U.S. Senators Charles E. Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand today announced that the full Senate Appropriations Committee has approved the FY11 Appropriations Bill which includes $200,000 for the Monroe County Veterans Outreach Center, Inc. The funding will be used for the Veterans Alterative to Incarceration Program (VATIP) which focuses on getting substance-abusing veterans off drugs and out of jail, and giving them job skills to help rebuild their lives as stable, productive members of the community. Schumer and Gillibrand worked closely with members of the Appropriations Committee to include funding for the project in this year’s spending bill.
“This funding will help ensure that veterans in the Monroe County will have the opportunity to receive rehabilitation services, as well as the resources they need to find jobs when they return home from serving our country,” Schumer said. “By investing in this program, we are ensuring the safety and well-being of our veterans and their families. I will fight to see this funding through the full appropriations process.”
“After answering a call above and beyond any other, our veterans deserve the best resources we can provide,” Senator Gillibrand said. “This federal funding will help make sure that Monroe County veterans will have access to resources to rebuild their lives, find a job, provide for their families and succeed in the economy.”
VATIP is a three-phase program that works to identify the cause of the veterans’ problems, to provide counseling and to transition the veterans into the community with continuing care and educational training. The participant’s success is determined by at least one year of sobriety, and gainful employment or enrollment in a college degree program. Each veteran is monitored by case managers for over a year to ensure completion of the program.
Now that the bill has been approved by the full Senate Appropriations Committee, it will be sent to full Senate. Then the bill will move towards Conference with the House and then to the President for signature. Last week Schumer and Gillibrand announced the funding had passed the Appropriations subcommittee.