Michelle Obama And Dr. Jill Biden To Receive 2015 Jerald Washington Memorial Founders' Award For Efforts To End Veteran Homelessness

WASHINGTON, May 19, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden have provided unwavering support in the fight to end veteran homelessness. As we approach the deadline to house every homeless veteran by the end of this year, the First and Second Lady continue to support initiatives targeted at meeting that goal. For their tireless work, the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans (NCHV) is honoring Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden at the 2015 NCHV Annual Conference with the Jerald Washington Memorial Founders' Award, Thursday, May 28, 2015, at the Grand Hyatt in Washington, D.C.

The Jerald Washington Memorial Founders' Award is the highest award bestowed in the homeless veteran assistance community and is named in honor of a Vietnam Veteran and NCHV co-founder. Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden lead Joining Forces, a White House campaign to support service members, veterans and their families. Over the past four years, the two women have leveraged their positions of power to inspire Joining Forces partners to hire, care for, and educate our veterans and their families on a scale previously unknown. Mrs. Obama and Dr. Biden have also been proponents of the Mayors Challenge to End Veteran Homelessness, encouraging mayors all across the nation to ramp up local initiatives to end veteran homelessness.   

"No one can deny that the First and Second Lady's support through Joining Forces and the Mayors Challenge has given us the energy needed to effectively end homelessness by the end of the year," said Baylee Crone, Executive Director of NCHV. "We refuse to slow down, and we have the First Family to thank for the surge of energy and momentum that will help us achieve our goal."

The award ceremony will take place on Thursday, May 28, 2015, during the second day of the 2015 National Coalition for Homeless Veterans Annual Conference. More than 500 representatives from community-based organizations serving homeless veterans and their federal agency partners from all across the nation will participate in the conference, titled "25 Years: Thank You for Your Service."

Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Secretary Robert McDonald will deliver keynote remarks to open the conference on Wednesday, May 27, 2015. In addition to Secretary McDonald, Christopher Lu, Deputy Secretary of the Department of Labor, and Matthew Doherty, Executive Director of the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness, will help kick-off the conference. These thought leaders will help us keep up the momentum to meet our shared goal of completely ending veteran homelessness by the end of the year.

Last year, the Jerald Washington Memorial Founders' Award was presented to The Home Depot and The Home Depot Foundation for investing more than $80 million in grant programs to support 10,000 housing units for clients of NCHV associates. The Home Depot Foundation has been a sponsor of the NCHV annual conference for four consecutive years and has now invested more than $90 million into veteran-focused nonprofits.

Due to heavy demand, conference organizers closed registration for the NCHV Annual Conference on Friday, May 15, 2015.

To follow the conference online join us on Twitter @NCHVorg and the conference hashtag #NCHV15.  We will be updating our Facebook page throughout the week at www.Facebook.com/NCHV.org.

For more information about the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans and our mission to end homelessness among veterans by shaping public policy, promoting collaboration, and building the capacity of service providers visit our website at www.nchv.org. 

ABOUT THE NATIONAL COALITION FOR HOMELESS VETERANS:
The National Coalition for Homeless Veterans (NCHV) is the resource and technical assistance center for a national network of community-based service providers and local, state and federal agencies that provide emergency and supportive housing, food, health services, job training and placement assistance, legal aid and case management support for hundreds of thousands of  homeless and at-risk veterans each year. NCHV also serves as the primary liaison between the nation's care providers, Congress and the Executive Branch agencies charged with helping them succeed in their work. NCHV's advocacy has strengthened and increased funding for virtually every federal homeless veteran assistance program in existence today. Visit NCHV on the web at www.nchv.org.

SOURCE National Coalition for Homeless Veterans

Related Links

http://www.nchv.org