Shooting in Sweetwater - Monroe County Tennessee News, Monroe ...

Page 4 - The BUZZ
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Tuesday - Saturday 10 - 5
April 9, 2013
Tennessee Valley Coalition To End Homelessness Serving Veterans
The Tennessee Valley
Coalition to End Homelessness
(TVCEH) has
funds available to help
Veteran families who are
facing housing challenges
across East Tennessee and
Southeast Kentucky. This
much-needed assistance is
being provided through
the Supportive Services
for Veteran Families program
(SSVF), which targets
veteran families who
are currently homeless or
at-risk of homelessness.
TVCEH has been administering
these services
specifically to Veterans
since October 2012. They
are now at the half-way
point of this grant year
and have applied for additional
funds to continue
the program next year.
Some identified issues
that are creating housing
challenges for our local
Veterans are eviction, job
loss, utility disconnection,
medical emergencies, unreliable
transportation,
disabilities and inability to
work, lack of affordable
housing, and many other
issues. TVCEH is able to
provide temporary financial
assistance on behalf of
these families in the form
of rent and utility payments,
minor car repair,
child care costs, relocation
expenses, and some other
limited payments.
TVCEH also does not cap
their financial services or
number of eligible families,
allowing multiple
families to receive services
each month.
One service that sets
TVCEH apart is their
ability to pay utility deposits
for families relocating
to more affordable
housing. “Utility deposits
are a huge need in our area
and something we get requests
for most often.
Some deposits can be very
expensive, up to $500-600
in some counties, and are
not affordable for the families
we serve. Many other
agencies are not able to assist
with these. Our ability
to provide this service is
something we are very ex-
cited about in order to stabilize
our Veteran families
into their permanent
housing,” reports Melanie
Cordell, the Executive Director
at TVCEH.
SSVF is also an intensive
90-day case management
program that
ensures that these Veteran
families are linked with
appropriate Veteran or
Community service agencies
to best meet their
needs. TVCEH works
closely with the local
Dept. of Veteran Affairs
Clinic (VA), Healthcare
for Homeless Veterans,
and the Veterans Affairs
Supportive Housing
(VASH) program to name
a few. TVCEH staff is also
trained to assist disabled
individuals in applying for
SSI / SSDI in order to expedite
these applications
for our homeless clients,
and also makes referrals to
both local Legal Aid offices
for this assistance.
SSVF is not merely a financial
assistance program,
but works diligently
to stabilize families and
prepare them for longterm
success.
TVCEH received the
SSVF funds as one of two
sub-grantees of the Appalachian
Regional Coalition
on Homelessness
(ARCH) in 2012. “We are
committed to ending Veteran
homelessness in
America,” said Secretary
of Veterans Affairs Eric K.
Shinseki in a press release
on July 17, 2012, “and these
grants will help VA and
community organizations
reach out and prevent atrisk
Veterans from losing
their homes.” In 2009,
President Obama and Secretary
Shinseki announced
the federal government’s
goal to end veteran homelessness
by 2015. The
grants are intended to help
accomplish that goal. According
to the 2011 Annual
Homelessness Assessment
Report to Congress,
homelessness among veterans
has declined 12 percent
since January 2010.
ARCH was awarded $1
million of this grant from
the VA to serve a total of
36 counties between the 3
areas of East Tennessee,
Southeast Kentucky, and
Southwest Virginia.
TVCEH is serving 21 of
these 36 counties, with 16
in Tennessee and five in
Southeast Kentucky.
TVCEH serves Anderson,
Blount, Campbell, Claiborne,
Cocke, Grainger,
Hamblen, Jefferson,
Knox, Loudon, Monroe,
Morgan, Roane, Scott, Sevier,
and Union county in
Tennessee; and Bell, Harlan,
Knox, McCreary, and
Whitley county in Kentucky.
Of the $1 million,
TVCEH received
$430,000 with approximately
$100,000 set aside
for direct financial assistance
and $330,000 for
case management and
supportive services.
TVCEH has already spent
over $32,000 of financial
assistance and served 107
Veteran families through
case management and
supportive services. They
are definitely proving the
need for these services,
and watching their numbers
continue to grow
every day.
“When we run the census
and income numbers
for our area, we can get an
idea of how many veterans
and families we need to
reach, and how many
more that could really use
our services. These numbers
show nearly 50,000
very low-income Veterans
living in our service area,
and many of these Veterans
may be facing housing
challenges. Therefore, we
haven’t even skimmed the
surface, and we are confident
that there are still
many families we could
help with this program,”
reports Amy Rimmer, Director
of Programs at
TVCEH.
If you, or someone you
know, could benefit from
SSVF services with
TVCEH, please call
TVCEH toll-free at 1-888-
556-0791 to speak with a
staff person.
TVCEH is a nonprofit
{501(c)3} coalition comprised
of direct service
providers, social service,
educational, local government
and faith-based
organizations throughout
a 12-county area: Anderson,
Blount,
Campbell, Claiborne,
Cocke, Grainger, Hamblen,
Jefferson, Loudon,
Monroe, Sevier and
Union. This broad base
of community partners
works diligently to prevent
homelessness and
to meet the needs of the
homeless population in
East Tennessee.
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