Schumer Announces Veterans Outreach Center in Rochester Set to Receive Nearly $1 Million in VA Funds; Investments Will Allow Center to Serve 500 Families, Help Prevent Homelessness in Rochester Region

Press Release

Schumer Announces Veteran's Affairs Award to Rochester's Veterans Outreach Center for the Prevention of Homelessness Among Veterans and Their Families in Orleans, Monroe, Wayne, Livingston, Ontario

Funding Will Allow Center to Provide Financial Assistance to Veterans, Administer Support Services and Develop Community Partnerships

Schumer: We Are Forever Indebted To Our Veterans, These Funds Will Help Reduce The Number Of Homeless Heroes in NY

Today, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer announced that Veterans Outreach Center in Rochester is set to receive $987,499 in Veterans Affairs Supportive Services for Veteran Families program (SSVF) to serve approximately 500 participant households in Orleans, Monroe, Wayne, Livingston and Ontario. Specifically, the funds will allow the Center to provide financial assistance to veterans in relation to their housing, administer support services, manage casework, and develop community partnerships to benefit the veterans. The SSVF program is a new VA initiative that awards grants to private non-profit organizations and consumer cooperatives who will provide supportive services to low-income Veterans and their families residing in or transitioning to permanent housing. The grantees selected will provide a range of supportive services designed to promote housing stability. Schumer applauds the allocation of the SSVF funding to the Veterans Outreach Center.

"The bottom line is that even one homeless veteran is too many," said Schumer. "These funds will allow the Veterans Outreach Center to prevent homelessness amongst our nations heroes in the Rochester region, and will serve over 500 families in Orleans, Monroe, Wayne, Livingston and Ontario Counties. I applaud the VA in their new Supportive Services for Veteran Families initiative to help veterans and their families find transitional and permanent housing, and am proud that Rochester's Veterans Outreach Center will continue its honorable service with these funds."

"We are honored to be selected by the Department of Veterans Affairs for its Supportive Services for Veterans Families (SSVF) funding," said Colonel James D. McDonough, Jr., President & CEO of Veterans Outreach Center, Inc. "As a recipient of this new community-based initiative to deliver high-quality services to veteran families we will do our utmost to ensure that those who served their country - and those who support them - receive the best possible services and programs to ensure their success. SSVF's most unique feature, a temporary financial assistance component, will allow us offer time-limited financial support to eligible landlords and utility companies - a first for veteran families in this community - thereby improving our veterans' housing situations immensely."

The Veterans Outreach Center serves over 500 veterans each year in the 5-county Rochester area, with the critical mission of enabling those veterans to find meaningful employment, transitional housing, and other health services. Schumer notes that this award underscores the incredible work that the Veterans Outreach Center in Rochester is doing on behalf of the region's veterans.

The VA received approximately 400 applications in response to the SSVF Program Notice of Fund Availability published in December 2010. Rochester's Veterans Outreach Center is one of the final 85 grant recipients selected through a competitive, points-based, review process in which each application was scored using the criteria contained in the regulations that govern the program.

Source