Veterans Outreach Program receives funding

The Veteran Outreach Center will receive $50,000 in funding to maintain and enhance the services, according to a press release from Assemblymember Susan John (D-Rochester, Chili, Riga, Rush, Wheatland) and Senator Chuck Schumer.

Rochester's Veterans Outreach Center is the oldest community-based veteran outreach effort in the nation. They opened in 1973 to help Vietnam veterans cope with their wartime experiences and to facilitate their government benefits claims. Through the years, Veterans Outreach Center has evolved and grown to meet the contemporary and ever-changing needs of veterans.

The VOC offers many services for veterans including time-limited psychotherapy for veterans and their immediate families, employment assistance and placement, housing for homeless veterans, crisis intervention and outreach services for homeless veterans or those at risk and the VOC has case managers on hand to assess veterans' needs and refer them to health care facilities operated by the Department of Veterans Affairs or other community service providers. In addition, the VOC operates a retail store named The Stars and Stripes that sells flags and patriotic merchandise from which all of the proceeds go into veterans services.