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Refer vets to agencies that offer services
YOUNGSTOWN
U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan said he wants the Mahoning Valley to be on the cutting edge of programs that work to help military veterans.
“We owe it to the men and women who sacrificed for us,” said Ryan, of Howland, D-13th, keynote speaker at the announcement Monday of the creation of the Mahoning & Trumbull County Veterans OneSource Center.
The OneSource Center, a program that plans to be a needs-assessment and referral center for veterans seeking services, is a partnership of the United Methodist Community Center, with facilities in Youngstown and Warren, and Easter Seals of Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana Counties.
“We have to be honest. With 22 military personnel taking their lives every day, we’re not doing the job. Veterans need to be treated holistically, including their families, spiritual and emotional needs as well as their illnesses,” Ryan said.
Veterans also need jobs and the skills to qualify for them, said Ryan, and Youngstown State University President Jim Tressel, who also spoke at the event at Youngstown UMCC, 139 E. Boardman St.
To be most effective, the most important thing is a coordinated, collaborative effort, Tressel said.
The first thing, Tressel said, is to find out what veterans need.
Then, maybe as critical, when progress has been made, is to understand what it takes to compete in their next set of dreams and make them come true, he said.
Eastern Gateway Community College and YSU are ready to step up and help prepare veterans to achieve their new dreams, Tressel said.
Referring to the debt owed veterans, Tressel said: “The world would be in real trouble without the U.S. military.”
To make the OneSource Center feasible space-wise, the Youngstown UMCC is moving from downtown Youngstown to 2401 Belmont Ave., a 7,700-square-foot building; and the UMCC Warren site at 309 N. Park Ave. will be expanded, said Juanita Pasley, UMCC executive director. The lease for the East Boardman Street building expires June 30.
Money also is an important issue, said Victoria Curran, chief executive officer of Partners for Community Growth and consultant and grant writer for UMCC.
An estimated $500,000 is needed to get the OneSource Centers up and running, she said.
Curran said UMCC is seeking funds to make the facilities handicapped- accessible and for staffing.
“We’re hoping to attract government funds and grants from community and corporate foundations,” she said.
“We plan to hire veterans, if at all possible. We are trying to assist the population that wrote a blank check with their lives made payable to the United States,” Pasley said.