Boeing Award 2018 to Support Veteran Suicide Prevention

A Safe Haven Foundation is the Proud Recipient of a Prestigious Boeing Award 2018 to Support Veteran Suicide Prevention and Trauma Intervention Program

CHICAGO, Nov. 19, 2018 – A Safe Haven Foundation is proud to be the recipient of a generous and prestigious grant by Boeing [NYSE: BA], a company that prioritizes Veterans and will be supporting the Veteran Suicide Prevention and Trauma Intervention Program at A Safe Haven. Boeing’s corporate giving will exceed $230 million in 2018, driven by $55 million in new charitable grants, as well as increases in business and employee contributions.

In January 2018, ASHF launched the Veteran’s R.I.S.E. initiative. The program was designed to fill a gap in services for military Veterans with behavioral health needs—in particular, those with an elevated risk for suicide. Research has shown that psychological interventions are significant factors in reducing suicide.  Through the Veteran’s R.I.S.E. program, ASHF is providing outreach, education, and engagement services to high-risk Veterans in the Chicagoland area. The program is designed to provide ongoing support and risk reduction for each client.  A Safe Haven is a public/private partnership model, working with partners for supporting Veterans and Military families.

About 20 veterans a day across the country take their own lives, and veterans accounted for 14 percent of all adult suicide deaths in the U.S. in 2016, even though only 8 percent of the country’s population has served in the military. In 2018, A Safe Haven served approximately 800 Veteran men and women and their families, providing behavioral healthcare, healthcare referrals, education, and helping them attain sustained housing and employment.  Since 1994, A Safe Haven has been on the forefront of stabilizing the lives of military veterans in a seamless and multi-disciplinary manner to allow for our veteran residents to realize their dream of becoming independent and self-sufficient in a sustainable manner. It takes a team of public and private partners to help a Veteran in crisis transition and get back on track.

A Safe Haven is also the host site of the Regional United States Veteran Administration Community Referral and Resource Center and is centrally located between both the Jesse Brown and Hines VA Hospitals. This Boeing investment by our neighboring corporate partner is another crucial funding stream that we need to help us scale and amplify our ability to meet more of the unique local challenges our veterans in crisis face and it is critical to communities.

“A Safe Haven was co-founded by my husband, Military Veteran Brian Rowland, and myself, in 1994. A Safe Haven has become one of the Nation’s largest advocates and serves as a National Model for Military Veteran transitional housing and support services for returning veterans and for veterans in crisis both young and old. Our unique, proven, one-stop shop model provides Veterans access to food, transitional housing and individualized case management. We are humbled and proud to serve as a trusted partner to both the USVA and Boeing and others on behalf of our mutual mission to help our military veterans get back on track with the ability to succeed. According to U.S Department of Veterans Affairs 2016 data, 162 Veterans committed suicide in Illinois alone that year. This number is unacceptable, because, we believe that suicide is preventable. At A Safe Haven, thankfully, due to our peer to peer veteran support teams, multi-disciplinary team of professionals and our solid reputation among the military veteran community, we are grateful to have had the privilege to help successfully transform the lives of over 15,000 military veterans since inception with a zero incidence of suicide on our watch during that time. Our goal is to make sure that whenever any veteran begins to be unstably housed or unemployed and they begin to feel the onset of any symptoms like PTSD, Depression or Substance Abuse disorders, they may think of A Safe Haven and our partners as the team that they can depend on to get them through these difficult times.  We urge other corporations to consider joining our partnership to allow us all to accomplish more on behalf of reversing the trend of suicide among our military veterans”.  – Neli Vazquez Rowland, Co-Founder and President, A Safe Haven Foundation

About The Boeing Company

Through purposeful investments, employee engagement and thoughtful advocacy efforts, Boeing and its employees support innovative partnerships and programs that align with the company’s strategic objectives, create value and help build better communities worldwide.

Chicago-based Boeing is the world’s largest aerospace company and leading manufacturer of commercial jetliners and defense, space and security systems. A top U.S. exporter, the company supports airlines and U.S. and allied government customers in more than 150 countries.