SWORDS TO PLOWSHARES VETERANS RIGHTS ORGANIZATION

Swords to Plowshares aims to heal the wounds of war, to restore dignity, hope, and self-sufficiency to all veterans in need, and to prevent and end homelessness and poverty among veterans. To accomplish our mission, Swords to Plowshares continually adjusts, adapts, and expands our outreach and programs to meet the changing needs of underserved and marginalized veterans. Our staff emphasizes quality over quantity in terms of our services and will continue to provide holistic support to help veterans gain long-term stability and independence. Wrapped within our overarching organization goal, Swords to Plowshares aims to:

• Reduce veteran homelessness in the Bay Area to a functional zero by providing eviction prevention and re-housing services for veterans, and housing veterans in our supportive housing programs;
• Increase access to Department of Veterans Affairs’ healthcare benefits and disability compensation for underserved veterans through legal recourse;
• Ensure community-based mental health care for veterans is accessible;
• Increase meaningful employment for veterans experiencing unemployment or underemployment by providing employment and training services that promote job attainment and retention; and
• Promote and protect the rights of veterans by advocating for effective national, state, and local policies, focusing on supporting senior and unhoused veterans, veterans with "bad paper," and marginalized veteran populations.

At Swords to Plowshares, we understand that the barriers veterans face during their transition to civilian life are interrelated and require an integrated network of support. As a result, we developed a wraparound continuum of care that holistically addresses many of the health and stability barriers veterans may experience while adjusting to civilian life. Our veteran-specific supportive services work in unison to stabilize veterans by addressing issues including homelessness, poverty, unemployment, and lack of access to healthcare. By helping veterans overcome barriers to their health and stability, we enable them to succeed in achieving long-term independence.

For our homelessness services, Swords to Plowshares relies on an evidence-based, cost-effective approach to addressing homelessness known as “Housing First.” This model recognizes that homelessness is first and foremost a housing problem and that issues that contribute to a veteran’s homelessness can best be addressed once they are housed. The Housing First model prioritizes providing homeless veterans with housing as quickly as possible coupled with wraparound supportive services to promote housing stability, access to employment and sustainable income, healthcare engagement, and individual well-being.

In addition to direct supportive services, Swords to Plowshares advocates locally and nationwide for improved care and services for veterans. Our Policy Department trains community professionals, including law enforcement, medical personnel, hiring managers, and community service providers, on veteran culture competency. Our professionally-accredited Combat to Community© training enables professionals to better identify, engage, and support veterans they serve. Staff attorneys from our Legal Services program provide accredited training in veterans benefits law through the Practising Law Institute to help attorneys nationwide better advocate for their veteran clients to receive disability compensation and healthcare. Since the launch of our trainings in 2010, the number of California attorneys trained in VA law has more than doubled.

Ultimately, Swords to Plowshares’ vision—a community where all veterans have access to the care and services they need to rebuild their lives—drives us to continually develop innovative and responsive services to best meet veterans’ changing needs.

Our experience and expertise are unmatched. Founded in 1974, Swords to Plowshares is the most experienced and comprehensive veterans service organization in the 9-county San Francisco Bay Area. We are one of the only organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area whose services: 1) are explicitly designed to meet the needs of those who served in the military; 2) offer wraparound support to help veterans address interrelated barriers to housing and financial stability, including homelessness, unemployment, mental health disabilities, and lack of healthcare; and 3) are provided to all veterans, regardless of military era or discharge status. We are nationally-recognized for our expertise and coordinated, high-quality services and advocacy.

Swords to Plowshares has been at the forefront of veterans’ advocacy for nearly fifty years—winning VA recognition of PTSD, creating the Agent Orange Self-Help Guide for veterans, leading efforts to create veterans’ housing programs, fighting for VA eligibility for underserved veterans, and more. In 1978, we were certified by the VA to represent veterans seeking benefits, and we are now a leader in legal advocacy to rectify inequity and injustice in the VA adjudication system. We pioneered a low barrier to entry and Housing First approach for homeless veterans entering housing programs before it was officially adopted by the VA and HUD. We opened our first transitional housing program in 1988 and our first PSH program in 2000.

Swords to Plowshares prides itself on its peer-based approach; our Executive Director and the majority of our Board of Directors are veterans. Our organization’s leadership provide expert knowledge and experience in serving veterans as well as the high-level skillsets required to provide agency oversight and innovative program design to meet veterans’ emerging needs. Our staff members regularly present best practices for serving veterans at statewide and national conferences. We work in coordination with the VA, Vet Centers, County Veterans Service Offices (CVSOs) as well as community-based partners to ensure veterans have the resources they need to thrive.

In our dual role as veteran service provider and veteran advocate, Swords to Plowshares is uniquely positioned to identify and address the changing needs of veterans and their families. Our experienced staff, strong history of community collaboration, fiscal strength, and ability to provide critical services assure our capacity to responsively and effectively serve veterans in need.

Swords to Plowshares has been at the forefront serving and advocating for veterans since 1974. We are nationally recognized for our model programs, expert leadership, and continued dedication to fighting on behalf of our nation’s veterans. We work closely with our partners in local and federal government to end veteran homelessness. Our successes include:
• In 1978, Swords to Plowshares became the first organization in 32 years to be granted certification to represent veterans in legal cases for VA benefits. One year later, we won one of the first PTSD cases in the country.
• In 1988, we began a stabilization housing program in San Francisco, and another in 1992.
• In 2000, we opened the first permanent supportive housing site for veterans in the nation.
• In 2002, a Governor’s report named us one of the best state programs serving the homeless.
• In 2008, Swords to Plowshares developed a Combat to Community veteran cultural competency training for police officers, clinicians, employers and service providers.
• In 2009, we expanded to the East Bay; our Oakland Service Center now provides our complete continuum of care for East Bay veterans.
• In 2012 and 2014, Swords to Plowshares opened two more permanent supportive housing facilities for veterans with disabilities.
• In 2016, we launched a national effort to advocate for the inclusion of veterans with “bad paper” to gain access to VA healthcare and benefits.
• In 2017, we launched a Medical Legal Partnership with the Oakland Vet Center—the first community-based MLP with a Vet Center in the nation.
• In 2020, Swords to Plowshares and Chinatown Community Development Center (CCDC) opened a brand new permanent supportive housing site in Mission Bay for 119 unhoused veterans and low-income families.
• In 2021, we successfully advocated for a statewide pilot program to enhance on-site supportive services for senior veterans living in permanent supportive housing programs. Swords has been contracted to lead fellow veteran supportive housing providers in the implementation of this pilot.
• In 2022, we were one of three agencies in California and 30 nationally to receive a grant from the VA’s new Staff Sergeant Parker Gordon Fox Suicide Prevention Grant Program.
• In 2023, Swords to Plowshares opened a brand new permanent supportive housing site on Treasure Island for 104 veterans and veteran families.

For nearly 50 years, we have helped thousands of veterans access permanent housing, employment, healthcare, and income. Swords to Plowshares will remain at the forefront of veteran advocacy, continually evolving to best address the emerging needs of our veteran clients.