WASHINGTON, Feb. 4, 2014 – The Labor Department has awarded two grants totaling $900,000 to fund services provided by the department’s Veterans’ Employment and Training Service, Labor Secretary Thomas E. Perez announced yesterday.
Grants of $450,000 each were awarded through the department’s Homeless Veterans Reintegration Program to Advocates for Human Potential Inc. in Sudbury, Mass., and the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans in the nation’s capital.
“For our returning service members to experience homelessness or difficulty finding a civilian job is unacceptable. As President Obama emphasized in his State of the Union address, we must fulfill our commitment to these brave men and women,” Perez said. “These federal grants will help local partners provide essential services to those who have served in America’s armed forces that will ease their transition to civilian life.”
Advocates for Human Potential and the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans received grant funding to improve their delivery systems of services provided under existing HVRP grants, including grants that serve homeless female veterans and homeless veterans with families, officials said. The HRVP grants include two cooperative agreements that will develop and maintain the National Veterans Technical Assistance Center, which:
— Provides technical assistance to grantees, potential applicants and the public;
— Researches grantee best practices;
— Conducts employment-related research on homeless veterans;
— Facilitates grantee training sessions; and
— Performs outreach to the employer community to increase job opportunities for homeless veterans.
Grantees coordinate their efforts with various local, state and federal social service providers, officials said.