The goal of The Philadelphia Veterans Multi-Service & Education Center is to address the multiple needs of all veterans experiencing barriers in finding their way around various problems such as unemployment, lack of employment skills, need for training, substance abuse issues, incarceration/ex-offenders, behavior health and medical problems. Returning Veterans of the first war in the Persian Gulf, Veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as many Vietnam Era Veterans still have serious critical needs for services.

Over the past 30 years, The Center has struggled through various administrations and their funding allocations. The veterans of the Southeastern Pennsylvania region, as well as those from South Jersey and Delaware, have benefited from the services fought for and provided by the Multi-Service Center. Since our beginning in February of 1981, veterans of all eras have received critically needed services. Besides immediate services such as showers, laundry services, breakfast & lunch, emergency medical care & referrals, clothing, and transportation, we provided job search assistance, Computer Applications & A+ Certification training, hospitality training and job placement. We were able to provide over 165,000 meals to homeless Veterans last year alone.

We have been able to establish a medical and behavioral health clinic on the 2nd floor of our center, which provides on-site Veteran counseling services, and on-site employment service. In addition, we manage a 95 bed transitional living program that houses homeless Veterans for up to 2 years. Our most recent endeavor has been the opening of a 30 bed transitional living program "for women Veterans only". This program was created and is managed by our Center (PVMSEC) and supported through the cooperative efforts of the Coatesville VA, the Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN4), and V.A. Homeless Grant & Per Diem.

We sincerely appreciate your concern and support and ask that you help us in any way possible in our current funding crisis. They fought for us, now it's our turn to fight for them!

Yours in Veteran Services,


Marsha Four, RN
Executive Director

The Philadelphia Veterans Multi-Service & Education Center, Inc., was founded in 1980 with a dual grant provided by the U.S. Department of Labor-Veterans Employment and Training Service and the City of Philadelphia. The goal was to address the multiple needs of all veterans experiencing barriers in finding their way around various problems such as unemployment, lack of employment skills, need for training, substance abuse issues, incarceration/ex-offenders, behavior health and medical problems. These barriers were creating significant problems in assisting primarily Vietnam/Vietnam Era Veterans in finding their way back into the mainstream of our society.

Over the past 30 years, The Center struggled through various political administrations and their funding allocations. The veterans of the Southeastern Pennsylvania region, as well as those from South Jersey and Delaware, have benefited from the services fought for and provided by the Multi-Service Center. Since that time veterans of all eras have received critically needed services. Many have been placed in jobs, several thousand have benefited in securing compensation and pension from the Dept. of Veteran Affairs. Several thousand more have received training in computer applications, computer repair and hospitality training. Many thousands of others have received ancillary services in the form of educational referrals, vocational rehabilitation assistance, home-loan guarantees, general G.I. Bill benefits and referrals. Every year we had thousands of homeless veterans visit us at our center and that number keeps growing. Besides immediate services such as showers, laundry services, breakfast & lunch, emergency medical care & referrals, clothing, and transportation, we provided job search assistance, computer training & repair, hospitality training and job placement. The results of the services provided by The Center has funneled thousands of dollars annually back into the local, state and federal economics. It has been projected that for every dollar secured through grants that The Center has increased that amount five times through income generated by placing veterans in viable employment. A significant number of these veterans that were placed in employment were previously on some type of income maintenance such as welfare, food stamps, etc.

Over the past ten years and most recently with the veterans returning from the war on terrorism, The Center has made the changes necessary to accommodate the needs of our newest veterans. Their immediate needs of avoiding homelessness and retraining have now become one of our highest priorities. Their needs are our duty.

The homeless veterans that visit The Center receive on-site medical care, behavioral health care, crisis intervention counseling, as well as personal hygiene assistance, food and emergency shelter referrals. In addition, The Center offers two Transitional Living Programs on the grounds of Coatesville VA Medical Center. One is a 95 bed, all male, facility which opened in June of 1997 and the other is a 30 bed, female facility, which opened in January 2005. To date, these two programs have served 868 homeless veterans. The Center's employment and training programs for 7/1/02 to 6/30/06, that were funded through the U.S. Dept. of Labor-Veterans Employment and Training (USDOL-VETS) enrolled 5,320, trained 937 and placed 2,076 in employment, and assisted many in breaking the cycle of homelessness in this four (4) year period.

The Multi-Service Center, which was designated by the U.S. Dept. of Veteran Affairs as a Community Based Outreach Center (CBOC), has worked diligently to formulate its Continuum of Care model to address the multiple needs of homeless, recently discharged, displaced, discouraged veterans in need of services. The Center has worked tirelessly to form relationships with participating federal, state, local and community based agencies that have been interested in addressing the needs of veterans. It is extremely important that each agency or organization act as a link within the net of services. If one link is broken, the Continuum of Care becomes less effective. The majority of the Veterans served at The Philadelphia Veterans Multi-Service & Education Center have fallen through the safety net of services that are provided by Federal, State & Local agencies.

Recently our Continuum of Care Concept has been significantly affected due to the fact that over the last two years the USDOL-VETS has reduced the Center's employment and training funding by $736,000. Of this amount, $486,000 was eliminated as of July 1, 2006. Because of this, the employment and training programs of the Multi-Service Center have been significantly reduced or have limited the Center's ability to address the desperate needs of homeless veterans trying to break the cycle of homelessness. It also has negatively affected the Center's programs that help our returning Veterans that require advice in securing services. This financial problem is further exacerbated by the notification that the City of Philadelphia Managing Director's Office for Adult Services has eliminated a HUD supportive services grant in the amount of $315,000 that is necessary to assist and manage our Perimeter program. This program assists the homeless veterans with housing referrals, medical care, legal services, behavioral health care, and other ancillary services.

Without these critically needed funds, our short and long term goals of retraining and meeting the needs of our homeless Veterans cannot be met.

We look forward to your support in helping us help our Veterans.

Your support and generosity greatly helps "the Center" to continue to provide and refer Veterans to the following critically needed services:

Your generous donation will also help us provide the following for unemployed, homeless and less fortunate veterans in Philadelphia and surrounding areas.

Donations to the Philadelphia Veterans Multi-Sevice & Education Center, Inc. are not limited to the amounts above. You can make a donation in any amount you choose. Click the Donate button and enter your amount in the "Amount" field in the form on the page your are directed to.

All online monetary transactions to PVMSEC are securely processed by VeriSign. Use any major debit or credit card, e-check or transfer money directly from your bank account.

If you have any questions about donations and how they are used by PVMSEC to help veterans you can call us at:
215-238-8050 Monday thru Friday between 8:30 AM and 4:30 PM and we will be glad to answer all your questions.

Send Checks to:
PVMSEC Donations
213-217 North 4^th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19106

Make Checks Payable To: PVMSEC