New Directions' Residential Program for Homeless Male Veterans with Co-occuring Disorders

Grant Information
Categories	Community
Location	United States
Cycle Year	2009

Organization Information
Organization Name (provided by applicant)	New Directions, Inc.
Organization Name (provided by automatic EIN validation)
Secondary Addressee
EIN
Website	http://www.ndvets.org

Contact Information
Contact Name	Mary Fenstermacher
Phone	310-914-4045, extension 110
E-mail	mfenstermacher@ndvets.org
Address	11303 Wilshire Blvd., VA Bldg. 116 Los Angeles CA 90073

Additional Information
Used for	Should the Foundation grant our request, the funding will be used to offset the Program's projected budget deficit, which has deepened due to a cut in funding from the Los Angeles County Dept of Mental Health. These funds would be used to hep underwrite the following line-items in the program budget (including service coordinators, clinicians, and program supervisors); program supplies and food, and administrative overhead.
Benefits	Homelessness has often been described as a national epidemic; nearly every US city has been impacted, and perhaps none more than Los Angeles. If an end can be brought to homelessness in Los Angeles, it will mean that we can do so elsewhere. Through its residential programs for homeless veterans, who represent 25% of the nation's Homeless population, New Directions has played a vital role in helping to rebuild impacted communities by assisting both homeless male and female veterans to rebuild their lives by offering services like addiction recovery; transitional living programs; vocational services, legal aid, and help finding permanent, affordable housing.
Proposal Description	New Directions currently operates five separate residential facilities all dedicated to helping homeless veterans--both male and female--regain control of their lives. In addition to counseling, case management, and referral information, other services provided at our residential facilities include: transition assistance; addiction recovery; transitional housing; remedial education; mental health services including one-on-one and group counseling, as well as legal assistance and assistance finding employment and permanent, affordable housing in addition to aftercare services New Directions, Inc. (NDI) opened its New Directions North facility in response to an initial request by the Department of Veterans Affairs' Veterans Health Administration in West Los Angeles. After determining that its mental health and substance abuse services could not adequately meet the complex needs of its patient population of homeless veterans, the VA turned to NDI, whose programs have had a history of demonstrated successful outcomes, and asked our agency to expand our programs and services to include veterans diagnosed with co-occurring disorders. According to a 2004 report by the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, an estimated 340,000 male veterans in the US had a co-occurring serious mental illness and substance use disorder. New Directions North opened in March of 2002 and serves homeless male veterans with co-occurring disorders of substance abuse and mental illness, including severe depression, bi-polar disorder, schizophrenia, and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). With a 50-bed capacity, New Directions North provides long-term substance abuse rehabilitation which serves as the initial focal point during each resident's first 3 to 6 months in the program. Program and services at all NDI facilities use "therapeutic community" principles which incorporate self-help groups based on 1 12-step methodology. NDI's therapeutic community emphasizes values which include: honesty, work ethic, skill learning, personal accountability, economic self-reliance, family responsibility, community involvement, and good citizenship. It is our hope that these funds we have requested, along with other grant submission will help us to close a budget deficit the Program faces due to a cut in funding in the amount of $100,000 from one of our funders, the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health. Specifically, we hope that they can help cover the following line items from the program budget: salaries for direct service and program staff (including service coordinators, clinicians, and program supervisors); program supplies and food, as well as administrative overhead.