Foundations Provide Funding for Critical New Programs for Veterans

United States Veterans Initiative (U.S.VETS), the nation’s largest nonprofit provider of housing, employment and counseling services for homeless and at-risk Veterans, has received $120,000 to sustain critical programs for Veterans and their families.

The Ahmanson Foundation and The Green Foundation join the Weingart and UniHealth Foundations in supporting the work of U.S.VETS to grow and create programs that assist recently returned Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans struggling with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), depression, and a lack of employment opportunities. The Josephine S. Gumbiner Foundation has also given funding to assist U.S.VETS in providing more comprehensive services for women Veterans with children.

“This support will allow us to serve a growing need among Veterans, in that we will be able to care for vets and their families in the community,” said U.S.VETS President & CEO, Stephen Peck. “These programs will create a uniquely comprehensive array of services that unfortunately are not readily available to service members at this time.”

The Ahmanson Foundation has given $50,000 and the Green Foundation has provided an additional $50,000 that will go to bolstering the operations of two interrelated U.S.VETS-Long Beach programs: the Veterans Reentry Project which provides assistance and housing to homeless Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans, and Outside the Wire that addresses service members’ unmet needs for treatment due to service-related psychological injuries through preemptive outreach and counseling to prevent homelessness.

Financial support from the Josephine S. Gumbiner Foundation, a total of $20,000, will help to develop U.S.VETS’ recently launched Mothers with Children Project, also at U.S.VETS-Long Beach. This program for homeless women Veterans with children helps this specific population gain access to much needed support and resources including: substance abuse treatment, sexual trauma counseling, work re-entry training, and disabled life planning support – all while maintaining custody of their children.

Contacts