Homeless Veteran Service Providers > Veterans Outreach Center
Veterans Outreach Center
VOC Ensures Success by Networking With Employers
The Veterans Outreach Center (VOC) in Rochester, NY, is the nation's oldest community-based outreach and advocacy center for veterans and their family members. The center has served more than 29,000 veteran clients in upstate New York since opening in 1973. VOC offers transitional housing, mental health services, educational and vocational training programs, and other supportive services for veterans and their families, and provides referrals to community resources for substance abuse treatment, domestic violence issues, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), parenting skills and other personal development and empowerment programs.
VOC occupies six buildings on two campuses in Rochester, a city in Monroe County. The population of the city and county is nearly one million people. The center is strategically located within walking distance of the downtown area, and within blocks of 10 nonprofit community-based service providers that work in partnership to serve the homeless veterans of the city of Rochester and Monroe, Livingston, Orleans, Wayne and Ontario counties. It is estimated more than 5,900 unemployed veterans – many of them homeless – live in the region served by the center.
Throughout its history, VOC has recognized the need for employment services and job placement assistance to ensure homeless veterans can successfully re-enter society as productive, self-supporting citizens. In April 2000, VOC received its first Homeless Veterans Reintegration Program (HVRP) grant from the Department of Labor-Veterans' Employment and Training Service (DOL-VETS). That $134,996 grant allowed VOC to further develop its employment assistance program – particularly its supportive services for veterans with significant barriers to employment – and immediately build a regional network of public and private service providers to provide employment opportunities for its homeless veteran clients.
The core of the VOC program is its outreach and case management initiatives. Three outreach specialists work days and evening to identify homeless veterans who need help. An initial list of more than 75 locations is used to identify sites to be visited on a regular, weekly basis, including homeless shelters, transitional housing programs, VA medical facilities, church programs, county social service agencies, soup kitchens and places where homeless people are known to gather.
The outreach program also embraces organizations and agencies that can help VOC in its work: The Salvation Army, Volunteers of America, Catholic Family center, Family Services of Rochester, St. Joseph's House and St. Francis Center, among others. These organizations become accustomed to the routine visits and information sharing, and benefit from the VOC outreach emergency cell phone number to refer homeless and at-risk veterans to the HVRP program at any time, round the clock. According to DOL officials, VOC's evening service hours devoted to outreach, case management, training and employment assistance is rare.
Social workers stationed at the VOC are an integral part of this initiative. They include representatives of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) who can provide immediate
help with applications for benefits. According to senior staff, the success of the HVRP program "from the beginning had much to do with the system set up in the first two weeks of the program – to identify target populations, programs and agencies; develop a rotating schedule of visitations; establish a solid rapport with staff at those locations; and solidify the linkages through memorandums of understanding (MOUs) and letters."
Two of the first outreach workers were once homeless veterans. In 2001, two women were added to the social worker staff, reflecting the need to provide more specialized services for the fastest growing segment of the nation's homeless veteran population.
Case management is divided into three categories. Clinical case managers focus on chemical dependency and mental health issues. A full-time professional clinician provides individual and family counseling for clients coping with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and Persian Gulf illnesses. Residential case managers work in the VOC emergency and transitional housing programs. Vocational case managers deal with barriers to employment other than clinical issues, such as food, clothing, transportation and other needs.
Three employment specialists are assigned to focus primarily on job development. One works with HVRP clients; one with the general, non-homeless veteran population; and one with clients working to overcome serious barriers to employment, such as disabilities, legal problems and the need for intensive social services support.
The Resource Center is the one-stop career development and vocational training facility of the VOC. The center is the "launching pad" for the employment assistance program, providing counseling, case management, housing assistance and a full range of services and training. The center is a collaborative base of operations for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs outreach staff and New York State Division of Veterans Affairs full-time benefits counselors. A DOL-VETS Disabled Veteran Outreach Program (DVOP) counselor provides on-site employment services.
The Resource Center also features a Veterans Community Technology Center (state-of-the-art computer center for skills training) and Quartermaster's Club, which provides professional work clothing for the job-ready veteran.
VOC's employment services program features several unique initiatives that warrant special mention. The VETNET program is a weekly group networking session that brings VOC staff, area employers and veteran job seekers together to share information and foster the development of employment opportunities. The PROGRO initiative provides additional, more specialized training so veterans can advance in their careers. The HVRP "On-the-Job" Training project places clients in two- to four-week subsidized training opportunities in local businesses to help them develop basic job skills and personal responsibility.
Another program of notable merit is the Veterans Alternatives to Incarceration Program (VATIP). Organized in 2000 to reduce criminal behavior and re-arrest rates, VATIP is supported by government agencies and private foundations. VOC case managers work with attorneys, judges and public defenders in state, county and city courts to link veterans with drug treatment programs. To remain in the program, participants must achieve one year of sobriety, earn at least a high school or equivalency diploma, and obtain and maintain steady, gainful employment.
HVRP Program Outcomes – 2003*
Goal Actual % of Goal
Total Agency Enrollments 356 365 103%
Vocational Assessments 332 301 91%
Educational Assessments 186 n/a
Employment Placement 246 230 93%
Permanent housing placement 286 247 86%
Average wage at job placement $7.75 $8.25 110%
* Numbers represent totals from two concurrent HVRP program grants.
The collaborative network that supports and helps ensure the success of the VOC HVRP program includes:
- U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs – Outreach worker assigned to VOC; teams with VOC staff; links VOC clients to VA hospital, domiciliary and outpatient services.
- U.S. Department of Labor
- New York State Division of Veterans Affairs – Two full-time staff persons assigned to VOC for benefits counseling and claims assistance.
- New York State Department of Labor – Provides on-site DVOP to case manage and job develop with VOC staff. DVOP counselor is funded through the U.S. Department of Labor-Veterans' Employment and Training Service.
Salvation Army-Rochester: HVRP grantee – shares training, counseling and work resources.
- Science linkages in the Community/Micrecycle – Provides material assistance and consultants to facilitate veterans' computer training.
- Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 20 – In addition to financial support, provides employment opportunities in its retail thrift store for VOC clients. Also partners with VOC to operate the Welcome Home Program ("Hand-up" to veterans returning from overseas duties).
- Procurement Technical Assistance Center – Identifies and links VOC clients with vet-owned business and companies with defense contracts.
- Unified Court System-7th District – Drug court referrals for VATIP program.
Veterans Interfaith Clergy Advisory of Rochester (VICAR) – Provides outreach support, referrals and meets monthly at the VOC as an advisory group to the VOC's homeless programs.
- LIFESPAN – Area's elderly worker specialists and U.S. DOL older worker grantee. Provides training, employment, financial management, protection to abused elderly, ombudsman program and more. Provides services to VOC's veterans over 55 (provides subsidized training worksites for vets not ready for employment). Also serves women veterans in its Women in Transition program.
- Job Development Network – Organization of 30 government and non-profit employment providers that networks to identify job opportunities for hard-to-place clients. Meets monthly at the VOC.
Key Strategies and Recommendations
Outreach – Start building collaborations with other community providers quickly and don't leave any important linkages out. Better to have too many than not enough. Maintain constant contact with them – develop a schedule of phone contacts and regular visitations; implement them as soon as possible. Obtain commitments (MOU's), detailing precisely what each party will do for the other. Use the media as much as possible to help market the program and network with reporters and PR contacts – free coverage is available for those willing to work a little to earn it (assertive salesmanship).
Case Management – Don't get bogged down trying to do everything and provide services that someone else can do better and quicker. Utilize all of the linkages available and promote teamwork in the process.
Employment – Total quality management ... everyone is a customer. Employer involvement as a customer and provider is important. Market the program aggressively to the employer and utilize employers in all aspects of the process – recruitment, skills assessment, training, mentoring, networking and focus groups. Host a community Veterans Job Fair, open houses for employers (letting clients market themselves).
Public municipal and military facilities are often free and cost effective for such events (VOC spends between $79 and $950 each on Job Fairs and Stand Downs, utilizing many volunteers and donations, primarily from veteran organizations). Newsletters to employers that highlight clients' objectives, skills and experience work well, not only to match clients with employers, but to market the program in general. They also are a good motivational tool for clients who find it encouraging to see such wide dissemination of information and use the newsletters while networking at recruitment events.
Training – Many inexpensive and free resources are available in communities to promote computer tech education. Use them to the max and build training partners to insure the longevity and financial stability of your training programs. Start a reserve of volunteers to augment your training programs – it's much easier to get volunteers for training than for fund raising or watching phones!
Housing – Housing is so important for a homeless employment program that any grantee that can afford it should dedicate at least a part-time individual to developing good working relationships with landlords and other housing providers. Help with other things – furnishings, utilities, security deposits, etc. – takes much burden off the minds of clients (and often staff). As a back-up, the housing staff person should develop a back-up list of housing availability and resources to help find housing, to be shared with the whole staff and kept updated. As in Rochester, several agencies can work together on developing a list and share it regularly.
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