Cape & Islands Veterans Outreach Center

Our specific focus is on food insecurity among veterans and their families, homelessness, and comprehensive counseling services. To that end, in the past year, we have delivered food to 1,717 veterans and their families, while also expanding our food pantry operations beyond our service center here in Hyannis, to the Outer Cape in Orleans, and on Martha's Vineyard Island. Our goal is to ensure that all veterans living in the more remote areas of our service region receive the food they need to survive. In housing, we presently manage 15 single-room occupancy transitional housing units in two locations -- Hyannis and Dennis -- and we provide a robust case management program for each resident we serve. We also actively advocate for residents' housing and related support services. In FY 21 we delivered $313,234 in Supportive Services for Veterans' Families (an increase of more than 50% over the prior fiscal year). These services were delivered to 57 individuals and 18 families, and we also conducted another 249 referral interviews. Our counseling services provided 567 sessions to our veterans and their family members, as well as another 81 sessions on VA disability, employment, and eligibility for benefits. In calendar 2022, we served 5,092 veterans and their families.

The Cape and Islands Veterans Outreach Center plans to continue to build relationships and engage in collaborative activities with other organizations that share our focus on, and a passion for, serving our veterans. Our collaboration with the Cape Cod Legislative Delegation, as well as with the Town of Dennis, helped empower us to build and open our Dennis Veterans Home, and we are actively engaged with many of the remaining towns on Cape Cod to bring similar programs and projects to their communities as well. We also see significant opportunities and need in the areas of housing support, food insecurity, counseling, and outreach. We will continue our role as the connector between veterans on the Cape and Islands, and the services they seek to be successful in our communities.

The Cape and Islands Veterans Outreach Center has a measured, documented, track record of success and meaningful achievement towards improving the lives of veterans on the Cape and Islands. A dynamic board, a skilled team of professionals, a supportive legislative delegation, and generous friends have helped us to grow and serve more men and women, and their families, each year. We deliver 91 cents of every dollar we raise back to those we serve, and we have assets in excess of $2.325 million dollars. Additionally, we are cash flow positive in our operations, returning the maximum amount possible back to those we serve.

The Cape and Islands Veterans Outreach Center has become the preeminent resource for veterans on the Cape and the Islands, and we operate all of these services and resources with a very small professional management team of just six people. We anticipate that at least one more town-based affordable housing project for veterans will begin construction in the coming year, while we expand our food bank and counseling services during the continuing pandemic.