The City of Phoenix is committed to ensuring that our
veterans have access to key services and resources, whether housing and social
services-related, or access to quality jobs. Our veterans and their
families have made unthinkable sacrifices for our nation. At the city of
Phoenix, we are committed to honoring this sacrifice.
H.E.R.O.
Initiative
The H.E.R.O. Initiative was formed to address the exceptionally
high unemployment rate among veterans. Not only is the City of Phoenix
making hiring qualified veterans a priority, but we are also working with top
Valley companies to encourage that they, too, make a commitment to hiring
veterans. Here are a few components of the initiative:
- In May, the city began training supervisors on
the benefits and misconceptions associated with hiring veterans.
- The city is working with a broad coalition of
community stakeholders to host “H.E.R.O. Hiring events.” These
events are much different than typical job fairs. They are smaller,
more personal, and our team does extensive groundwork in advance of the
events to “pre-match” veteran job seekers and employers to ensure greater
job placement.
- Prior to each hiring event, we host a series
of workshops for veteran participants to assist them with resume
translation from military language to civilian, interview skills, and
general career readiness.
- We also host an employer reception and
education session to educate participating employers on the benefits and
misconceptions associated with hiring veterans.
Veterans Bootcamp
on Homelessness Initiative
This initiative has housed nearly 150 chronically homeless
veterans through cooperative arrangements with the VA, HUD, and the city.
Part of the Phoenix Homeless Initiative is the Family Focused Initiative,
a joint partnership between the Housing and Human Services Department that will
provide 25 Public Housing units and case-work services per year for the next
three years to assist families to move from the Watkins emergency shelter.
StandDown
Phoenix is a key partner in the Arizona StandDown, one of the
country’s largest, singular outreach events for homeless and at-risk veterans.
A number of services are offered over a three-day period including:
medical, dental, job placement, social services and housing assistance.
Nearly 1,400 homeless and vulnerable veterans received services at the
Veterans’ Memorial Coliseum in March.
Veterans Court
The Veterans Court was established in 2012 and is a partnership
between the Municipal Court, Prosecutor’s Office, Public Defender’s Office, and
Phoenix Veterans Administration (VA). The goal of the Veterans Court is to
restore veterans to being successful, contributing members of the community.
The court focuses on ensuring that veterans entering the criminal justice
system make contact with specific programs to address the root causes of the
behavior that resulted in the veteran becoming a defendant in the criminal
justice system.
Veteran Housing
No veteran who has selflessly served his or her nation should ever
be without a safe and secure place to call home. Ending chronic
homelessness among veterans is a key priority of mine and the City of Phoenix.
The city currently provides funding to seven supportive housing
facilities across the city for homeless veterans and their families. In
addition, we have provided 695 housing vouchers to further address veteran
homelessness. Although we are making great strides in addressing this
unacceptable problem, we must continue to collaborate with key community
partners and invest all available resources until all of our city’s veterans
are housed.
Veterans Day
Parade
The annual Phoenix Veterans Day Parade is one of the largest in
the nation. It is the one time of year when the entire community comes
together to rally around and thank our veterans. My family and I enjoy
the parade every year and know how important it is to our city. The
future of the parade was in jeopardy earlier this year when the VA, who had
been the event’s primary sponsor, withdrew their support. In order
to ensure the continuation of the parade, the city stepped in and is now
serving as the main partner for the event. I can’t imagine Veterans Day
without the parade and the show of support it provides to our veterans.
See you on Veterans Day!
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