Montrose Center

Mitigating the Impact of COVID-19 on LGBTQ Veterans

The Montrose Center is a resource and community center providing culturally competent and affordable care to LGBTQ veterans through their Veterans Assistance Program. In the face of the coronavirus, many LGBTQ veterans are finding their financial situations upended. Four of the top five “at risk” jobs listed in the Bob Woodruff Foundation’s report on the impact of COVID-19 on U.S. veterans (Mining, Oil, and Gas Extraction, Transportation and Warehousing, Employment Services, and Leisure and Hospitality) are key to Houston’s economy, with predictions about local job loss already exceeding 150,000. For many LGBTQ veterans, serving in silence shaped habits such as self-isolating and declining to seek services. As these Asset-Limited, Income Constrained, Employed (ALICE) veterans face lost or reduced income and the depletion of their limited savings, there is an urgent need for responsive, immediate relief as well as sustained, culturally competent assistance. This NFL-BWF COVID-19 grant will provide emergency financial assistance, shelf-stable food assistance, and case management services to 50 LGBTQ veterans impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, ensuring that they are able to sustain housing and food security and navigate recovery resources.