By KIMBERLY C. JACOBS

The Jericho Project, a nonprofit that offers housing to homeless veterans, is slated to expand services and open its third home in the Bronx thanks to a hefty, two-year grant.

The project intends to continue its mission to end homelessness with the help of a $200,000 grant it was awarded from the Bank of America Charitable Foundation, targeted to assist veterans. The grant will fund a new veterans-only residence on Walton Avenue, an employment program for veterans, and hiring a resources coordinator to further fund its programming.

“Bank of America has been interested in supporting our veterans initiative for a number of years, and this is a much bigger program than we’ve run in the past,” said Tori Lyon, executive director of the Jericho Project. She also serves as the architect of its Veterans Initiative project begun in 2006, which owns and operates two supportive housing sites for homeless veterans in Fordham and Kingsbridge.

The Neighborhood Builders program also supports the Jericho Project through leadership training as they continue to provide several resources to thousands of at-risk and homeless New Yorkers. New York City has led a national fight to decrease the number of homeless veterans, fulfilling President Obama’s goal of ending homelessness among veterans by the end of 2015.

“With this funding and leadership training, the Jericho Project is poised to make an even greater impact in its efforts to combat homelessness among veterans by assisting those at-risk before they lose their homes,” said Lyon.

Although the money will be allocated towards helping veterans, the Jericho Project also serves adults and families by fighting homelessness through unemployment, mental health, and family reunification services.

“The earlier that we can reach at-risk veterans with the stability of housing and the tools to secure employment, the more promising their future will be,” said Lyon. “We are grateful to Bank of America for their invaluable leadership training and financial support. Together, we can end homelessness at its roots.”

Construction on the Walton Avenue site is scheduled for this spring, and is expected to open in early 2017.

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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.