As we reach the middle of the year,
Veterans Place of Washington Boulevard is excited to share a number of positive changes that we are experiencing to continue to serve our veterans with the highest quality care and services!
Navigating COVID-19 While Serving Our Veterans
One of the major focuses for many of us this year has been COVID-19. To ensure our veterans continued to receive the on-site services they need, we kept our doors open throughout the pandemic. Taking proper safety measures with PPE, diligent cleaning and sanitizing, and other strict measures, we’ve been working to keep our staff and our veterans safe.
Our COVID-19 Emergency Campaign was a major driving factor in helping us remain open to safely serve our veterans. Our community of major funders who have supported this campaign helped to cover our operating costs and additional cleaning supplies. The major contributors include The Pittsburgh Foundation, McElhattan, Marstine Family Foundation, and more, as well as our individual donors who have also made a major impact.
We would like to extend the greatest thanks and appreciation to our community of supporters and donors who have helped us remain open during these difficult times.
Upcoming changes to Veterans Place
CARF Certification
With our commitment to continuously improving our programs and services to ensure our veterans receive the high-quality care they deserve, we have been working on receiving the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF) certification.
CARF is an independent accrediting body of health and human services with standards developed over 50 years by international teams that are comprised of payers, family members, service providers, consumers, and policymakers. This organization observes our operations, evaluates our services, and provides us with areas of improvement.
After their survey, we are required to submit a Quality Improvement Plan outlining the actions we will take or have taken in response to any areas of improvement the survey team identified. Throughout our accreditation tenure, Veterans Place will remain in contact with CARF and will also be required to submit an Annual Conformance to Quality Report every year to ensure we are maintaining CARF standards.
Creation and implementation of the First Annual Fund
We are excited to announce that we have created and recently implemented our First Annual Fund, which has been named Veteran Independence Fund. This fund was created to support the growth of our mission to help veterans transition out of homelessness by providing them with food, shelter, employment, education, and other critical support services. Not only do we provide essential needs to veterans in crisis, but we also address the root causes of their homeless to help them live a sustainable and happy life.
Grant Renewals and Program Expansions
We are excited to announce that we have received a renewal for Homeless Veterans’ Reintegration Program (HVRP) and the VA Grant Per Diem (GPD) Grant for another three years! There is also expansion happening in both the HVRP Program and GPD Low Demand Program.
- The Homeless Reintegration Program is an employment-focused competitive grant program from the Department of Labor, Veterans’ Employment and Training Service (DOL-VETS). This grant is used to provide services to help reintegrate homeless veterans into meaningful employment.
- GPD Low Demand Program is a housing program that utilizes a harm reduction framework to assist chronically homeless veterans who did not participate in traditional housing programs or were not successful with them.
The expansion of the programs are essential to address the needs in the community for the growing need for employment services and the housing issue our homeless veterans are facing.
Veterans Place has a New Look
At Veterans Place, we’ve taken the time recently to update our look! You may have noticed that we have slowly begun to use our amazing new logo throughout our branding materials.
These rebranding improvements we are making are giving us an exciting, fresh new look, but we still have the same mission; helping end homelessness among veterans in the Pittsburgh region.
Help Our Veterans by Donating Today!
Our community of supporters is what helps us keep our doors open and continue to give veterans their lives back. Join our amazing community of supporters by donating today!
Robert (Rob) Hamilton, Executive Director of Veterans Place, graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a B.A. in Public Service and is currently completing a masters degree from the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public and International Affairs (GSPIA) in Public Policy and Management. Prior to attending Pitt, Rob served in the United States Army National Guard as a military police officer where he worked in crime prevention and emergency response throughout the state of Pennsylvania. He also holds a Supervisor/Manager Certificate from Penn State University and a Non-Profit Management Certificate from the University of Pittsburgh. Rob is currently a board member of South Hills Pet Rescue and is an elected official of the Lower Burrell City Council in the Public Works Department. He is the Co-Chair of the leadership portion of the Allegheny County/Pittsburgh Veteran Homeless Boot Camp Committee. Rob received the 2018 prestigious Salute Our Heroes Recognition from the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Who’s Next 2019: Community Leaders & Activists Award from the Under 40 and Making a Difference: The Incline Award. In 2019 Rob received the VA Challenge Certificate of Appreciation.
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