There is still so much work to be done. We are making a big commitment and we are excited to partner with all of you in that effort. Take a look at this video. [indiscernible] anxiety insiona nd home dotituations, would take me through every room. Chest but i never expected anything so elaborate. There is absolutely no way to withn and out of the house a wheelchair. It was dangerous. I remember looking outside the window. There was this huge ramp. But they are not doing it just for me. They are doing it for my family. I can shower, i can think, i can function. Appreciated. Eing it shows the return on doing something. I happen to have a sevenyearold daughter who is my world. Depot doams like home care. Our commitment to veterans is in the very dna of our company now, and we are going to continue to invest even more. We are pledging right here and the Home Depot Foundation will donate a quarter of a billion dollars to support veterans i 2020. So we are excited. We are pledging a quarter of a Million Dollars by 2024 hour veterans ive been related efforts. And we cannot wait to work with you guys even more on all of the things we will do. I would like to ask my team to stand up and wave, so you can see that they are here. [applause] shannon they will be here for the next few days and they are excited to talk to you about potential pop opportunities taking we can partner care of our veterans. So, now, i want to introduce you to an incredible partner of ours. Pack is an incredible man. Is an steve peck incredible man. What i find incredible is steve, nearly 20 years ago, saw a problem. He was a wounded vietnam veteran who did not have a home, living he was so, and touched and inspired he devoted the rest of his career to being part of the solution. His commitment is infectious and we are honored to be partnered with him. Please join me in welcoming steve peck. [applause] oh, she already got it going. Steve good morning. Shannon i live. Hold the music. Steve hold the drumroll. [laughter] they will just roll. They will start rolling. Steve thank you very much. Vetsve been around u. S. Has been around for 26 years now. With on, we worked community is developing many of our sites. We worked with century housing. Partnershipsout and know it takes some any people to do the jobs we are doing. We are attacking a system that the edge ofs off the table and it is our job to impact that system in a way that helps all of those veterans. We have been part of a system and a movement over the past 20some years that has reduced veteran homelessness by 80 . Now we are down to that last 20 and as we are all seeing, that is the most difficult part we are encountering. Weve got the low hanging fruit. Now the veterans we are seeing today are more challenged. There is more mental illness,ore chronic Substance Abuse and we are having to adjust all of our systems to deal with these veterans. A couple things we are focusing on in order to attack this last 20 we are focusing on homeless prevention. We are having to build more permanent housing. We know all the money that is going that way. We all know how difficult to get outousing is if you have dealt with all of the various rules and rags, the rules and regs the nimby issues, all these barriers to get permanent housing up and running. They are anxious to help us. I do not know any other foundation that calls and says, we will give you money when you apply. When they came to our las vegas site, they painted a mural, they put in a couple of wheelchair ramps, and we have been working with them ever since. Funding orontributed done volunteer opportunities in hawaii, houston, los angeles, long beach, st. Louis, washington, d. C. , prescott, and riverside. They donated money on riverside. They had just broken ground. We figured the value of the grants is more than 2 million. In long beach when a couple hundred volunteers showed up with our jewels that they did not know how to use. All of that had been delivered the night before. It sits on 26 acres. These volunteers attacked that. They built at least two gibby. Ones gazebos the value of that to those veterans really is incalculable. The volunteers got the immediate , building the gazebo and paving and wondering, who are these people who are devoting their entire day to . Uilding a better home for us theknow, permanent housing, sicilias that we build is more than just housing the facilities that we build is more than just housing. Every staff member, every case manager has to cooperate. The other thing we do is build a development that veterans are proud of. And you show the way that you value them. And knowing that they are valued hopes their selfesteem, helps them move back into the mainstream. Our latest project is right here in d. C. Money. Ed a bunch of as you know, time goes on, things get more expensive. We had a funding gap. Home depot stepped in and fill that gap. That facility blearily literally would not be there. They did a project where they landscaped the entire outside of the facility and that gave the. Eterans pride take prideping them in themselves and moving on. Last february there is a big snowstorm. A huge snowstorm. We took about 40 veterans and that first month out of the snow and the snow was piling up on the sidewalks and the Maintenance Crew came and they and shoveling the snows the maintenance workers took the shovels out. They took the pride in doing that. I probably sound a commercial of the for home depot [laughter] but i really am sincere. This effort has had an impact on the veterans we serve, the thousands of veterans you serve, and if more corporations stepped up like this, it would make our veteranier to end homelessness. Thank you, guys. Thank you. Director crone thank you so much, shannon and steve. Echnology is beating me its such a phenomenal amount of work that the Home Depot Foundation has done and really appreciate your partnership throughout the year and at the annual conference. We have a great partner in city, communion Community Development as well. Work with ourjust corporate sponsors, but we test or them throughout the year with all of my ideas and poor natalie and paula are always there to take the phone calls and humor what i think are brilliant plans for how we can build capacity with local Service Providers. I do want to thank them for their longstanding supports. As we think through what this new space means for Community Agencies that are better evolving to meet veteran means. Natalie ato ask citi Community Development to come up and say a few words. [applause] natalie good morning. I have to say, when baylee cried, i cried. I do want to acknowledge baylee for her leadership and the amazing work that she has done to the organization has done end homelessness among veterans. I am incredibly honored to be with you today. This is the fifth year in a row we have been here, and it is a significantly larger crowd with lots of people and energy and momentum. We are happy to be part of this movement and always humbled by the work that we do, that you do for your communitys day in and day out. Ylee witnessed my read who isllis here and will be here for the next of the country. I say it is a vacation working for citi compared to working for a notforprofit. So i applaud all of the work that you do. Nchv is as a perfect example and always to be a guide and a counselor to us. We do not know it all. We acknowledge that we are new in this space. When we won it get involved, we , and we metexperts so Many Organizations and learned so much, which helped shape our programs and this homeless, as you can see, when you hear from governor mcauliffe, how virginia was able to do this through so many initiatives i really applaud him as well. I do not know what you did on memorial day, but where im from in new york, it was raining. What does a family do over the long weekend. Clean the attic . I had a purpose though. I went into the attic because i was looking for the letters my husband wrote me from vietnam. And it was amazing. Every letter. G its sort of ended with this to sleepwait to come, in my on bed, i cannot wait to eat a meal at a leisurely pace, and i cannot wait to be with family and friends. That is theed vision. A home with dignity and safety and comfort. That is the work that has guided us as to how we are shaping citi salutes, which is our corporate citi. Nitiative atcit at its all of the divisions and how they have tried to focus on trying to make sure that our commitment to the military and veteran community is out there. In 2015, we started to work with Service Organizations in areas ,f housing, entrepreneurship finances, and employment. Today im really going to focus on housing. No one knows better than this that we need dedicated, hardworking people like you in this room because on any given 50,000 veterans ineping on the street america. That is a sad, sad state of affairs. We want to do our part. Home. T to bring them this Initiative Includes predevelopment funds, for transitional, temporary, and Supportive Housing for veterans and their families. The initiative has helped to of housing forts Homeless Veterans and i cannot go further without saying how terrific it has been to partner with andy burkart. She has been a guide for us. This work is messy. It is not a simple grants. It really is very messy. You have to have the patience. You have to have the fortitude. You have to have the right guidance to make that work. To bring them home, we have been able to support some interesting projects. And now residents like mary ogaras that have access to programs that help veterans reintegrate into community and now residents like mario ga rza. With objects in los angeles, philadelphia, washington, d. C. , long island, and more. Its critical for earlystage testing of new ideas and innovation. Let me be clear. Given the size of the task ahead veterann doing homelessness is neither the responsibility of philanthropy and neither is rather be the only way we will ensure that our nations veterans have the services and the shelter and the dignity they deserve. That to you all today without greater engagement and involvement with the private , with the Financial Institutions that finance Supportive Housing and development services, we will take too long to end veteran homeless this. Homelessness. Business, policy, and community interests converge, the impact multiplies. I am privileged to be part of an organization that does this work extremely well. Citi Community Capital finances construction budgets and deals in my colleague last year address to on this issue. Entire department dedicated to financing Affordable Housing, and we must be doing a decent job because for the ninth year in a row, namedommunity capital was the largest Affordable Housing lender in the country. Nded more than 1. 5 billion then our closest competitor. Regular bithynia beneficiaries of this type of financing have been veterans organizations as well. Take the New England Center for Homeless Veterans in downtown in in downtown boston. They have been focused exclusively on helping veterans in need. Every night, three hundred veterans arent permanent or some form of transitional housing at the are in ofmanent or some form transitional housing at the center. This is one of the largest resources for veterans. This facility also not only does multiut has multi services. It has worked for employment, training,omputer work for women, work for families. It is that full passage, which aspire to achieve. Another example, the humana studio in chicago. Again, families in three bedrooms. Youve got to be very complex when you are doing this kind of work. Citi provided an 8 Million Construction only loan, a 300 million line of credit in partnership with the National Equity fund fund manager. Again, its complex. Its messy. But we are getting it done. Donate our own properties, real estateowned properties for rehabilitation and repurposing. These donated properties can become homeownership opportunities for veterans and their families. A very special program is administered by purple heart foundednd organization by two young veterans wounded in iraq. The Organization Provides safe, affordable, and modified homes and also helps older veterans age in place by providing modifications to their homes to make it possible for them to live there. And before i close my remarks today, i want to make one final observation. Employment is equally important and also paved with the path to financial resistance. Once you are in a safe, secure job, you canhave a focus on becoming financially stable and resilient. One of the other things that. Invested in is a Financial Education curriculum to assist military families facing Money Management difficulties through partnerships with leadership organizations such as the corporate spouse Career Network and operation homefront. Again, it is a way to provide access to quality education, to ensure that a family and a veteran are capable of achieving what we all want to achieve, economic security. It shows how we can provide a in angful new start collective relationship. We really must do this and do this more than ever before. Rest ofu and enjoy the the conference. I know that i well. I know that i will. [applause] steve good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Is beverly speaker ebersold. Beverly spent six years with the corporation for Supportive Housing, and before that she was , and asram director many of you may know, the cat square in the leading Housing Program in detroit. For many years, she has been with the Interagency Council on homelessness. Ladies and gentlemen, it is my pleasure to introduce beverly ebersold. [applause] beverly thank you, chick. , for you so much, baylee inviting me to speak today and everything you do. The list is extensive. I think she is running around here somewhere right now. I appreciate oh, there you are. [laughter] right in front of me. The list is extensive and i appreciate your leadership and work. This is so exciting to see so many faces. Im excited to spend some time with you over the next few days. I will not add to lee cries, but if bay i will cry, too. I come from a long line of family members where military service is deep on both my site and my husbands side as part of our family tradition. So, on behalf of all of us at the u. S. Interagency council on homelessness, i am delighted to be with you. Im speaking to my colleagues who are here and several who will be joining over the next couple of days. I believe katie jennings, who works with my team and our chief of staff in the room . Wave oruys are, give a stand all right. I see you way in the back there. We are really pleased to be there with you as part of our federal partnership. We are looking forward to spending the next couple of days with you and soaking in the work that all of you do. I am also thrilled and honored ais thisaring the d morning with so many of our partners. Shannon and steve from u. S. Vets, governor mcauliffe, and deputies secretary gibson, and secretary perez. Honor to speak with you all today. These are people absolutely committed to ending veteran homelessness in this century. Their leadership is a constant source of his ration to me and this hardas we do Work Together. Make no mistake and i think all of you in the room know this this work is incredibly hard. I know that the theme of the conference is the building plan, buta postera. E are anything but post we are working hard to achieve all of the goals of open doors, including ending veteran homelessness. And we are taking the lessons drive greaterp progress on ending all homelessness, particularly those usich. At hor those who do not know usic me very well, let me explain. Madenteragency council is up of communities that are dedicated to opening doors. Agencies like the department of Veterans Affairs and the department of labor, along with hud, hhs, and the department of education. Our shared goal is to end among families, among youth, and among those experiencing chronic homelessness, and among all veterans. Colleagues at usich. But mightyall, federal agency. Some of my colleagues are responsible for driving action in washington so federal agencies and National Partners are aligned to achieve those goals of opening doors. What some of you may not know there are five of us out in the field and we are working to support your efforts across the country. As a director of national luckytives, aii am enough to support that team. I know there were detroiters on that team any detroiters in the house . All right. Good for you guys. Sorry, my detroit roots have come out. One thing i want to say about detroit, and people who know me know that i like to talk a lot about detroit as my hometown. Hopefully my colleagues from detroit in the room would agree the folks in detroit know the spirit and the focus it takes to tackle what can seem like insurmountable challenges. We are used to focusing on those things and we constantly look to those challenges and opportunities and we are city eachhange in our and every day. Teams work of my right now is to help communities understand what it will take to hopelessness, so every community has a system in place to make sure that homelessness among veterans is brief, and nonrecurring. Let me say that again. To make sure that homelessness among veterans is rare, brief, and nonrecurring. It is a big job. Is a huge job. There is no way we could accomplish it without number ship across our 19 agencies. Secretary perez has been working hard to make sure those programs can be knitted together in an program. Housing secretary perez and his team are continuing to drive stronger connections between a workforce system and a Homeless Service system. Part of my work is to leave the interag