Veteran Community Project cuts the ribbon on new outreach center

To expand its services for Northern Colorado, Veterans Community Project has found a new reach in Longmont. The Outreach Center at 1228 Main Street will open its doors to veterans and former service members in need on November 29.

To celebrate, VCP hosted a ribbon cutting at its new facility — the first outreach center the national nonprofit has opened outside of its Kansas City roots. The outreach center will help VCP expand services to veterans and service members, including walk-in opportunities and a private place for VCP staff to work on case management and store supplies.

“Community is everything to us and having you here shows you care as much about what we’re doing as we do,” said VCP Director of Veteran Support Services Cammy Cadwell during the ribbon cutting ceremony.

Starting Nov. 29, veterans in need of aid or connection to resources will be able to walk into the new outreach center Monday, Wednesday and Friday between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. and meet with case managers and VCP staff. Housed in the former location of the Longmont Housing Authority, Cadwell hopes that the Main Street visibility would draw in veterans who might not be aware of the support organization.

The facility includes storage for VCP’s snack bags, meals and hygiene kits, as well as the Welcome Home care packages VCP provides veterans moving into permanent housing. The Welcome Home packages provide veterans with new linens, towels and kitchen supplies to furnish their residence. VCP Development Director Liz Mueller said the care packages are there to help veterans take ownership of their new homes and live with dignity when they might otherwise only have the clothes on their back.

Former Longmont City Councilmember and VCP board member Bonnie Finley was on-hand to celebrate the new opportunity. Finley was involved in bringing the organization to Longmont after the city formed a committee to address veteran homelessness in the region. Finley, along with Kevin Mulshine of HMS Development and other committee members, decided to work with VCP after witnessing the organization’s work in Kansas City. Mulshine agreed to donate the land where VCP’s Village is being built, if VCP would take the reins.

“(Mulshine) travelled the country to find an affordable housing solution for Longmont and stumbled across (VCP) in Kansas City and fell in love with our mission. Mulshine was instrumental in bringing VCP here,” Cadwell said.

VCP serves veterans who live in Longmont or the surrounding areas of northern Colorado, along with veterans whomay be passing through and need some extra assistance, Cadwell said. The nearest Veterans Affairs hospitals are in Cheyenne, WY and Aurora, CO, making access to those services difficult for veterans struggling with financial or transportation issues. The Longmont VCP center can provide a central location to address that struggle.

“A lot of people just don’t know where to start because you get out of the military and it's like ‘good luck,’ and you don’t know what the next steps are,” said VCP Case Manager Ashley Wallis. 

Helping veterans find the first steps to reentry after military service is part of the service VCP offers, including accessing necessary paperwork, connecting vets to programs and resources through partner agencies and providing healthy meals to those struggling with food insecurity, Wallis said. Providing veterans with some guidance and figuring out what those next steps can build up confidence, resilience and independence without feeling overwhelmed, Wallis added. 

Cadwell said the VCP takes a broad approach to defining “veteran,” considering anyone that took an Oath of Service a prospective client. Service members whowere released with a dishonorable discharge or didn’t serve for a certain length of time are barred from federal support services, she explained. Wallis emphasized that some former service members may have a bad relationship with their military service due to discharge status, even feeling shame because of it, and VCP wants those people to feel welcome to ask for help from the outreach team.

VCP found permanent housing for 30 veterans since starting in Northern Colorado in June 2020, working from their homes or out of their cars. With the new outreach center and soon-to-be-completed Veteran Village, Cadwell hopes those numbers will continue to climb.

“Once we have residential, not only are we going to be able to house veterans, but we’ll continue to work with our partner agencies to house veterans who aren’t part of (the Village) program,” Wallis said.