2 agencies get 300G each to aid vets

Two local nonprofits were each awarded $300,000 grants yesterday from the U.S. Department of Labor to help about 200 incarcerated veterans turn their lives around.

It's no small task, but the folks at the nonprofits - Impact Services Corp. and the Philadelphia Veterans Multi-Service & Education Center (PVMSEC) - were elated when they learned they had received the grants.

"It's a good feeling," said Richard Finch, the director of veterans services for Impact Services Corp., on Allegheny Avenue near Emerald Street, in Kensington.

"Every veteran has served his or her country. It's an important group of people."

In all, the Labor Department awarded $4 million in grants to nonprofits in 13 states through its Incarcerated Veterans Transition Program.

The local nonprofits will use the money to enroll incarcerated or recently incarcerated veterans in the Philadelphia area in job training programs that last six to eight weeks, said Pam Pomroy, the director of operations for PVMSEC, located on 4th Street near Race in the shadow of the Ben Franklin Bridge.

Members of both organizations will begin reaching out to inmates at local prisons Thursday.

The ultimate goal is to have the vets in jobs paying them an average of $8.49 an hour within a year, Pomroy said.

PVMSEC has pledged to find jobs for 96 vets; Impact Services Corp. wants to put 100 formerly incarcerated vets back to work.

To keep the grant money flowing, the nonprofits are required to provide quarterly updates on the vets' progress to the Labor Department, Pomroy noted.

"It's going to be a very tough grant to complete," Pomroy said, noting both the slumping economy and the reluctance of many businesses to hire people with criminal records.

"But we're very excited," she added.

"We can help folks get jobs and become productive citizens again."

Finch, a Vietnam veteran, said the grants are an example of the "comprehensive feeling of goodwill from the community toward veterans" that didn't exist decades ago.