Family Endeavors organization helps veterans and families

Source: The Fayetteville Observer, N.迷你倉最平C.Dec. 31--Family Endeavors, a nonprofit organization awarded a $2 million grant by the Department of Veterans Affairs for North Carolina, is providing assistance to low-income veterans and their families in the Fayetteville area.While Family Endeavors has been in the community since October, the organization's Fayetteville office opened Nov. 1.A portion of the $2 million is used to cover the overhead costs of office personnel, said Laressa Witt, the organization's program manager for North Carolina."A good portion goes for the temporary financial assistance program," she said. "We have this pot of money we give to the landlord or the utility company on behalf of the veteran."As part of the Supportive Services for Veteran Families program, Family Endeavors assists "very low-income veteran families who are homeless or on the verge of homelessness in North Carolina," according to the Family Endeavors website.The organization's veterans services include outreach, case management, help in obtaining VA benefits, and assistance in obtaining and coordinating other public benefits.Family Endeavors also has the ability to help qualified veterans and their families temporarily cover rent or utility payments, deposits, transportation and moving costs, the website said.Family Endeavors is headquartered in Texas."When we expanded, we looked for areas with high veteran density, high homelessness and no SSVF services," Witt said. "We went to Alabama, Florida and North Carolina. Here, we chose Fayetteville because it's right here next to the largest Army installation in the world. We thought it would be a great place to serve veterans. This is really a great place to really be able to service those most in need."Family Endeavors operates with a grant for supportive services for veterans and families, which is modeled after the Center for Economic Empowerment & Development's emergency shelter grant, she said."We do something similar. They have a much smaller grant," Witt said. "We target only 迷你倉omeless vets. We also do case management for housing and make sure they get all their benefits."In addition to Fayetteville, Jacksonville and Charlotte were identified for state offices because of their high homeless veterans populations.Over its initial six weeks, the Fayetteville office served 68 veterans, Witt said. Statewide, 94 veterans have received assistance.Locally, Witt said, Family Endeavors provided case management for most of those vets. Case workers looked at the risk factors and barriers that prevented them from staying in their home or getting into a home. Some received financial assistance, in some cases the income required to get them into their house. In other cases, deposits were paid, and rent or utilities in arrears were covered. Vehicles were repaired in cases where the veterans were living in their cars, and some received moving costs.To be eligible for assistance, individuals must have served at least one day active duty beyond basic training; they must be homeless or at risk of homelessness; and their income must be below 50 percent of area median income, she said.By HUD's standards, individuals with incomes below 50 percent of AMI are considered to be very low income."We are a rapid housing program for homeless vets," Witt said. "The idea is to get them housed and then assess them for other community services. Get them off the street and into a safe place to live. We are a prevention for those at risk for being homeless. We step in and help provide."They have to be low income," she said. "They live very close to the edge. If something catastrophic happens, we help support them so they don't end up in the streets."The Fayetteville Family Endeavors office is at 2125 Valleygate Drive. For more information, call 672-6166.___Staff writer Michael Futch can be reached at futchm@fayobserver.comor 486-3529.Copyright: ___ (c)2013 The Fayetteville Observer (Fayetteville, N.C.) Visit The Fayetteville Observer (Fayetteville, N.C.) at .fayobserver.com Distributed by MCT Information Servicesmini storage