October 2017 NCHV Newsletter

NCHV eNewsletter
October 2017
This Veterans Day, Help NCHV Advance Efforts to Get #BootsOffTheStreet
Veterans Day social media campaign
 

Each year, we celebrate Veterans Day with parades, concerts, ceremonies, and other gestures to honor the men and women who have served in our nation’s Armed Forces. Outside of the spotlight of this important holiday, nearly 40,000 veterans are experiencing homelessness on any given night. You know these veterans, you serve them in your community. 
This year for Veterans Day, please consider joining us to help reach our goal of raising $11,011 during our #BootsOffTheStreet Veterans Day campaign. All proceeds go toward furthering our efforts to advocate, collaborate, and help you build your organization's capacity in your community to end veteran homelessness in every community across the country.
Donate today by visiting https://www.razoo.com/story/6lipof. If you can’t donate, please share with your network! We'll be posting on social media with #BootsOffTheStreet the week leading up to and the weekend of Veterans Day. Be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter, and like and share!
Thank you for the work you do to support our nation's veterans, and thank you for your support of our national mission as a member of NCHV.
Operation Main Street Website is Live 
Make the difference in your community with #OpMainStreet
The National Coalition for Homeless Veterans is pleased to announce that our Operation Main Street website is up and running!

Taking place during Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week, Operation Main Street is the first ever NCHV led, nation-wide advocacy push. Much like a Capitol Hill Day when members come to D.C. to talk to their Representatives and Senators about veteran issues, #OpMainStreet is a grassroots advocacy program, designed to bring that same idea to your local communities. The week after Veterans Day (Nov. 12-18) veteran service providers, CoC partners, and clients all across the country will take meetings with Mayors, City Council Members, County Executives, and even state level legislators or executives to tell those elected officials what needs to be done in their own back yard to end veteran homelessness. These topics of discussion can be anything, from affordable housing creation or preservation, to criminalization, or court barriers. You can even talk about how national level changes in policy affect your communities – whatever it is that you need in your community, you should plan to discuss. 
All you as a volunteer have to do is sign up, schedule the meeting, and post about it all on social media using the hashtag #OpMainStreet! NCHV will be there to help prepare you for the meeting with webinars on how to successfully advocate on behalf of the veterans you serve, and to connect you to research and white papers to inform your conversation.
The week of the events, NCHV will also be acting as a force multiplier to amplify the message across social media and the traditional press. We will have dozens and dozens of communities taking these meetings all at once, and the goal is to get as much press attention on the issue as possible – both locally for the benefit of your programs, but also nationally for the benefit of all of us. A crucial part of this puzzle is your willingness to take photos with your local elected official and share it online using the hashtag #OpMainStreet.
Please go to http://www.nchv.org/index.php/policy/policy/op_main_street/ to read more about Operation Main Street, and to access the webinars and resources we’ve pulled together for you. If you have any questions, please contact NCHV staff at opmainstreet@nchv.org. 
Free and Discounted Specials for Veterans Day
List of meals, discounts, sales, and deals
In observance of Veterans Day, several local and national restaurants/businesses are offering free meals and other discounts to veterans and their families.
To see the full list of 2017 Veterans Holiday Free Meals, Discounts, Sales, and Deals visit this link from MilitaryBenefits.info: https://militarybenefits.info/veterans-day-discounts-sales-deals-free-meals/.
Rural Homelessness Among Veterans
Research brief from VA National Center on Homelessness Among Veterans
Rural homelessness among veterans is a poorly understood phenomenon. We do not know the extent to which veterans who access homeless services in urban areas have their origins in more rural areas or to what degree homeless veterans living in rural areas choose to forgo homeless services (thereby being uncounted among the homeless veteran population). There is a need for more research on all aspects of rural homelessness among veterans.

This brief from the VA National Center on Homelessness Among Veterans lays groundwork for more systematic research on rural veteran homelessness, especially that which focuses on the basic questions concerning differences in characteristics and services needs of rural veterans. Two specific research questions guide this study. First, in what ways is the rural veteran homeless population different than the non-rural veteran homeless population? Second, to what extent is homeless services use among veterans from rural areas different than that of those who were from more densely populated areas?
To view the brief, Rural Homelessness Among Veterans, click here.
Funding Opportunities
The American Savings Foundation makes grants across the state of Connecticut, in 64 communities where the partner bank operates. The Foundation makes grants for educational and human services purposes, among others, and does so for capital grants as well as general program grants. The Foundation will announce the next deadlines for applications soon. To learn more about the process and the application, click here.
The Hershey Company makes grants in the areas of education, health and human services, and community initiatives in the communities in which their manufacturing plants are located. These areas include the states of Hawaii, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Virginia. Cash and in-kind donations are available, and requests for funding are not tied to any application deadline. To apply, contact the management of the local plants. This information, and application packet information, can be found by clicking here. 
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