Individual Programmatic Assessment Based on Literature Review

¶ … Individual Programmatic Assessment based on Literature Review of Mediation and Advocacy within a human service agency. The human service agency that the paper will be based on is the "HOMELESS VETERANS." This paper explores the existing integration of mediation and advocacy that each of the three organizations - Department of Veteran Affairs, National Coalition for Homeless Veterans, and the Volunteers of America - provide for homeless veterans. The paper concludes by discussing whether advocacy or mediation may be more appropriate for this (homeless veterans) specific population.

The three organizations featured in this essay are the Department of Veteran Affairs, National Coalition for Homeless Veterans, and the Volunteers of America. Each features its own blend of advocacy and mediation.

Department of Veteran Affairs

This DVA provide information on housing assistance, job training, and education to help homeless veteran's secure safe, stable housing, and achieve self-sufficiency. Additionally, this organization has taken decisive action to end Veteran Homelessness by 2015 and is working with the Department of Housing and Urban Development to obtain that goal.

The president of the organization has stated:

President Obama and I are personally committed to ending homelessness among Veterans within the next five years. I learned long ago that there are never any absolutes in life, and a goal of zero homeless Veterans sure sounds like an absolute. But unless we set ambitious targets for ourselves, we would not be giving this our very best efforts. No one who has served this Nation as a Veteran should ever be living on the street. (Homeless Veterans at the VA)

The DVA in short is primarily focused on advocacy. It is active, urgently promoting its agenda which seeks to end homelessness and make its clients more self-sufficient. This Department is a government-run military veteran benefit system that administers veterans' benefits for veterans, their families, and survivors. Ways of ending veteran homelessness include providing homeless veterans with disability compensation, pension, education, home loans, life insurance, vocational, rehabilitation, survivors' benefits, medical benefits, and burial benefits. (U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs; Benefits: Linkshttp://www.va.gov/landing_vba.htm). The mission of the Department of Veterans Affairs, in short, is to end homelessness of veterans by 2015. Its medium is advocacy. Mediation does not come into its language.

National Coalition for Homeless Veterans

The NCHV provides facts about homeless veterans, policies affecting the availability of services, organizations that help homeless veterans throughout various states, and assistance programs funded by federal agencies. Additionally, this organization reports on legislation in the United States Congress, which would significantly impact homeless veterans.

The NCHV openly characterizes itself as an advocate for homeless veterans. One of its founding leaders had this to say about its purpose:

This is not a summit on homeless veterans -- it's a summit to end homelessness among veterans. That's our purpose. President Obama and I are personally committed to ending homelessness among veterans within the next five years. ("Remarks by Secretary Eric K. Shinseki," (11/3/09))

This resolution was published within a detailed five-year plan released by NCHV that was called the "VA Summit Frames Plan to End Veteran Homelessness." (It planned to end veteran homelessness within a five-year span.

The NCHV's consistent message is advocacy. It teaches interested people all the relevant facts of veterans and their homelessness and urges people to get involved in this worthwhile cause, rally congress and other influential personalities to the cause, and publicize the mission. (National Coalition for Homeless Veterans.com)

Volunteers of America. http://www.voa.org/get-help/national-network-of-services/veterans

The VoA provide information on housing and services to homeless veterans, employment training, service centers, and housing assistance programs to support the needs of this vulnerable population. Additionally, this organization is committed to ending homelessness for those on the street and preventing others from becoming homeless by providing a wide array of well-designed and managed services to meet the specific needs of homeless veterans.

The VOA is also an active agency that actively works on finding homeless individuals jobs, on connecting them to organizations that can help, and on helping them achieve healthy, safe, and protected lives. Over and again, they assert their belief in ending homelessness by providing an array of medical and social services programs. They step in and intervene with what they believe works.