Volunteers begin building tiny homes for veterans in Colorado
In Longmont, Veterans Community Project has been providing assistance to veterans since 2020. Now's it's building the VCP Village on 2-acres of land on the outskirts of the city. The village will be comprised of 26 tiny homes and a 3,000-square-foot Community Center.
"We have an 8-to-1 ratio with case managers, which is something we're really proud of. It can have deeper impact with all the veterans," said Jennifer Seybold, Executive Director of Veterans Community Project.
The goal is to thoroughly address all of the underlying causes that is contributing to the veteran's homelessness. VCP has an 85-percent success rate of keeping veterans housed who've been through the program.
"They develop personalized plans that help them get into permanent housing, help them with employment," Seybold explained.
"As military veterans, I think one of the hardest things we go through in transition is figuring out what our next step is going to be especially when it comes to employment," said Kynnie Martin, Account Manger with Xcel Energy.
Martin is a post-9/11 veteran. In addition to her position at Xcel Energy, she chairs a business resource group that helps veterans get jobs within the company.
"Creating jobs. It's providing training and giving them livelihood in an industry that kind of matches up to the industry that many veterans are coming from," Martin told CBS4.
She is passionate about the VCP Village and will lead a team of volunteers at the project during Xcel Energy's Day of Service.
"Having housing as a foundation of being able to start on your path forward, and to being able to move forward with your life post service is something that is needed," Martin said.
The need for volunteer help at the VCP Village is great. Each of the tiny homes will be built by volunteer hands.
"Everything we do is community supported so the more help the better," Seybold said.
LINK: Register for Xcel Energy's Day of Service
Xcel Energy's Day of Service runs September 8th through September 11th. There are 64 projects across Colorado.
