Home of The Brave | Executive Summary
Veteran Outreach, Partnerships, and Capacity-Building Initiative
Problem and Solution
Our Mission. Home of The Brave, Veterans Transitional Housing empowers veterans through the steps of being in crisis to achieving self-reliance. We also want to capture a large percentage of the country landscape across the nation in just a few years of operation.
Statement of Need. A snapshot of the most recent data reports shows that veteran suicide rates are down from 2020; however, it has generally been on the rise since 2011, and is still significantly higher than the rate for the general population. The percentage of veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental health issues is also higher than that of the rest of the United States. While there has been a consistent flow of legislation over the past 25 years to support veterans who need mental health support, experts say there is quite a bit that still needs to be done to mitigate and expand upon where support is lacking.
One of the biggest problems among the veteran population is post-traumatic stress disorder, which affects approximately 11 to 20 percent of veterans in a given year, according to the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). That is a dramatic difference between the 6 percent of the general United States population who will experience PTSD at some point in their lives.
Veterans living with PTSD often relive traumatic events in painfully real detail, leading to a state of hyperarousal. That stress can spillover into all aspects of their life, impairing sleep, interfering with concentration, and harming relationships with friends and family. PTSD is especially common after deployment, but rates vary among wars, impacting as many as 23 percent of those who served in Iraq or Afghanistan; 12 percent in the Gulf War; and 15 percent in Vietnam.
Our Solution(s). Home of The Brave, Veterans Transitional Housing empowers our veterans to truly achieve a sense of self-reliance. Our vision is to lower the number of veterans’ suicides, which is at a national level of 22 per day. It is our mission to one day be able to eradicate veteran suicide all together, and to stabilize veterans in crisis through housing, mental health programs, PTSD counseling, and other essential supports. Through our programs, veterans will also learn job skills and interviewing principles to find and secure employment opportunities.
Our programs address these growing mental health concerns and facilitate reentry into society and the family unit. We look forward to providing our services to veterans within the horizons of Elizabeth City, Moyock, Chesapeake, Norfolk, Suffolk, Edenton, and veterans across the United States.
Impact. Improving Existing Efforts. Home of The Brave, Veterans Transitional Housing improves upon and supports existing efforts for veterans by offering additional or supplemental programs and services for veterans in need, who may not get all of their unique needs met through traditional methods. This includes housing, mental health programs, PTSD counseling, and other essential support systems.
Approach. Our approach to our programs and services is systemic and unique in that our services for America’s heroes reflect our own values of integrity, service, excellence, and teamwork. Our goal is also to operate an organization which will not only succeed in its desired goals and objectives, but will also have a landmark impact locally and nationally, offering a pilot-project to be replicated throughout the United States. Funding will be utilized in securing a building to house veterans in need (projected 30 plus homeless or otherwise), related utilities, furniture and renovations (turning existing rooms into smaller, individual rooms), and salaries for professional and licensed staff.
Home of The Brave, Veterans Transitional Housing is leading the way in our local communities (and expanding), providing innovative and comprehensive outreach solutions to address these critical concerns for veterans and their families.
Investments/Donations/Sponsorship would help facilitate the expansion of these essential programs to a national scale.
Results and Plan for Outcome Based Success. Our tangible results to date have focused largely on developing key relationships with change-makers and leaders on the local and global mental health fronts, in addition to networking across the country within a variety of formats; including veterans’ outreach, local community events, and other essential and innovative networking events, among others.
Home of The Brave, Veterans Transitional Housing possesses a comprehensive strategy to measure organizational outcomes and success in the future. While our outreach efforts to date focus on awareness and accessibility, this is not a stand-alone solution to problems of PTSD and other mental health concerns for our veterans in need. Our programs address access, knowledge, mental health concerns, and other non-measurable goals which we believe will impact a variety of negative statistics, such as veteran suicide and other mental health concerns, PTSD, trauma, and other local and global issues.
Our plan for outcome-based monitoring and evaluation will include data collection and analysis by offering both pre- and post-program surveys to be completed by veterans and their families (if applicable). Data will be collected, monitored, and disseminated both internally and externally, and will be used to evaluate improvements across a multitude of dimensions, including suicide rates, mental health concerns, and program participation, among others. Outcomes and metrics will also be used continually to inform ongoing programmatic improvements.
Scale
Plan to Scale Across Time. Home of The Brave, Veterans Transitional Housing is proposing a unique multi-objective strategy to scale the organization across time. Our primary objectives include (1) implementing a robust outreach strategy; (2) developing partnerships; and (3) recruitment and capacity-building.
Objective 1: Implement A Robust Outreach Strategy. As previously mentioned, our primary outreach methods to date have focused largely on increasing awareness. Sponsorship/Donation/Investment would enable our organization to further refine our reach to more targeted audiences (educators and school administrators) across our social media and other platforms; including Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Instagram. Increasing awareness will broaden our reach and network, allowing us to serve more veterans in need.
Objective 2: Develop Partnerships. Our organization has already established an incredible network of partners, veterans, and their families. This network has grown, in large part, organically. To scale the scope and quantity of these partnerships, our outreach efforts will involve continuing to build these networks, conducting much-needed outreach to veterans, and working in conjunction with other community-based organizations, including homeless shelters, local Departments of Veterans Affairs, community food banks, hospitals, and other groups and organizations who serve and work with veterans.
Objective 3: Recruitment and Capacity-Building. As we scale our reach and increase demand for our services, we will simultaneously need to focus on capacity-building and recruitment efforts. Our recruitment strategy will be centered on increasing our network of licensed counselors and other qualified personnel to work with our veterans in need. In addition to salaries for professional and licensed staff, funding will also be utilized in securing a building to house veterans in need, utilities, furniture, and required renovations.
Sustainability. Home of The Brave, Veterans Transitional Housing will rely heavily on its fundraising efforts to sustain this meaningful work across time. Our fundraising efforts include an annual appeal, Giving Tuesday campaigns, donor engagement, fundraising events, and developing and maintaining an effective grants/investment strategy.
Dr.Michelle M. Waldron