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ReMIND.org, A Bob Woodruff Foundation Initiative, Awards Second $100,000 to Jericho Project for At-Risk and Homeless Veterans

Posted on: Tuesday, 31 March 2009, 09:57 CDT

NEW YORK, March 31 /PRNewswire/ -- ReMIND.org, a Bob Woodruff Foundation initiative, has awarded its second $100,000 grant to the Jericho Project for use in helping veterans from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan who sustained Traumatic Brain Injury and/or Post Traumatic Stress. The Jericho Project, a nonprofit leader in ending homelessness at its roots, is building two Veterans Residences in the Bronx, New York, to deliver permanent supportive housing and comprehensive counseling services to veterans who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.

"As our veterans return from the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts, we must be prepared to address mental, physical and social traumas they face," said Jericho Project Executive Director Tori Lyon. "The intensity and violence there are incubators for Post Traumatic Stress and Traumatic Brain Injury, which can cascade into financial dislocation, family estrangement and homelessness," she added.

Veterans from Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom are experiencing homelessness or are at risk of homelessness roughly four times faster than veterans of the Vietnam War -- within a few years of returning versus nine to twelve years for veterans returning to the States after Vietnam.(1)

The effects of Post Traumatic Stress and Traumatic Brain Injury further complicate re-entry. Of the 1.6-million troops deployed at the time of a 2008 Rand Study, 300,000 were estimated to have returned from Iraq or Afghanistan suffering from Post Traumatic Stress and 320,000 troops may have experienced a Traumatic Brain Injury.

"We need to support our veterans in recovering their physical and mental strengths, but also the social acuity that creates a quality of life," said Rene Bardorf, Executive Director of the Bob Woodruff Foundation.

In addition to funding comprehensive counseling to residents of the Veterans Initiative, Jericho will be using the funds provided by the Bob Woodruff Foundation to create a technology center that will enable veterans to supplement their in-person counseling and online resources, including career building and social networking with other veterans.

Forty percent of the units in Jericho's two Veterans Residences will be reserved for low-income veterans from the community, with priority given to veterans returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Sixty percent will be set aside for veterans who have a history of homelessness and substance abuse.

Numerous factors contribute to OIF/OEF veterans' isolation and risk of homelessness(1):

• High and consistent intensity of violence: 86% know someone who was killed or injured; and 77% shot at enemy
• Repeated tours of duty: 34 percent have been deployed for OIF/OEF more than once
• High unemployment: 18% of veterans recently separated from service are unemployed, and of those employed, 25% earn less than $21,840 a year
• Relative youth of troops: Nearly half are under 25 years old, leaving many with a shorter professional track record and difficulty transferring military skills to the civilian work force
• Substance and alcohol abuse to cope: in 2008, 15,653 OIF/OEF veterans were treated for substance abuse

Jericho's Veterans Initiative will be designed to meet the specific needs of those who served in the nation's armed forces. It will also draw upon Jericho's highly effective model of supportive housing and counseling services that stress recovery, employment, and graduation to independent living. The Jericho Veterans Residences will feature small studio apartments, staff offices, a community room, a computer lab, and a garden. See www.jerichoproject.org

Although veterans are disproportionately represented among homeless adults in the New York City shelter system, there are only two supportive housing projects for veterans currently in operation in New York. Some 150,000 veterans are homeless on any one night across America; and an estimated 3,500 veterans are homeless in New York City.

Bob Woodruff, co-founder of ReMIND.org, became the first American news anchor to be wounded in a war zone, when he was nearly killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq. Bob sustained a traumatic brain injury, and during his own healing process got to know many of our nation's injured heroes and their families.

ReMIND.org provides direct giving to support our nation's injured and their families through community-based efforts; partners with industry and government to achieve its goals; and is committed to raising awareness of the Hidden Injuries of War.

ReMIND.org, a Bob Woodruff Foundation Initiative, provides resources and support to injured service members, veterans and their families, and is building a movement to empower communities nationwide to take action to successfully reintegrate our nation's injured heroes -- especially those who have sustained the Hidden Injuries of War -- back into their communities, and ensure they thrive physically, psychologically, socially, and economically. For more information, visit ReMIND.org.

(1) Swords to Plowshares, Iraq Veteran Project, July 2008

SOURCE The Jericho Project

Source: PR Newswire

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