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Our Mission |
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The Philadelphia Veterans Multi-Service & Education Center, Inc., was founded in 1980 with a dual grant provided by the U.S. Department of Labor-Veterans Employment and Training Service and the City of Philadelphia. The goal was to address the multiple needs of all veterans experiencing barriers in finding their way around various problems such as unemployment, lack of employment skills, need for training, substance abuse issues, incarceration/ex-offenders, behavior health and medical problems. These barriers were creating significant problems in assisting primarily Vietnam/Vietnam Era Veterans in finding their way back into the mainstream of our society. Over the past 25 years, The Center struggled through various political administrations and their funding allocations. The veterans of the Southeastern Pennsylvania region, as well as those from South Jersey and Delaware, have benefited from the services fought for and provided by the Multi-Service Center. Since that time over 50,000 veterans of all eras have received critically needed services. Over 10,000 have been placed in jobs, several thousand have benefited in securing compensation and pension from the Dept. of Veteran Affairs. Several thousand more have received training in computer applications, computer repair and hospitality training. Many thousands of others have received ancillary services in the form of educational referrals, vocational rehabilitation assistance, home-loan guarantees, general G.I. Bill benefits and referrals. The results of the services provided by The Center has funneled thousands of dollars annually back into the local, state and federal economics. It has been projected that for every dollar secured through grants that The Center has increased that amount five times through income generated by placing veterans in viable employment. A significant number of these veterans that were placed in employment were previously on some type of income maintenance such as welfare, food stamps, etc. Over the past ten years and most recently with the veterans returning from the war on terrorism, The Center has made the changes necessary to accommodate the needs of our newest veterans. Their immediate needs of avoiding homelessness and retraining have now become one of their highest priorities. Their needs are our duty. Since March of 2000, The Center has assisted over 4,000 homeless veterans resulting in 80,094 homeless veteran client visits. This is 57% of The Center’s overall veteran visits of 142,273. The homeless veterans that visit The Center receive on-site medical care, behavioral health care, crisis intervention counseling, as well as personal hygiene assistance, food and emergency shelter referrals. In addition, The Center offers two Transitional Living Programs on the grounds of Coatesville VA Medical Center. One is a 95 bed, all male, facility which opened in June of 1997 and the other is a 30 bed, female facility, which opened in January 2005. To date, these two programs have served 868 homeless veterans. The Center’s employment and training programs for 7/1/02 to 6/30/06, that were funded through the U.S. Dept. of Labor-Veterans Employment and Training (USDOL-VETS) enrolled 5,320, trained 937 and placed 2,076 in employment, and assisted many in breaking the cycle of homelessness in this four (4) year period. The Multi-Service Center, which was designated by the U.S. Dept. of Veteran Affairs as a Community Based Outreach Center (CBOC), has worked diligently to formulate its Continuum of Care model to address the multiple needs of recently discharged, displaced, discouraged and homeless veterans in need of services. The Center has worked tirelessly to form relationships with participating federal, state, local and community based agencies that have been interested in addressing the needs of veterans. It is extremely important that each agency or organization act as a link within the net of services. If one link is broken, the Continuum of Care becomes less effective. The majority of the Veterans served at The Philadelphia Veterans Multi-Service & Education Center have fallen through the safety net of services that are provided by Federal, State & Local agencies. Recently, this Continuum of Care has been significantly affected because over the last two years the USDOL-VETS has reduced the Center’s employment and training funding by $736,000. Of this amount, $486,000 was not funded as of July 1, 2006; therefore, the employment and training programs of the Multi-Service Center will be significantly reduced or eliminated and unable to service the critical needs of homeless veterans trying to break the cycle of homelessness. This financial problem is further exacerbated by the notification that the City of Philadelphia, Managing Director’s Office for Adult Services has eliminated the HUD supportive services grant of $315,000 that is needed to assist and manage our Perimeter program. This program assists the homeless veterans with housing referrals, medical care, legal services, behavioral health care and other ancillary services. Without these critically needed funds, their short and long term goals of retraining and meeting the needs of our homeless Veterans cannot be met. They fought for us, now it’s our turn to fight for them! We look forward to your support in helping us help our Veterans. |
