July 18, 2013

Congresswoman Barbara Lee Announces $3 Million in Federal VA Grants

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 19, 2013
Contact: Katherine Jolly (510) 763-0370

 
Oakland, CA — Today, Congresswoman Barbara Lee announced that three East Bay organizations will receive a total of $3,029,906 in federal grants from the U.S. Veterans Affairs’ (VA) Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF) program.  
 
Berkeley Food and Housing Project will receive a $1,007,000 for ROADS (Regional Outreach, Advocacy and Support) Home project.   ROADS Home is a collaboration between the Berkeley Food and Housing Project and Anka Behavioral Health, Inc. Through this collaboration, they will provide homelessness prevention and rapid re-housing services to 200 homeless and imminently homeless veteran households who reside in the Counties of Alameda, Contra Costa and Solano.
 
East Oakland Community Project will receive $990,906 to serve approximately 240 homeless veteran households in Oakland.
 
East Bay Community Recovery Project will receive $1,032,000 to serve approximately 240 homeless veteran households in Oakland and Richmond. 
 
“I am very pleased that several East Bay organizations have been selected for this critical VA funding,” said Congresswoman Lee. “As our economy continues to recover, we need to ensure that our veterans have jobs, adequate housing, and the support services they need to transition successfully to civilian life.     This grant takes us one step closer to fulfilling our obligation to our local heroes.”
 
These awards are part of nearly $300 million in grants that will help approximately 120,000 homeless and at-risk Veterans and their families throughout the nation under the Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF) program.   These grants are provided to private non-profit organizations and consumer cooperatives that provide services to very low-income Veteran families living in -- or transitioning to -- permanent housing. The SSVF program supports VA's efforts to prevent at-risk Veterans from becoming homeless and rapidly re-house those who have recently fallen into homelessness.
 
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Follow Barbara Lee on Facebook and Twitter at @RepBarbaraLee. To learn more, visit lee.house.gov.