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UMCC helps Valley vets get back on their feet
Photo
Thompson
YOUNGSTOWN
Charles Brown, 51, of Youngstown, formerly of Warren, had no job and was living with relatives.
Brown, who served in the Army from 1983 to 1993 during Operation Desert Storm, or “Bush I,” as he calls it, said he was close to being homeless.
Then he heard about the United Methodist Community Center’s Veterans Stand Down job fairs in Warren and Youngstown. The Youngstown UMCC is at 139 E. Boardman St., and the Warren UMCC is at 309 N. Park Ave.
The Stand Down events are job fairs with benefits.
Veterans can get health screenings, such as for blood pressure, haircuts, educational information and on-the-spot interviews with employers.
Brown walked out of the 2014 Veterans Stand Down fair in Warren with a place to live through the Youngs-town Metropolitan Housing Authority and a job driving cars off the assembly line at the General Motors complex in Lordstown.
“Now I have a place for me and my 5-year-old daughter to live,” said Brown, a single parent.
“That is one of our success stories,” said Juanita Thompson, coordinator of UMCC’s veterans programs.
Thompson, who has a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Youngstown State University and formerly worked as an employment specialist at Community Corrections Association, said the program assesses the veterans to find out their specific needs, such as housing and employment, and barriers to consistent housing and employment, such as addiction, mental-health problems, a criminal record, lack of education and the need for technical training.
UMCC also offers classes on resume writing, job-interview skills and how to dress for interviews.
“Many times, I serve as a liaison between the veterans and their employer to help them work through obstacles at work,” she said.
Many times, when veterans first return to civilian life, they find the pay and benefits are not as good as in the service, where food, health care and a place to live are provided, she said.
During the interview with Thompson, one of her clients, Mark Bell, 47, came into her office on his way to the Youngstown Veterans Treatment Court.
Judge Robert P. Milich of Youngstown Municipal Court, a retired Air Force veteran, presides over the veterans court, to which veterans — who have been charged with a nonviolent misdemeanor offense and who also have a clinical diagnosis of substance dependence, a mental-health disease, traumatic brain injury or a co-occurring disorder — can apply for treatment.
If they complete the treatment program, they can avoid going to jail.
“This place [UMCC] has taught me more about society. ... If not for these people, I wouldn’t have a job,” said Mark Bill, who served in the Navy from 1985 to 1993.
“It’s not just showing you how to write a resume, it’s showing you how to deal with life,” he said of the center’s veterans program.
Bill was a cook in the Navy and has been a cook at various places. Now, he is a truck driver.
One of the most-satisfying things is when a client comes back and says they have found stability, Thompson said.
“You watch them grow. It’s fulfilling to see them get back on their feet,” she said.