Goodwill Helps Northern NJ Homeless Veterans Find Homes And Jobs

Every year, US veterans are honored during Veterans Day with parades and shopping discounts. That's well-deserved, but some veterans have more pressing needs like finding a place to live and a job to support their families. Many vets struggle to translate military skills into civilian jobs, experience poverty, unemployment, and homelessness.

Veterans like Angela Bernard, a single mom in her early 40s who lives in Bloomfield, NJ with her two daughters. Angela came to Goodwill's Homeless Veterans Reintegration Program (HVRP) in early 2022 when her job cut her hours and pay due to the pandemic. She was also facing eviction.

Today, thanks to Goodwill, Angela has a place to live with her daughters and a full-time job as fulfillment associate at Samsung Electronics in Ridgefield Park, NJ.

Since July 1, 2021, Goodwill Industries of Greater NY and Northern NJ, Inc. (Goodwill NYNJ), a nonprofit serving the 10 most Northern counties of NJ and 38 counties of Eastern NY, has been operating the HVRP in New Jersey thanks to a three-year grant from the US Department of Labor. Goodwill provides job training and placement, connection to housing, and wraparound supports to homeless veterans or those at risk for homelessness.

US Veterans are 50% more likely to become homeless than other Americans due to poverty, lack of support networks, and dismal living conditions in overcrowded or substandard housing.

About 1.5 million veterans are considered at-risk of homelessness in the US. If you are a US veteran who is unemployed or/and homeless, and need a job and a place to live, please call 973-474-2021, ext. 3221, or email services@goodwillny.org