Veterans Programming in Our Region
Funding Opportunities
Updated March 2014
The Community Foundation reached out to a select group of organizations with a request for information about
programs that serve veterans in the metro Atlanta community. The list below is by no means a comprehensive list of
organizations that provide such services in our community, and not all of the organizations listed have been vetted
by the Foundation. They are separated by category, and categories are determined by the focal area of services that
the organization provided The Foundation. Please contact Erin Drury Boorn (eboorn@cfgreateratlanta.org; 404-5883188), or your philanthropic advisor at The Community Foundation, for more information or funding opportunities
for any of the organizations listed below.
Mental Health Counseling
1. Families First*
Website: www.familiesfirst.org
Mission: Ensures the success of children in jeopardy in empowering families.
Other categories of services for veterans: Distribution of food or goods, employment assistance,
housing
$5,000 Funding Opportunity: To support counseling services to veterans in Families First programs,
including clients with chronic mental health/serious mental illness and emotional and psychological
pain.
2. Scott Rigsby Foundation
Website: www.scottrigsbyfoundation.org
Mission: Inspires, informs and enables individuals with loss of limb or mobility to live a healthy,
active lifestyle.
Other categories of services for veterans: Vocational & athletic rehabilitation
$5,000 Funding Opportunity: To fund travel needs for out of state warriors and family members to
attend a Family Warrior Weekend retreat or athletic event hosted by the Scott Rigsby Foundation.
Distribution of Goods or Food
1. Furniture Bank of Metro Atlanta*
Website: www.furniturebankatlanta.org
Mission: Recycles used furniture from individuals and companies and give it to people moving out of
homelessness, fleeing domestic violence and living with HIV/AIDS.
$5,000 Funding Opportunity: To provide household furniture to 20 veterans moving into permanent
housing. It currently costs the organization $256 to provide a veteran with essential household items,
and on average each household receives 14 pieces of furniture.
2. Georgia Lions Lighthouse Foundation*
Website: www.lionslighthouse.org
Mission: Provides vision and hearing services through education, detection, prevention and treatment.
$5,000 Funding Opportunity: To provide 200 veterans with eyeglasses, or cover approximately seven
veterans for hearing aids.
* Organizations with an asterisk (*) have been vetted by The Community Foundation through a competitive grantmaking program or for a donor
within the last three years
3. Meals on Wheels Atlanta*
Website: www.mealsonwheelsatlanta.org
Mission: Supports senior independence through meals, shelter, education and community.
Other categories of services for veterans: Home repair, Adult and senior day center
$5,000 Funding Opportunity: To assist the organization in enhancing its programs and opportunities
that aim to connect veterans to one another, specifically by utilizing veteran volunteers to support its
activities.
Employment
1. Atlanta Center for Self Sufficiency*
Website: www.atlantacss.org
Mission: Empowers homeless individuals to achieve economic self-sufficiency and their ultimate
potential to thrive in life
$5,000 Funding Opportunity: To support ongoing costs for the Veteran Employment Assistance
Program, including program materials, drug screening kits, transportation assistance and meals. Funds
will also help sponsor week-long Veterans Boot Camp focusing on career development, marketability
and employment retention.
2. Bobby Dodd Institute*
Website: www.bobbydodd.org
Mission: Empowers people with disabilities and disadvantages to maximize their potential by
securing economic self-sufficiency, independence and integration into society
$5,000 Funding Opportunity: To fund job placement and internship initiatives/opportunities, directly
impacting veterans seeking to reenter the workforce. BDI pays for veteran’s salaries (ranging from
$1,500-$3,000) during internship placements across the region.
3. First Step Staffing*
Website: www.firststepveterans.com
Mission: Ends homelessness by helping men, women and families develop a reliable source of
income.
$5,000 Funding Opportunity: To support post-employment job coaching services for approximately
50 veterans. The coaching is expected to result in at least 70% job retention.
4. New Hope Enterprises*
Website: www.newhopeenterprises.org
Mission: Empowers people to become self-sufficient through a robust training program that leads to
real employment opportunities.
$5,000 Funding Opportunity: To support the majority of the costs to train up to two veterans to
become certified in a job that pays a livable wage. The costs per participant includes job training,
placement and case management services.
Financial Assistance/Counseling
1. Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Greater Atlanta
Website: www.clearpointcss.org
Mission: Consumer health through financial education.
* Organizations with an asterisk (*) have been vetted by The Community Foundation through a competitive grantmaking program or for a donor
within the last three years
Other categories of services for veterans: Financial education
$5,000 Funding Opportunity: To support outreach efforts to Veteran Service Organizations
throughout metro Atlanta and recruit new clients to participate in the ReConnect program, resulting in
additional counseling sessions.
2. Decatur Cooperative Ministry*
Website: www.decaturcooperativeministry.org
Mission: Helps families facing homelessness settle into safe, stable homes and build healthy lives
filled with peace, hope and opportunity.
Other categories of services for veterans: Distribution of food or goods, financial literacy,
emergency/transitional shelter
$5,000 Funding Opportunity: To support voucher shelter options for veteran families in DeKalb
County who will be rehoused from hotels and motels into permanent housing. Each voucher costs
$4,000, and move-in kits cost $1,000.
3. Technical College System of Georgia Foundation, Inc.
Website: www.tcsg.edu/tcsg_foundation.php
Mission: Supports the Technical College System of Georgia through marketing, advocacy and
fundraising to benefit college students, programs and faculty.
$5,000 Funding Opportunity: To support the Foundation in making a competitive grant to one of the
seven college foundations associated with the TCSG institutions. The grant would be used by the
college’s foundation to provide emergency educational assistance to veterans.
Housing/Homelessness
1. Action Ministries*
Website: www.actionministries.net
Mission: Mobilizes communities to address the challenges of poverty by focusing on hunger relief,
housing and education.
Other categories of services for veterans: Mental health counseling, distribution of food or goods,
employment assistance, financial assistance, education assistance
$5,000 Funding Opportunity: Support for case management services, direct housing assistance and
emergency items related to housing stability. The organization has a goal of serving 350 in 2014,
including 185 veterans and their families in communities in The Community Foundation for Greater
Atlanta’s 23-county service area.
2. Atlanta Neighborhood Development Partnership
Website: www.andpi.org
Mission: Creates and supports affordable and mixed-income housing opportunities in metro Atlanta.
$5,000 Funding Opportunity: To support the rehabilitation of a previously foreclosed property in
order to be occupied by a veteran earning up to 80% of the area median income.
3. Hope Atlanta/Programs of Travelers Aid of Metropolitan Atlanta*
Website: www.hopeatlanta.org
* Organizations with an asterisk (*) have been vetted by The Community Foundation through a competitive grantmaking program or for a donor
within the last three years
Mission: Provides emergency services and housing assistance to individuals and families who are
homeless, at risk of homelessness, or who are experiencing crisis.
Other categories of services for veterans: Financial assistance
$5,000 Funding Opportunity: To support up to 100 veteran families by providing funding to purchase
dishes, pots and pans, bedding, towels, silverware, cleaning supplies and other items necessary to
allow a veteran establish a comfortable home for their family.
4. Quest Community Development Organization
Website: www.questcommunities.org
Mission: Develops and implements affordable supportive housing communities that service the
special-need homeless and low-income populations.
Other categories of services for veterans: Mental health counseling, distribution of food or goods,
financial assistance
$5,000 Funding Opportunity: To support case management services for Quest’s clients, linking them
to necessary community resources and improving their chances of re-entering the community as
healthy, independent, productive members of society.
Rehabilitation Services
1. Shepherd Center Foundation
Website: www.shepherd.org
Mission: Help people with temporary or permanent disability, caused by injury or disease, rebuild
their lives with hope, independence and dignity, advocating for their full inclusion in all aspects of
community life while promoting safety and injury prevention.
Other categories of services for veterans: Mental health counseling, employment assistance, housing
$5,000 Funding Opportunity: To support Shepherd Center’s SHARE Military Initiative, the only
rehab facility in the nation with a dedicated and separate military patient program. The program
provides a continuum of rehabilitation care for service members who have sustained traumatic brain
injuries while serving the US during Operation Enduring Freedom and/or Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Recreation
1. Camp Twin Lakes*
Website: www.camptwinlakes.org
Mission: Provides year-round camp experiences for children with serious illnesses, disabilities and
other life challenges to help each camper grow in their confidence and experience the joys of
childhood.
Other categories of services for veterans: Veterans benefits information
$5,000 Funding Opportunity: To support Camp Twin Lakes Fall 2014 Wounded Warrior Family
Retreat Weekend veterans and their families the opportunity to share a therapeutic camping
experience.
* Organizations with an asterisk (*) have been vetted by The Community Foundation through a competitive grantmaking program or for a donor
within the last three years