The Situation

The Situation

 

At-Risk Veterans In North Carolina

  1. North Carolina is home to over 750,000 veterans and has the greatest number of active duty troops on the East Coast.
  2. Our state is also in the top 5 per capita nationally for 21st Century veteran residents.
  3. In 2018, some 9,268 unique individual veterans from the state contacted or were referred to the  VA as homeless or at risk of becoming homeless.
  4. Veterans account for only approximately 9.8% of the total population of North Carolina, but 18-20% of all homeless individuals in North Carolina.
  5. More than 2,589 veterans are currently incarcerated in North Carolina, of which some 22.7% are likely 21st Century veterans.
  6. On average, 3.5 veterans commit suicide in North Carolina every week.

A Holistic Approach to Veterans Reintegration

  1. For too long, veterans’ help programs, governmental and charitable; have suffered from the silo syndrome.
  2. In addition, and perhaps as a result, programs have tended to treat symptoms rather than the disease.
  3. Veterans’ homeless programs were designed to reduce homelessness, and ignored the causes of homelessness.  Ditto for jobs programs, suicide prevention programs, etc.
  4. These problems do not arrive by spontaneous generation, they have causes, and the root causes have to do with mental and behavioral health problems resulting from their service experiences.
  5. Unless these root causes are addressed, such problems will never be adequately addressed.
  6. An intervention is needed, and VLC’s Coordinated Care program provides just that.

Crisis consists of one or more of the following
  • Chronic Homelessness
  • Incarceration
  • Suicide
  • Premature Death
Averting a Crisis

When crisis is averted, the person can achieve reintegration and find a constructive and personally-satisfying role in civil society.

Successful Community Reintegration

The VLC Coordinated Care program is designed to rescue at-risk veterans from the nearly inevitable crisis they face.  At the Veterans Life Center, our goal is successful community reintegration for every North Carolina Veteran, but the path to that goal is different for each of them. We are the only statewide Veterans organization designed to provide the specialized services, counseling, training and mentoring to return our suffering heroes to self-reliance.

We cannot do it alone. We need your support!

Please consider helping our homeless North Carolina Veterans with a donation today!

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... and hundreds of caring people like you. THANK YOU!