According to the organization Veterans Coming Home “In addition to the complex set of factors influencing all homelessness – extreme shortage of affordable housing, livable income and access to health care – many displaced and at-risk veterans live with lingering effects of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and substance abuse, which are compounded by a lack of family and social support networks. Additionally, military occupations and training are not always transferable to the civilian workforce, placing some veterans at a disadvantage when competing for employment”.
The Cooperative Extension Program’s Community and Economic Development (CED) Unit of Prairie View A&M University has assembled a team of professionals and non-profit service organizations to develop a program that will assist veterans, homeless persons and the unemployed. The objective of this project is to increase the flood disaster rehabilitation workforce, facilitate service learning for University students, minimize homelessness, assist veterans, provide skills training, create jobs and assist service based non-profit organizations in increasing their capacities.
The CED Unit is working in partnership with the Houston Area Urban League (HAUL), EDS Technology, LLC and the City of Prairie View to provide Disaster Restoration Training to qualified individuals at no cost to them. Training will include several courses such as:
- Worker code of conduct
- The anatomy of a building
- Triaging the home
- Replacing insulation
- Replacing damaged sheetrock
- Replacement of trim and hardware and priming and painting the structure.
Course participants will be trained through a service learning approach of converting shipping containers into temporary livable spaces for veteran homeless populations in. These shipping containers will be cut for windows; wood framed, sheetrocked for walls, and painted by training participants. In the development of this program, we realize there is an opportunity for University students to take advantage of service learning opportunity by participating in the design and possible construction of these containers. As such, CED Program Leader, Jimmy Henry has involved Professor Barry Norwood, and others of the Prairie View A&M University School of Architecture in implementing student lead designs are part of their coursework. As the program expands, we see opportunities for other Colleges at PVAMU to get their students involved such as the College of Engineering to install solar cells on the container homes.
Pilot Project Deliverables:
- Unemployed individuals trained in Disaster Restoration
- New jobs (100% job placement)
- Assistance in debris removal and home reconstruction in the Houston area
- 2 Container homes near completion (part of training)
- Up to 8 Homeless veteran family members provided temporary housing
- Veteran families assisted with their benefits and transitioned to permanent housing
Source: http://veterans.whro.org/station_media/the-truth-about-homelessveterans/
This work was supported by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, 1890 Extension Formula Program projects under Section 1444.
Jimmy Henry
Program Leader CED
(936) 261-5115
jlhenry@pvamu.edu