Mr. Chairman, members of the subcommittee, my name is Charles Williams and I am the Executive Director of the Maryland Center for Veterans Education and Training, Inc., commonly referred to as MCVET.

MCVET was established approximately 15 years ago with a mission to provide homeless veterans, and other veterans in need, with comprehensive services that will enable them to rejoin their communities as productive citizens.  MCVET operates a militarily structured facility where veterans are reintroduced to the military type of discipline that they were accustomed to through their service.  The services offered during a veteran’s stay in our facility are designed to remove barriers to recovery.  These barriers include but are not limited to, debts, courts, child support, discharge upgrades and physical/mental health issues.

 The reawakening of the routine military discipline enhances MCVET’s ability to stabilize and reorder the lives of these veterans.  Each student attends substance abuse classes and alcoholics/narcotics anonymous meetings, and works in conjunction with a case manager in the development of an Individual Service Strategy plan which is a long-range plan used as a tool in remaining drug and alcohol free.

Services include:

• Outreach

• Day drop-in, emergency, transitional and permanent housing

• Substance abuse counseling

• Assistance with physical and mental health issues, including post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injury (TBI)

• Education

• Job training and placement

• Aftercare

MCVET owes its very existence to the federal Grants to community based 501(c)(3) organizations.  We have uniquely married the housing services available from HUD, the medical and social service support available from Veterans Affairs, and the job training/education services available from the Department of Labor in order to move homeless veterans into the societal mainstream as self-supporting and contributing members to their families and their communities.

 Veterans returning from Afghanistan and Iraq face problems that can be overcome through the Veterans Affairs system.  Many problems occur from an ineffective readjustment period after transitioning from war zones.  If the veteran is not connected to comprehensive services, then other problems, e.g., drugs, crime and homelessness, will surface. 

A unified service delivery system should be developed with HUD, VA and DOL participating in an effort to create a one stop application process.  This process would be designed to eliminate the barriers which have been put in place that severely limit and discourage the veterans’ efforts at accessing services in a timely manner. 

In discharging soldiers from active duty, there should be a “handoff” system whereby their final physical, specifically their psychosocial and mental health issues, are documented and forwarded to their nearest VA medical center in their home areas.  This should eliminate duplication of efforts and accelerate the time that treatment can begin. 

MCVET is uniquely positioned because of the presence of Veterans Affairs’ staff who are stationed at the agency.  The staff includes but is not limited to psychologists and psychiatrists at the doctoral level and social workers. Additionally, a liaison from the Grant and Per Diem program is in the office during the week.

These VA personnel assist in the admissions’ process for veterans who are in immediate need of mental health services and are key in determining the level of care needed.  Our students are able to access mental health services within one week of entering our program.  Also, psychosocial assessments are conducted at the agency within the first week in an effort to identify for MCVET staff the level of mental health services that should be given to each student.  Without the assistance of VA mental health professionals, the admissions’ process becomes time consuming with a distinct possibility of losing the veteran to the streets.  Veterans Affairs has adequate resources to treat mental health issues once the veteran is admitted.  We can recommend that Veterans Affairs develop the ability to use its resources and expand the utilization of the Vet Centers.  Vet Centers can be found in most major population centers.

MCVET’s job placement office has placed veterans in high profile jobs such as drafting, certified computer systems administrator, and maintenance technician for a municipal transportation system, master fitness trainer, web designer, and school teacher.  MCVET strives to place veterans in situations where they can succeed rather than fail.

• For FY 2007, the retention rate after 90 days for veterans placed in employment was 96 percent.

• After 180 days, the retention rate for FY 2007 was 90 percent.

• For FY 2006, it was 79 percent.

We have placed 97 percent of the veterans seeking employment for FY 2007.  (See chart on back)   We are committed to developing careers for our veterans rather than dead end jobs that tend to perpetuate the cycle of poverty and homelessness.

Veterans who are educated, gainfully employed and independent are assets to their communities. They are reunifying with families, purchasing their own homes, starting their own businesses and participating in the economy.  Because of our work with veterans, HUD declared the program a national model on 7 May 1997.  This occurred after we had been serving veterans a little less than 3 years.

In closing, I would like to thank you for this opportunity to appear before you and to share MCVET’s story.  Homeless veterans are likely to face greater challenges in the years ahead as scarce resources strain a service delivery system that is already overburdened.  I urge you, in your deliberations, to consider the plight of those young men and women who have been sent to defend the ideals of this country.  Many of them are returning home broken of body, mind and soul and this country needs to provide them with resources to enable them to share in the American dream. 

DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
PERFORMANCE MEASURES