My Nonprofit Reviews

Well, there is much that I would like to say about this organization's quality of services provided to women vets but my experience falls within the context of women veteran programming at the Long Beach site. Most of my experience with the staff/ administrators of the entire organization left a very negative imprint. There were many acts of negligence, illegal activity, and nepotism on the part of employees throughout the entire structure (corporate & regional). As I would not like to mar the reputation of people who do good work with their hearts in the right place, I must commend the work at the Las Vegas site. But most assuredly, there was an overwhelming amount of deceit, negligence and incompetence with the long-time/ long term employees in administrative, clinical, and day-to-day positions at Long Beach & Inglewood. I can second the comments made on 11/17/13 as far as the amount of danger and insecurity women veterans were exposed to AWP, HVRP, & RENEW. Women vets were treated like children and there was no education-based interpersonal or recovery model used when working with women with dual diagnoses, addiction, and combat-related PTSD, MST in the ADVANCE program. It was my impression that the system did not have any educational or research-based components (except for services rendered by the VA) and basically "felt ok" winging the housing/ employment components because most of the women were at their lowest point (in cognitive/ adaptive functioning) and very afraid of standing up for themselves because of their disenfranchised/ traumatic histories. Many safety concerns were overlooked. Personal items were not safe in homes and at that time, Long Beach did not allow for door locks, yet house managers could barge in on tenants (without notice) or rummage through their belongings at any time. At the time I was associated with Long Beach, it got so bad that the women could not comfortably store food items without the risk of having it tampered so they basically stored everything in their cars/ storage units as a precaution. Furthermore, hygiene items (purchased by the organization) and donations received by concerned community members tended to stockpile in closets & storage units until house supervisors/ case managers took possession of it and bandied about to other department staff (kitchen, employment, and administrative staff). In the past, management turned a blind eye to this type of illegal activity and covered it up by saying they would do something about it. It became very difficult for those of us who waited on those changes in good faith and never saw them implemented. Aside from the exaggerated amount of illegal activity & safety violations in the homes, food was cooked in extremely unhealthy ways. Many of veterans served have dietary restrictions but nothing was done (at the time) to change that problem or make better use of the food served. Another key problem within the US VETS organization, was the Nepotism that appeared to be "status quo" in several departments, between: (1) managers (and managers, and /or staff); (2) case managers and veteran clients (of same or opposite sex); and (3) co-workers. With professional boundaries blurred and little regard for ethical conduct, it became very easy to leave the good intentions of a few and overall mission of the organization. It is refreshing to know that new management in Long Beach has attempted to eradicate such breaches of trust & professionalism (that pervade in this organization). However, it is very difficult for me to believe that things that have gone on to this degree & since its inception will be eradicated at its core. I do wish you the best of luck in your efforts.

More Feedback