Rochester Hosts 'Stand Down' for Veterans
By Seth Voorhees YNN News April 29, 2010
Advocates for veterans say the need now is as great as it's ever been, which is why a local agency brought providers together Thursday under one roof.
Veterans Outreach Center call the event "Stand Down."
A number of services are available for vets, especially those who are homeless, low-income or at risk. Advocates said they are helping vets of all ages, who served during all eras.
"A lot of our population, on the face of homelessness, is changing," said Nena Siverd of the Veterans Outreach Center. "It's not just the Vietnam era of drinking and drugging. It's combat vets, female combat vets returning home with children. It's families. And bigger than that, it's an entire senior population, losing their homes or not being able to pay rent."
Veterans Stand Down ran through 4 p.m. Thursday at Our Lady of the Americas Church on East Main Street in Rochester.
Hundreds of military veterans hunt for work
By Matthew Daneman Democrat and Chronicle October 23, 2009
Advocate says group hit hard by recession
James Whipple spent 13 years in the U.S. Army on active duty and in the National Guard, including a year stationed in Afghanistan. He has spent the past five months unemployed and looking for work since losing his advertising sales job.
"There are just no jobs out there," the 36-year-old Hilton resident said as he stood nearly shoulder to shoulder Thursday with numerous other military vets at a job fair organized by the Veterans Outreach Center in Rochester. "I've been looking for anything, really. I'm not too proud of a guy."
In better economic times, the annual event put together by the non-profit agency typically attracts 65 or so prospective employers and about 300 veterans, said center program manager Nena Siverd. This year, the number of employers was off by a few, she said, and 90 minutes before the start of the job fair a line already had formed outside the door of the Eisenhart Auditorium at the Rochester Museum and Science Center.
"There's definitely a great demand for jobs," said Peter W. Blind, vice president of workforce development at the Veterans Outreach Center.
Layoffs during the recession have left many middle managers and skilled tradesmen - who often are military veterans - out of work, Blind said. "They're being struck very hard by downsizings."
The employers taking resumes and answering questions ranged from the Professional Driver Institute truck driving school and U.S. Army recruiters to such major local employers as the University of Rochester, Paychex Inc. and ITT Corp.'s space systems division.
"Our employer commitment to veters in this community is outstanding," with some employers only posting their job openings with the center, Siverd said.
Local Businesses Honored for Supporting Veterans
By Scott Fairbanks YNN Rochester October 19, 2009
Several area businesses were recognized Monday for their commitment to hire veterans. The Veterans Outreach Center (VOC) on South Avenue held its annual recognition ceremony Monday afternoon.
Businesses working with the center's employment specialists to hire vets were recognized. Monroe Motor Products and Sutherland Global Services were among the companies named employers of the year for 2009.
"It's really important because we're offering them some pre-employment training and we're offering them an opportunity with a company that encourages growth in its employees. We encourage them to move up the corporate ladder and make a career out of their time at Sutherland," said Becky Havranek, Sutherland Global Services.
The ceremony leads up to the VOC's 9th Annual National Veterans Job Expo set for October 22 at the Rochester Museum & Science Center.
Vets, BOCES offer training
Democrat and Chronicle September 12, 2009
The Veterans Outreach Center is teaming up with the Board of Cooperative Education Services 2 Center for Workforce Development to provide training in green technologies for the HVAC and building maintenance industries. The collaboration, called the Green Initiative for Veterans' Employment, will also provide employment placement assistance after the training.
Veterans interested in the training should attend an information session at noon
Sept. 15 or Sept. 22 at the Veterans Outreach Center, 459 South Ave.
For more information, call (585) 546-4250. Classes begin Nov. 9.
Agencies Team Up to Offer Vets Therapeutic Recreation
By Cristina Domingues YNN Rochester August 18, 2009
Local agencies are teaming up for a new program, helping veterans re-adjust to life at home. The Greater Rochester Veterans Therapeutic Recreation Program, or Vet Rec, helps vets reintegrate back into the community through recreational programs.
The collaborative effort teams up vet service agencies with other organizations offering everything from fly fishing to golf.
Organizers say these recreational activities are helping vets who are coming back from war, with both physical and mental injuries.
"When you participate in a recreational therapy program, we know that cognition is better, we know that perception is better, we know that your concentration is better and also physically it increases your endurance and your ability to overcome some of the physical things you haven't been able to before," said Kai Chitaphong of the Canandaigua VA Medical Center.
Organizers say the rec programs also help vets connect to each other ... by spending time with those who have been through similar experiences.
Veterans Court offers hope for reclaiming lives
Reported by Mark Hare Democrat and Chronicle March 5, 2009
Michael Thomas began to reclaim his freedom from drugs and alcohol at Freedom House, an intensive residential treatment program run by the Catholic Family Center of Rochester.
"I had to make a decision," says Thomas, of Rochester, "I'm 45 years old and I had to take my life back."
That was a year ago. Today, Thomas is close to "graduating" from the new Monroe County Veterans Court, having started his journey two years ago with arrests for petit larceny and then drug possession. He struggled in Drug Treatment Court, relapsed, and eventually did several months in the county jail.
"I've been locked up, I don't know how many times," says Thomas, who served in the U.S. Army from 1982 to 1985, spending part of that time in Germany. He did not see combat, and unlike many of the court's Iraq and Afghanistan vets, does not have post traumatic stress.
"I have an addictive personality," he says. "I started when I was 13." When he got out of the Army he worked at repairing electronics equipment and doing construction. But addictions always threw him off course.
Now Thomas hopes to start school and eventually become a counselor to help others with addictions. "I have a lot of experience in the field," he says. Monroe County Court Judge Patricia Marks presides in Veterans Court, as well as the Drug Treatment and Mental Health courts. She and other court workers knew that veterans had been disproportionately represented in both of the earlier specialty courts, and the courts had long been using the services of the Veterans Outreach Center to coordinate treatment and other help for vets. It seemed reasonable to establish a court for veterans, modeled after a similar court in Erie County.
The theory is the same for all three specialty courts: offer defendants charged with nonviolent offenses a chance to get the help they need. They must be accountable, reporting regularly to the judge, testing negative for drug use, getting the treatment they need and availing themselves of help with housing, jobs and education. They must, before they graduate, find employment or start school. If they succeed, they get a break on the charges against them. If they fail, it's back to criminal court.
It is common sense justice, aimed at holding offenders accountable, while helping them succeed in life.
Veterans Court adds a new element - mentors, other vets who serve as friends and advisers. "We're not on them like a hawk," says mentor Dick Grube of Fairport. "That's for parole officers. We're someone they can call, a sounding board."
Grube, who spent two years as an Army medic in Vietnam, has his own business as a manufacturers' representative for automotive products. He is also vice commander of the Fairport Veterans of Foreign Wars chapter.
"We'll talk on the phone, have a cup of coffee, be a sounding board," Grube says of the mentors. "It's important that the veterans have another veteran to talk to."
And the court, Grube says, will continue to be essential as more veterans come home from Iraq and Afghanistan. "Some of them have three and four tours of duty. Thirty percent will have a problem when they come back."
This kind of help is a low-risk alternative that could pay big dividends.
As Marks told a veteran who stood before her in court one day recently, the court is "a work in progress." Without missing a beat, the vet in front of the bench said, "That's OK, I'm a work in progress, too, ma'am."
Injured Soldiers Called Back to War
Reported by Evan Axelbank WROC-TV February 25, 2009
Sgt. Bob Mitchell and Spc. Patrick Meehan have three things in common. Both were injured on the battlefield. Both never thought they'd be called back to war. And both were wrong.
"I don't think shock is even the word for it," said Mitchell.
"I couldn't understand, I've done two tours over there already," said Meehan.
Patrick Meehan won a purple heart. In 2005, a roadside bomb blew up near the Iraqi city of Tikrit, sending shrapnel into his face. The sound of gunfire has caused hearing loss. After months off active duty, things have changed for Mitchell and his wife.
"With a new baby, and new responsibility, a new house, she'd have to take on a whole new role, everything would change," said Mitchell.
Meehan has started school.
"I've enlisted in MCC. I'm doing well in school there," said Meehan.
After two tours, both men simply want to start the rest of their lives. Although they're not on active duty, they still have time left on their eight year contract with the military. They're considered individual ready reserve soldiers.
The military says calling up soldiers who are no longer on active duty isn't uncommon. In fact, they say it's necessary. There often aren't enough active duty soldiers to handle specialized tasks. And IRR soldiers are already trained.
But what about their injuries? The Pentagon says that's what their appeal process is for. Indeed Mitchell has worked with the Veterans Outreach Center and successfully appealed. He won't have to go back. Meehan hasn't started his appeal yet.
"I did what I had to do, I served over three years there. And I just want to get on with my life," said Meehan.
"I still don't regret the decision that I made to join the military. It's still one of the best things that happend to me. And I've made some of the best friends I'll ever have in the world. But it pushes it to the limit a little bit," said Mitchell.
Which is saying something, considering how much they've already sacrificed.
Click on rochesterhomepage.net to view the video clip.
New court to help nonviolent veterans
Michael Zeigler, Staff Writer Democrat and Chronicle January 12, 2009
Monroe County Court Judge Patricia D. Marks can sometimes tell if criminal defendants apperaring before her are military veterans.
"More often than not, they're the ones who pull themselves straight and answer 'yes ma'am' and 'no ma'am,' she said.
Beginning today, some veterans who are accused of crimes will be able to use their military service to help them resolve the trouble they're in.
Marks, who already presides over Drug Treatment Court and Mental Health Court at the Hall of Justice, will take the bench this afternoon on the first day of the new Veterans Court, which is aimed at veterans who commit nonviolent crimes.
Modeled after a similar court in Buffalo, which began a year ago and was the first of its kind in the nation, Veterans Court will steer veterans to services designed just for them - from drug and alcohol treatment to housing assistance, employment services and herapy for post-traumatic stress disorder - while the criminal case against them is put on hold.
Veterans who successfully complete the programs they need can expect a break on the criminal charge, ranging from a dismissal to a reduced sentence, depending on the circumstances of the crime and their record.
Although the court has no age limit for veterans, it's getting under way in time to help younger veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, said Greg McClune, a clinical case worker of the Veterans Outreach Center of Rochester, which will provide services to the veterans and is the oldest community-based veterans outreach center in the nation.
"We have seen the age of the veterans we serve kind of drop," McClune said. "The youngest veteran we've had was 19, a combat veteran of Iraq."
The court is aimed at veterans who have committed such offenses as burglary, larceny, shop-lifting, criminal mischief and possession of weapons or drugs. Its intent is to help veterans deal with underlying problems that led them to commit crimes, such as a drug addiction that compels them to steal, so they don't commit new crimes.
"We know that treatment helps reduce recidivism," Marks said.
"Veterans are a unique population," said Alisa Parmiter, manager of public relations and special events at the Veterans Outreach Center. "They don't commit these crimes just to commit them. The things they experienced while serving may have affected them to the extent that they turn to drugs and alcohol."
The court is being funded with a two-year, $263,939 grant from the federal Bureau of Justice Administration.
The court is patterned after two other local problem-solving courts - Drug Treatment Court, which began in 1995, and Mental Health Court, which was established in 2003.
The road to Veterans Court will begin after those who are arrested for nonviolent crimes are interviewed before their arraignment to determine if they're veterans. They'll be asked if they're interested in participating in the court.
If they agree and are accepted, the charges will be put on hold while they're enrolled in programs to address their needs. They'll report back to the court regularly. If they succeed in their programs, they'll be rewarded. If not, their prosecution resumes.
But getting veterans in some cases to acknowledge that they served has been a problem, Drug Treatment Court workers have found when they asked new clients whether they were veterans.
"One of the biggest problems in Drug Treatment Court was identifying who was a veteran," McClune said. "Often, in the initial intakes that the court would do, they would ask a client, 'Are you a veteran?' A significant number would answer 'no' because they weren't in combat or they didn't have an honorable discharge or they were in the reserves or the National Guard. Once we changed the question ... to 'Have you served in the military?' the numbers jumped."
Marks said she expects to begin with about 25 veterans who have already been screened. Eventually, the court could handle up to 150 veterans, she said.
McClune said he hopes to "find out that there's more than I can handle. My goal is to get all of them," he said. "I would much rather deal with a veteran in Veterans Court who got busted for possession of a controlled substance than to see him come back years later with a manslaughter charge. Hopefully, by getting to him early, we can prevent that."
Background
Although Veterans Court begins today, it will have a ceremonial opening Feb. 9.
Click on RNews to watch a video of the the first day of Veterans Court.
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