veterans may receive occupational, classroom and on-the-job training, as well as job search and placement assistance, including follow-up services. HVRP is recognized as an efficient and effective program, and is the only federal program that focuses exclusively on ensuring the employment of veterans who are homeless.

Grantees of this program coordinate their efforts with various local, state and federal social service providers to maximize the assistance available for homeless veterans.

The $300,000 grant to Soldier On will be used to place homeless veterans into employment and training programs in 18 counties in Eastern New York.  This will continue a program that began in November when Soldier On was awarded a $1 million Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF) grant from the Department of Veterans Affairs to help at-risk veterans and their families avoid falling into homelessness in the 18 New York counties. To date, this program has prevented 165 veterans from becoming homeless, has housed 154 previously homeless veterans and has served a total of 484 veterans, spouses and children.

The 18 counties include Albany, Clinton, Columbia, Delaware, Essex, Franklin, Fulton, Greene, Hamilton, Montgomery, Otsego, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Schenectady, Schoharie, Ulster, Warren and Washington.

John F. Downing, President and CEO of Soldier On, praised federal and local officials for their efforts to help secure the grant.

“Massachusetts Congressmen Richard Neal and John Olver, New York Congressmen Paul Tonko and Chris Gibson and Albany County Executive Dan McCoy once again showed their commitment to serving veterans by not only supporting us in applying for this grant, but by making the commitment to actualize these grants in the lives of the veterans we mutually serve,” Downing said.

Soldier On provides safe affordable housing to homeless veterans, including permanent limited-equity ownership units at the Gordon Mansfield Veterans Community in Pittsfield. The Mansfield Community serves as a national model as Soldier On actively seeks to extend its veterans programs to communities throughout the United States.

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Jack Downing Responds to Secretary Shinseki Regarding Veteran Suicide

“The model that the veteran needs to find the VA rather than the VA needs to find veterans is at the center of what is wrong with the VA today,” Soldier On President and CEO Jack Downing said today.

His statement comes in response to a remark by U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki  that two out of three veterans who commit suicide are not enrolled in VA care, and thus “we don’t get a shot at helping them.”

“It is impossible to change the outcomes if we aren’t engaging the individuals upon their return from service,” Downing said. “It can’t be the responsibility of the person in need to find us. We must reach out and touch the people in need. The problem is not about money, it’s about reallocating the assets that we already have to help our veterans. The VA needs more passion, will and concern for the individual veterans. We cannot continue letting young people die and say ‘too bad they didn’t come for help.’ It is our duty to seek out the men and women who were willing to die for us.”

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Soldier On Receives Grant for Homeless Veteran Job Training

NORTHAMPTON, Mass. (WGGB) — Six Massachusetts veteran service organizations are benefiting from a $15 million federal grant.
The Baystate will get $1.5 million from the grant designed to help homeless and unemployed veterans. The funding will go toward classroom and on-the-job training.

“This is pretty fundamental. You send people to war, you make damn sure they’re not living on the streets when they come home. This money will help homeless vets and their families find jobs and safe housing,” said Sen. John Kerry.

According to the Department of Veteran Affairs more than 140,000 veterans sleep on the street at least one night each year. Meantime, according to the Department of Labor about 7% of veterans are unemployed.

Soldier On in Northampton is one of the organizations receiving money from the grant. The non-profit works with veterans in Western Massachusetts, Pittsfield and Albany New York areas.

According to Solider On Senior Vice President Michael Hagmaier this grant is just one of several they rely on each year.

“These grants allow us to enhance our services, really work individually with the veteran. It’s really essential, they have little to no income, so they once again can sustain, live in their own apartment or own house going forward,” said Hagmaier.

Soldier On is also looking forward to Congress renewing several similar grants that will help get 155 to 200 veterans jobs this year.

The federal grant was made possible by the Department of Labor and will take effect July 1st.

Click here to view the whole story.

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Three Formerly Homeless Veterans Honored for Completing the Addiction Counselor Education Program

From military service, to homelessness, to home ownership – to helping those who follow in their footsteps.
That is the path chosen by three Soldier On staff members – all formerly homeless veterans – honored during a graduation ceremony June 6, 2012 for completing the Addiction Counselor Education Program offered by Westfield State University’s Division of Graduate and Continuing Education.

All three, Rich Webb, Todd Hankins and Joe Bohannon, plan to use their education from this program to continue serving their fellow veterans at Soldier On facilities in Leeds and Pittsfield, Mass.
The nine-month Westfield program “was brutal, but well worth it,” said Webb, a Coast Guard veteran who has been a member of the Soldier On team since 2007, serving as Intake Coordinator for the past two years. He is also a resident of the Gordon Mansfield Veterans Community in Pittsfield, owning a share in the limited equity cooperative housing that makes him one of the veterans who have completed the transition from homelessness to home ownership.

His Addiction Counselor Education training, Webb said, “will help me a lot in screening residents, recognizing their issues. It also made me look at myself and what I need to do to live a normal life.”
George Hinckley, Vice President of Treatment Services at Soldier On, supervised the practicums for the three recent graduates, as he has for others during the past 15 years. He said that in Webb’s case, the training “was helpful because he’ll be better able to identify drug use and behaviors that go along with it. He will also communicate that information to those making referrals,’’ such treatment facilities and other veteran friendly institutions. “He has knowledge of drug replacement therapies that he didn’t have before, and it’s this type of training that helps create professionalism and to ask the right questions during intake.”
Hankins, a Marine Corps veteran from Springfield, is a General Manager at the Berkshire Veterans Residence in Pittsfield, where he lives. He is among the resident veterans who serve on the committee that governs and sets policies for the Berkshire Veterans Residence.
“I want to help develop new programs for these guys,” said Hankins, who plans to pursue a masters degree in Human Services.
With his background from the Westfield program, “he’ll make more professional and informed decisions when he sits with people as co-General Manager and a member of the committee,” Hinckley said. “He can help direct the questions, and determine what led to certain behaviors.”
Bohannon, a Navy veteran from Connecticut, is a Case Manager at the Soldier On Leeds facility, where he works with veterans who suffer co-occurring mental health and substance abuse issues.
The Westfield education, Hinckley said, will help Bohannon directly in his role as case manager.
“It will help him better understand veterans in the development of treatment plans, service plans and rediscovering their lives,” Hinckley said.
A former FedEx manager and member of the New Haven Board of Education, Bohannon said he came to Soldier On “not for housing; it was a matter of getting my life heading in the right direction. And here, it’s like I’ve found my purpose. I was married for 20 years, with two beautiful daughters, and they used to say how worried they were about me. Now they tell me how proud they are of me.”
“This is the only job I’ve had – and I’ve had some good ones – where I wouldn’t hesitate to do it for free,” Bohannon said.

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