Expanding Supportive Services for Veterans and Their Families

• Convened regional grantee meetings to facilitate peer-to-peer networking, exchange best practices, and train grantees in grants management and implementation practices;
• Provided direct hands-on training and technical assistance to all existing grantees to build their capacity, resulting in all of them renewing their SSVF funding for the following year; and
• Provided technical assistance to first-time applicants, resulting in 12 new organizations receiving SSVF funding in 2013 (tripling the original goal of four). A total of 23 organizations (new and existing grantees) received funding.

Co-funding and Additional Funds Leveraged: Through this grant, IVMF helped secure more than three times the amount of SSVF funding awarded to New York State than the previous year—from $8 million in 2012 to $24 million in 2013. After the VA announced in 2014 that it would double its SSVF grant funding from $300 million to $600 million, NYHealth saw this as an opportunity to leverage its investment and awarded IVMF a follow-up grant. IVMF worked with 21 local organizations to secure more than $27 million in SSVF funding for 2014. New York State received the second-largest allocation of 2014 SSVF grants in the United States, with some funding going to communities in New York City and on Long Island—where more than 80% of all homeless veterans in the State live. As of 2015, New York State has received nearly $75 million in SSVF funding to support veteran families.