Veteran Homeless and Employment Initiative

ADVS is the state agency responsible for the 600,000 service members, Veterans, and family members that call Arizona home. To that end, ADVS collaborates with public and private stakeholders to implement initiatives that positively influence the lives of Arizona’s military, Veteran, and family population.  ADVS is supporting the ongoing statewide collective impact efforts and implementation of three (3) Veteran initiatives focused on ending Veteran homelessness, assisting with Veteran employment barriers, and providing a pathway to providing Veterans with a higher level of care. ADVS is committed to the implementation of these Veteran Initiatives, which includes providing programs and services focusing on a community-based Veteran Homeless Action Plan to meet the needs of Veterans and their families through outreach, housing services, employment barriers, connection to VA community resources, and facilitating Veterans transition into a higher level of care.   AZ Action Plan to End Homeless Veterans Introduction: ADVS provides critical, statewide coordination and technical assistance to services and organizations serving Veterans. This includes activities such as the Arizona Veteran StandDowns, outreach events that support homeless and at-risk military Veterans in Coconino, Graham, Greenlee, La Paz, Maricopa, Mohave, Pima, Pinal, Santa Cruz, Yavapai and Yuma Counties. This solicitation looks to expand the reach and capacity of Arizona Department of Veterans' Services to serve Arizona Veterans. AZHC is a statewide organization and have served Veterans and their families for many years. Project Objectives: Host the Maricopa County StandDown, the largest serving StandDown in the nation. The event serves over 2,000 homeless and at-risk Veterans each year.  Provide leadership, coordination, technical assistance, and bridge funding  throughout the year. Foster collaborations with new partners to serve  Veterans in need. Seek to prioritize the Maricopa County StandDown efforts towards  Veterans who  are street-living homeless without jeopardizing the accuracy of the      data of  Veterans' housing status. Provide financial assistance to Veterans in need in the form of bridge housing or mitigation assistance throughout the year in Maricopa County. Provide financial and technical assistance to the 11 StandDowns throughout the state. Collect accurate information of how many Veterans are experiencing homelessness or housing instability. Outreach to other communities currently hosting or considering hosting   StandDown or at-risk Veteran resource events. Develop relationships and provide assistance to foster future collaborations under the Arizona Veteran StandDown Alliance. Provide After-Action reports for each event, shared with the Arizona Department  of Veterans' Services, and accessible to the community on our website. Veteran Toolkit  Introduction: ADVS with the help of the Arizona Coalition for Military Families has launched the  roadmap to Veterans Employment. This strategy outlines various initiatives to assist Veterans with obtaining employment. As often is the case, the veteran has been unemployed or under employed, and may not have the funds to buy the required protective  equipment, tools, or supplies needed for work. Project Objectives: The purpose of this section is to outline the scope of work of the grantee and   deliverables due to ADVS. Grantee will receive referrals from employment service providers (DVOP, LVER, Community workforce development services etc.) and provide identified          veteran recipients with an intervention that enables gainful employment. Grantee will ensure that the intervention occurs within 48 hours of a regular workweek. All monetary interventions must be receipted and submitted monthly for ADVS reporting. Financial assistance may not be given directly to the veteran; equipment, tools, and supplies must be acquired for them. Veteran must sign and acknowledge they have received assistance, to include any items purchased for obtaining gainful employment. Hero’s Pathway to Hope The Arizona Department of Veterans' Services (ADVS) is the State agency responsible for the 600,000-service member, veterans and family members that call Arizona home. The ADVS mission is to be the catalyst in response to the evolving needs if Arizona’s veterans and their families. To that end, ADVS partners with public and private stakeholders and community partners to implement initiative that positively impact the lives of Arizona's military, veteran and family population. The State of Arizona is seeing increasingly high numbers of homeless veterans who cannot be housed due to a combination of financial difficulties and high acuity needs. Project Objectives: Lead a multi-agency team of public and private partners to ensure programmatic goals are met tee will be responsible for facilitating communication through email and virtual  meetings throughout the duration of the Pilot. Grantee will give a complete overview of Pilot during the briefing process where the Veteran will sign and Inter-Agency ROI, Acknowledgment of Program      Guidelines and data collection. During briefing process Grantee will provide clear and concise information that the Veteran in entering into a voluntary Pilot Program, which includes the possibility of denial of applications and termination of funding within the three (3) month bridge of placement. Collect pilot data to inform program needs beyond the pilot. Provide Promise to Pay letter to be sent to Placement Facility, Veteran and assigned VA Social Worker. Notice of Funds ending letter will be sent to Facility and Partnering Agencies; notifying Facility of thirty (30) day end of funds date. Grantee will provide a report of monthly expenses for each Veteran participating in the Pilot and a report of data findings within ninety (90) days of conclusion of the  Pilot. Financial Notes: The State of Arizona is seeing increasingly high numbers of homeless veterans who cannot be housed due to a combination of financial difficulties and high acuity needs. Provide financial assistance to Veterans in need in the form of bridge housing or mitigation assistance throughout the year in Maricopa County. Provide financial and technical assistance to the 11 StandDowns throughout the state. Collect accurate information on how many Veterans are experiencing homelessness or housing instability. Advocate for additional financial resources at the federal, state, and local levels to support housing and homelessness services, including advocating for the restoration of the state housing trust fund. Financial assistance may not be given directly to the veteran; equipment, tools, and supplies must be acquired for them.