Columbus House, Inc., through its Veterans Recovery Project, seeks to expand its current range of services offered to military veterans who are homeless, unemployed, or in need of health or legal services.
Program Description:
The Veterans Recovery Project, an AmeriCorps/VISTA project sponsored by Columbus House, Inc., provides services to veterans in the New Haven area. VISTA members, working at several host sites, are enabling these sites to offer services regarding employment; legal assistance for housing, health benefits, and family problems; and the stigma that often attaches to veterans in the public perception, a stigma that compromises veterans' efforts to secure assistance for the very problems that beset them.
Program Mission:
Columbus House serves those who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless by providing shelter and housing and by fostering personal growth and independence. Its clients include veterans, whose numbers have grown annually, from 5% in 2008 to 18% in 2012. Columbus House's Veterans Recovery Project helps veterans to find employment; eliminate internalized stigma; increase utilization of VA services; retain pro bono help for court cases involving housing, insurance, and family problems; find health services; and secure emergency shelter and transitional housing. Finally, the project will help qualifying veterans to eliminate their homelessness through the Habitat for Heroes program, which builds homes for deserving veterans.
VISTA Leader Duties: Applicants for this position must have completed one year of AmeriCorps/VISTA service. Military veterans are encouraged to apply. To enhance the efficiency of the Veterans Recovery Project, the VISTA leader will
- enable the VISTA members to work together to achieve their common goal: helping veterans achieve independence
- provide ongoing support to the VISTA members
- ensure that the VISTA members understand each other's goals and how these goals will enrich the lives of the veterans they serve
- support the project supervisor
- schedule and preside at bi-weekly meetings for the VISTA members
- apprise the project supervisor of pertinent successes, challenges, or problems mentioned in the VISTA members' bi-weekly reports
- arrange attendance of the VISTA members at training seminars and conferences
- assist in the recruitment, interviewing, and placement of VISTA members
- perform other duties as assigned
Necessary Skills: Communications, Community Organization, Conflict Resolution, Computers/Internet, Military Veteran preferred
Accepting Applications through 3/15/2013
For information on how to apply for this position through the AmeriCorps website, contact Bruce Markot, Columbus House Volunteer Coordinator, at bmarkot@columbushouse.org.
