VOLUNTEERS OF AMERICA - GREATER NEW YORK, INC.
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
VOA-GNY addresses several problems and needs under the overarching mission of helping individuals and families in need create positive and lasting change through social service programs that support and empower them to live safe, healthy and productive lives. The needs and problems addressed are some of the weightiest and most intractable problems facing our society today, including homelessness in light of a critical shortage of affordable housing; domestic violence; developmental delays and disabilities for individuals from pre-school to adult ; HIV/AIDS; the challenges that seniors face in securing appropriate housing; veterans issues of reentry; transition from incarceration; and behavioral health and substance abuse issues.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Volunteers of America-Greater New York
Although we are a major provider of services to homeless individuals in New York City, our reach is broad. We operate 80 community-based programs that address the needs of veterans, at-risk youth, survivors of domestic violence, children and adults with developmental disabilities, individuals living with HIV/AIDS, behavioral health, and substance use disorders, older adults, and individuals and families who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. With over 2000 shelter beds for homeless men, 245 apartments for homeless families and 1,500 units of specialized housing for the formerly homeless individuals, people with HIV/AIDS, mental illness, and developmental disabilities, we provide the humane, comprehensive services to help individuals and families in need. Each year, over 470 developmentally disabled children benefit from the individualized educational services they receive at our two early learning centers. Our specialized group homes for troubled teens provide a highly structured, nurturing home life and model skills that help them successfully navigate their teen years and become productive adults with bright futures. We are the largest provider of supportive housing to veterans in New York and provide a continuum of care to address their housing, employment, health, and reintegration needs. We have recently introduced peer support programs — one that trains and certifies veterans to help their peers navigate the services to which they are entitled, and another that helps veterans cope with moral injury, the internal suffering that results from doing something against one’s moral code. Each summer, VOA-GNY runs Operation Backpack®, the city’s largest back-to-school drive that provides 20,000 homeless students with new backpacks full of grade-specific supplies in time for the first day of school.
Where we work
External reviews
Photos
Videos
Our Sustainable Development Goals
Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
VOA-GNY aims to enable vulnerable people to move toward their highest potential. For people who have been homeless, the goal is to move them to the greatest independence that they are equipped to handle and to move them along the continuum to greater autonomy, whether that is a shelter, or supportive housing, or fully independent affordable housing. For families who have survived domestic violence, it is to provide a full complement of services to keep the families safe, healthy and secure in an appropriate permanent home. For individuals with developmental delays and disabilities, it is to provide the best possible educational start and to foster independence to the extent possible based on the individual’s ability. For clients who have been diagnosed with HIV/AIDS, the goal is to maintain health and independence in a safe environment. For seniors, the goal is to secure permanent, affordable housing and linkages to health and social services to facilitate safe independence for as long as possible. For those transitioning from incarceration, it is the support to allow them to remain out of prison and to have productive lives. For individuals with behavioral health and substance abuse issues, it is the treatment and support to cope with these issues so that they can attain their life goals. For veterans, it is the ability to provide peer support, specialized counseling and other services in addition to housing to allow an optimal reentry into civilian life and ability to meet their long-term personal and professional life goals.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
For our homelessness initiatives, our strategy is to continue to develop new affordable housing, both supportive and independent, to alleviate the crisis of homelessness facing our city. VOA-GNY currently provides a spectrum of program for homeless individuals, ranging from outreach, to homeless shelters for individuals, to family and domestic violence shelters, to supportive housing, to affordable permanent housing. These programs are service-rich, with social services such as child care and therapies provided on-site and robust collaboration with other agencies to provide ancillary services. This effort improves the lives for the many populations we serve with housing: veterans, seniors, individuals with behavioral health and substance abuse diagnoses, the formerly incarcerated, survivors of domestic violence, individuals with HIV/AIDS, and developmentally disabled youths and adults. VOA-GNY also ensures the dignity of more than 18,000 children living in homeless shelters throughout the city by providing backpacks filled with age-appropriate school supplies in advance of the start of the school year.
For young children with developmental delays and specifically those on the autistic spectrum, the great majority of whom are from low-income families, our strategy is to provide the most appropriate preschool education in modern, well-equipped facilities to ensure the best possible start in the children’s movement toward eventual independence.
For veterans, VOA is on the cutting edge of providing programs that allow them not simply to cope with the issues of re-entry, but to actually overcome the issues and thrive. We offer a program called “Battle Buddy Bridge,” which pairs homeless veterans with formerly homeless veterans to provide peer-to-peer counseling and support. We are also at the forefront of research and treatment for moral injury, which is a mental and spiritual condition that results from soldiers having been forced by circumstances to perform actions that are in conflict with their own moral grounding.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
VOA has been providing social services for the most vulnerable since 1896 and is the largest developer of affordable housing in the country.
In New York, we are the chief provider of supportive housing for veterans and one of the leading homeless services nonprofits in the city.
For more than 30 years, we have been operating our innovative Bronx Early Learning Center and Staten Island Early Learning.
VOA-GNY is accredited by the Council on Accreditation (COA), the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and The Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF).
One of our newest properties, the Creston Avenue Residence, was named 2017 "Residence of the Year" by Supportive Housing Network of New York (SHNNY) and was recognized by the American Institute of Architects of New York with its 2015 “AIANY Committee on the Environment (COTE) Award.”
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
Each year, VOA-GNY provides services to tens of thousands of clients, including the homeless, families affected by domestic violence, children with special needs, severely troubled youth, individuals and families living with HIV or AIDS, adults with mental illnesses and/or substance abuse problems, veterans struggling to find their footing, the formerly incarcerated and the frail elderly. In addition, it provides 18,000 backpacks to children living in homeless shelters throughout the city. See our latest annual report for more detail on our accomplishments: https://www.voa-gny.org/pdf_files/2017-annual-report VOA-GNY is breaking ground on a new senior affordable supportive housing building in the Bronx. In response to the city’s opioid crisis, VOA-GNY plans to expand is work by providing housing and other services to pregnant women struggling with opioid addiction. We plan to expand our innovative work with veterans including Battle Buddy Bridge, a robust peer counseling program for homeless veterans, and spiritual resiliency training for those who have experienced moral injury, which is the result of veterans having had to perform actions that are in conflict with their personal moral code.
Financials
Unlock nonprofit financial insights that will help you make more informed decisions. Try our monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights?
Learn more
about GuideStar Pro.
Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
VOLUNTEERS OF AMERICA - GREATER NEW YORK, INC.
Board of directorsas of 07/19/2023
Mr. Gerry Cunningham
Deloitte Consulting LLP
Paige Davis
Tom Johnson
Abernathy MacGregor Group
Robert Wolk
Reginald Goins
Pepsi-Cola Bottling Companies and Canada Dry Bottling Companies
Andrew Feng
MacAndrews and Forbes Incorporated
Ashish Midha
Deloitte
Patricia Daly
FIRST
Diane Linen Powell
Robert Golden
TREO
David Nastro
Morgan Stanley
Lauren Williams
SiriusXM & Pandora
Christine Zhao
Tiedemann Advisors
Deepa Mardolkar
Paul Quinlan
Blackstar
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
-
Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? No -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? No -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? No -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? No -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? No
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
Transgender Identity
Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
Equity strategies
Last updated: 03/21/2022GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race.
- We ask team members to identify racial disparities in their programs and / or portfolios.
- We analyze disaggregated data and root causes of race disparities that impact the organization's programs, portfolios, and the populations served.
- We disaggregate data to adjust programming goals to keep pace with changing needs of the communities we support.
- We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
- We disaggregate data by demographics, including race, in every policy and program measured.
- We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
- We use a vetting process to identify vendors and partners that share our commitment to race equity.
- We have a promotion process that anticipates and mitigates implicit and explicit biases about people of color serving in leadership positions.
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
- We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
- We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
- We measure and then disaggregate job satisfaction and retention data by race, function, level, and/or team.
- We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.