Cape and Islands Veterans Outreach Center

The Cape and Islands Veterans Outreach Center vision is to end chronic veteran homelessness and our mission is to provide comprehensive, life sustaining services and programs to veterans and their families. We deliver service-enriched housing and all-inclusive supportive programs to veterans to ensure a lasting reintegration into the families and communities for which they have sacrificed.

Vision

To end chronic veteran homelessness on the Cape and Islands.

Mission

Our mission is to provide comprehensive, life sustaining services and programs to veterans and their families.

We deliver service-enriched housing and all-inclusive supportive programs to ensure veterans achieve a lasting reintegration into the families and communities for which they have sacrificed.

Need

As highlighted in the 2018 Census, the Veteran need on the Cape and Islands is significant.

Veterans comprise nearly 10%, or over 19,000, of the total population on the Cape and Islands. This is nearly twice the State average of 5.8%. 4.4% of this population, over 850 individuals, live below the poverty line, and over 70% of Cape veterans are above age 65.

Over the course of FY20 there were nearly 220 veterans who accessed homeless services on the Cape and Islands. Including those who are near homelessness, on any given night there are over 50 veterans who are actively without permanent housing living in our community.

Services

The Cape and Islands Veterans Outreach Center provides service-enriched Housing, compassionate Counseling and Mental Health Care, comprehensive Case Management Services, and Food Pantry support to combat food insecurity. CIVOC also provides other complimentary services for referral such as Supportive Services for Veteran Families, Holistic Therapies, Employment Services, Disability and Financial Aid, Transportation, and Healthcare Enrollment.

CIVOC currently manages ten serviced-enriched housing units and provides a robust case management program, with an additional five units to be completed by the end of this calendar year and 15 more units currently in the development phase.

History

Founded in 1983 by a group of Vietnam Veterans who were without the services and programs they needed to transition back into society, the Cape and Islands Veterans Outreach Center (CIVOC) has grown into the largest non-profit veteran service provider and the only non-profit veterans outreach center on the Cape and Islands. Fulfilling this duty across four decades, CIVOC delivers service-enriched housing and all-inclusive supportive programs that empower veterans to achieve independence with dignity and respect.