Serving Our Returning Vets

Paul Rieckhoff, Executive Director and Founder of IAVA, Donna Colonna, CEO, Services for the UnderServed

Services for the UnderServed (SUS), with investment firm BlackRock as host, convened a roundtable discussion on Monday, May 16 to address the issues facing our returning veterans. The roundtable brought together representatives from the public and private sector to determine how they can better work together to advance the design, funding, implementation and care coordination of high-impact, cost-effective veteran programs. Among the issues discussed were: the high level of homelessness, unemployment, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), suicide and depression, criminal justice, family reintegration and a service system that is at best currently fragmented, if available at all.

“We need help. We need the support of all types of folks, from finance, from government, from business together focused in on these men and women who served,” said Paul Rieckhoff, Executive Director and Founder of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America I, who served as the Keynote Speaker.

Participants in the symposium included: New York City Council SpeakerChristine Quinn, representatives from the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs, the New York City Mayor’s Office of Veteran Affairs, HELP USA,Service Women’s Action Network, Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation,New York Community Trust, American Corporate Partners, The Doe Fund,The Jericho Project, Corporation for Supportive Housing, andEaster Seals. Veterans from SUS as well as IAVA also shared their experiences with veteran programs and the challenges they faced in obtaining care and benefits of which they were entitled.

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) was scheduled to attend and introduce new legislation, the Pro-Vets Act that calls on the Veterans Affairs Department to be more proactive in informing and providing veterans with the services they’re entitled to receive. Unfortunately, air traffic delays prevented her appearance.

“These men and women went there to protect us, and we as a community have to take that responsibility and respond in an effective and meaningful way,” said Yves Ades, Senior Vice President, SUS. Services for the UnderServed stated that they will continue this discussion through future roundtables.

To read more from Fox News click here.

Art & Wellness at Montrose

The second place winning painting.

The Mental Health Division at SUS hosted an Art and Wellness Reception on May 11th at the Montrose residence in Brooklyn. The reception featured remarks from SUS staff members Nadjette Natchaba, Gloria Bedoya and Thomas Alveraz. Several consumers also shared with the crowd “What Art and Wellness Means to Me”. Residents, staff and guests were treated to a complimentary wellness screening.

The artwork was displayed throughout two floors of the residence, and prizes were awarded to first through fourth place. Please browse the photos to see the winners and judge the artwork for yourself.

Job Readiness & Career Fair

In 2009 when SUS opened our first apartment building in the Bronx for individuals with mental illness, SUS sponsored a community day in the neighborhood. It was a huge success and introduced SUS and other services to the residents of the Morris Heights community.

In our two years of being part of the Morris Heights community, we realized that there was a need for Job Readiness and Employment Skills Development. We partnered with the local Bronx Community Board #5 and WABC-TV to host a Job Readiness & Career Fair.

On Tuesday, May 10th, approximately 200 people came to the Job Readiness & Career Fair. Understanding the community needs, many of the booth hosts provided materials on training opportunities and job applications. Given that many of the individuals had never written a resume, SUS’ Human Resources Department staff led workshops on the basic elements of a resume, job interviews and appropriate dress for interviews.

Computers were available for individuals to search for jobs on-line and to create and print out resumes. Some participants took part in mock job interviews where they received feedback on how to talk about their marketable skills, though they may not have much of an employment history.

By the end of the day, hundreds of individuals gained new skills, learned about new training opportunities, and felt more confident about their future employment possibilities.

Watch video of this event

The Green Initiatives Team at Work on Earth Day!

The SUS Green Initiatives Team, directed by Dan Lohaus, was very busy on Earth Day this last week. After 36,000 lbs. of organic soil were delivered, the team had the difficult task of delivering the soil to 5 different residences for their urban gardens (Knickerbocker, Chester, Dewitt, March Hart and Throop). After the hard labor of building and preparing the beds are completed, the team will start planting and cultivating crops.

The SUS Urban Agriculture program, now in its second year, is dedicated to providing a sustainable source of vegetables for our residences. The gardening is very therapeutic to those who work the gardens, and has become very popular with the residents. We hope they have a bumper crop this year. Click here to learn more on getting involved with Urban Agriculture at SUS.

Click here to view photos on Flickr.

Expanding the Medical Home

Imagine being homeless, suffering from a mental illness and/or substance abuse as well as multiple chronic medical problems, without the knowledge or the guidance to navigate through the government bureaucracy that surrounds SSI payments, Medicaid, supportive housing and other government programs. It’s almost impossible for many of us to even fathom that, but for many SUS consumers this is a way of life. Trying to coordinate your health care, housing, and income stream all while trying to get back on your feet and find employment is almost impossible without help.

For those who have found a home at SUS, a continuum of rehabilitation, treatment and support services are delivered with the needs and the preferences of the consumer in mind. SUS’ Recovery Center serves as the cornerstone of this service array. Since 2009, our ACT program,Clubhouse and Employment Services, have been co-located on one-and-a-half floors of a commercial building in the Bedford Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn. The space also accommodates our outpatient Wellness Works Mental Health Clinic.

The Wellness Works Mental Health Clinic, opened in April, 2011, rounds out the service options available to consumers who are active in their own recovery. It serves as a “clinical home” for consumers in need by providing continuity over time as well as coordination across the domains of their lives (residence, work or training, family, and health); specialized tracks address the specific issues of the medically frail, young adults, and consumers with past experience with the criminal justice system. It is through the co-location of an outpatient Clinic component, that we are able to create an environment conducive to successful clinical treatment, person-centered care, and ultimately, recovery from mental illness.

Consumers now have relatively seamless access to all services and may choose to engage in a single service or a combination of services. In addition to reducing expenses associated with time and travel, consumers enjoy continuity in programming that provides consumers with the tools for managing their own recovery and wellness.

Medical Homes are a large initiative of Health Care Reform and are already being integrated into primary care all over the country. To learn more on patient-centered medical homes read The New York Times, “DOCTOR AND PATIENT; Putting Patients at the Center of the Medical Home”.

The Man, The Pen, And The Moon

This article originally appeared in the March/April 2011 edition of fluence magazine, published by Ricco/Maresca Gallery, and can be found in its original format at:http://www.riccomaresca.com/fluence/magazine.htm. The author, Marie Sabatino, is Program Director of the SUS Brooklyn Psychosocial Clubhouse.

His name was Melvin Way, or Melvin “Milky” Way, or as he signed on the form to consent for our interview: Melvin, Whay., Way. I had planned to meet with the artist on a Sunday afternoon in late December—the same day that New York City had one of the worst snowstorms in its history. When I called Melvin in the morning to confirm our appointment, he said something about not being able to make it because he was “in the process of flipping calendars.” I envisioned Melvin Way enraptured in a frenzy of epic art-making that might somehow convey the heaviness of time passing, moments lost. When I asked Melvin if he could tell me more about that process, he simply said: “Sundays are hyper—my natural high.”

My initial reaction was to attempt to convince Melvin to change his mind. I was eager to learn about the man behind the art. Then, despite my best intentions, I decided that it was better to follow the direction of Melvin Way. We planned to get together for the interview several days later.

I had met Melvin Way once before, at his recent exhibit at the Hospital Audiences, Inc. (HAI) Gallery in Soho just a few weeks earlier. Melvin’s work was first discovered by HAI art instructor, Andrew Castrucci, at a homeless shelter on Ward’s Island in New York City almost twenty-five years ago. In my investigation of the artist, I learned a bit about the mystique of Melvin “Milky” Way, as well as his reputation of being difficult to work with. Yet I found Melvin to be gentle and affable—eager to please, to engage, and to pull one into his world through his art; though, he certainly would not refer to the dozens of tightly condensed ballpoint drawings that adorned the walls of HAI as such a thing. As Melvin put it, proudly pointing to a centipede-like figure in one of his drawings, Key to Life, “I was ingesting this to be myself.” Indeed, much of the works of Melvin Way appeared to possess elements of both searching and self-discovery: a rigorous journey through a complex inner landscape—indefinable, yet with a sense of purpose.

According to most accounts of the artist’s history, Melvin Way has been living with schizophrenia for nearly four decades of his life. It was not clear exactly what Mr. Way understood this to mean. Perhaps the most he was able to intimate about this was that he went through a period of “amnesia” during much of his life. Memories, experiences, and realities at times here, at times gone. The way one might imagine waking from a dream in the middle of the night, bits and pieces pulsating and alive, yet mostly seen through a murky window of consciousness, an unspoken question about what exists in the world outside and what exists within.

This article has been abbreviated, to read it in its entirety click here.

The Pace Gallery Event

On Tuesday, April 12th over 100 of SUS’ friends and supporters gathered at The Pace Gallery. This annual event provide SUS with an opportunity to thank our current donors, introduce new people to SUS and build support as we head towards our Annual Gala.

The evening featured remarks from by Donna Colonna, and Board Chair, Carolyn Powell; it also allowed SUS donors to meet the 2011 SUS Gala honoree, Rob Davis. Mr. Davis is the Managing Director of Concept Capital, and the Founder and Chairman Emeritus of Hedge Funds Care.

We thank everyone who attended and a special thank you to Mr. Davis for joining us and The Pace Gallery for donating the venue for the event.

Currently the Gallery at 510 W 25th Street is featuring work from the Artist James Siena, you can see some of the pieces throughout the photos taken from the evening.

Click here to view photos from the event.

Princeton Students Spend Spring Break with SUS Veterans

Given the importance of civic engagement on campus, more than a dozen Princeton University students took part in a spring break program coordinated by the Pace Center for Civic Engagement at Princeton. The students videotaped interviews with formerly homeless U.S. military veterans during a visit to Services for the UnderServed’s Knickerbocker Residence in Bushwick, Brooklyn.

All of the veterans living in Knickerbocker struggle with mental illness and have at one point been homeless. Their personal stories of war, family loss, substance abuse and living on the streets are unimaginable to most, especially to college students. The interviews gave a voice to these veterans who have struggled to find their place in society and to be recognized for the sacrifices they made in battle and in their post service lives.

“There is something to be said for an organization that is as committed to ‘serving the underserved’ as SUS is… it was an honor to witness their efforts, and more importantly, to witness the smiles of veterans who have had little to smile about in their lives,” says Mark Stevens, Princeton University sophomore majoring in Public and International Affairs.

“We commend the efforts of these students,” said David Hertz, Chief Development Officer of Services for the UnderServed (SUS). “For many college students across the country spring break is a time to head away for sun and fun and escape from the pressures and rigors of their classes and studies.  However, these young men and women have instead dedicated their vacation to honoring those who served their nation and after witnessing the horrors of war have rebuilt their lives and have very special stories to tell.”

SUS Veteran Highlighted on Channel 12 Brooklyn | Watch Video

The Green Housing Initiative

By: Michael Whelan, SUS Chief Finance Officer

SUS’ success in supporting consumers in their life-journey begins with the stability of having a home. It takes a lot of work and manpower to maintain over 1,500 units of housing. “We are here to ensure that our facilities meet the needs of our consumers,” says Bob Ortiz, SUS Director of Maintenance. SUS’ properties are a valuable asset, and we spend more than $1.2M a year to heat and light our buildings. We have designed a Property Management Initiative which includes the objective of cost reductions
through energy efficiencies.

Through the NYS Weatherization Assistance Program, and in collaboration with the Supportive Housing Network of New York (SHNNY) and the Association of Energy Affordability (AEA) SUS is assessing the energy efficient property management needs of 6 properties within our housing portfolio (a total of 239 living units). This program is the largest residential energy conservation program in the country, and is funded by the U.S. Departments of Energy and Health and Human Services.

The weatherization of Vernon, the first of six SUS properties to be evaluated, was recently completed. The building was in need of $45,525 in updates according to the AEA’s extensive energy audit. Because of the Weatherization Assistance Program SUS only had to pay 1/3 of the total cost, approximately $11,381. The improvements will save the complex $2,339.03 within one year from implementation. These measures will also reduce the building’s energy factor by 7.99%. Our commitment going forward is to green the full inventory of our portfolio.

As SUS rolls out its go-green plan, Bob and his team will continue the work of everyday repairs and maintenance while playing an essential role in the realization of our long-term objectives. It’s not just about saving money; it’s about providing a comfortable environment for SUS consumers. Every SUS consumer deserves a comfortable place to live; free of drafts in the winter and extreme heat in the summer, a place they are proud to call home.

What If A Snow Day Is Not An Option?

By: Minjung Park, SUS Grant Manager

I’m sure many of us took “snow days,” worked from home, or left work early to avoid the messes of the recent blizzards this winter. I saw a news piece that talked about how much easier it is to work from home now and how employees at many companies are doing that more and more.
For many of the 1,600 SUS staff, that was not a possibility or even a thought – even though they may have their own children who they need to take care of now that they have a snow day. Some staff not only had to work, but had to extend their shifts in order to cover for those who were truly snowed in.
From the beginning of the winter season, SUS managers have been meeting to discuss Emergency Procedures for inclement weather. But before every actual blizzard, staff meet again to confirm plans – and walking out of their meeting, people are on their phones to ensure there is coverage at all of our programs.
What would happen to all of the young men and women with developmental disabilities at one of our 26 residences, who need supervision and help to plan out their day now that they don’t have school? Or to make sure that the homeless and possibly mentally ill individual who is ready to get off the streets has a clean, safe place to stay at one of our 17 mental health residences?
These snow storms, especially such emergencies as the blizzard in December, disrupt our everyday lives – but SUS doesn’t, and can’t shut down. Snow, transit strikes, electrical outages, etc. will not stop SUS from providing much needed care to thousands of New Yorkers, or from keeping our staff, SUS’ everyday heroes, from doing their job.