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Watson is in a newly created role leading its Veteran Support Services program across the United States.
Veterans Community Project has named nationally recognized homelessness advocate Marqueia Watson as its National Director of Veteran Support Services.
In the newly created role, Watson will lead the strategic design, oversight, and implementation of VCP programming in support of its mission to fix Veteran homelessness across the United States.
The two core elements of that programming are residential and outreach. Residential centers around the 240-square-foot transitional housing Villages to help Veterans achieve permanent housing. Outreach focuses on preventing Veteran homelessness in the first place, using tools like emergency assistance. Both utilize its proprietary H.O.M.E.S. Index case management framework.
VCP Co-Founder and CEO Bryan Meyer said that Watson is the ideal person for this leadership role at an important time for the organization as it continues to scale its programming amid national expansion.
“Marqueia is a nationally recognized leader with lived experience,” he said. “She understands homelessness as both an urgent personal crisis and a profound moral failing of society. And she has dedicated her career to dismantling systemic barriers and advocating for housing as a fundamental human right.”
Watson, a Los Angeles native who holds a Master of Social Work degree from the University of Kansas, joins VCP after previously serving as Executive Director of the Greater Kansas City Coalition to End Homelessness, which was the regional lead agency under the Housing and Urban Development Continuum of Care. In that role, she served as a state advocacy captain on Capitol Hill and spoke at conferences such as for the National Alliance to End Homelessness. She has also regularly partnered with VCP, which was founded and is headquartered in Kansas City.
“I have long admired Bryan and his vision for Veterans Community Project,” said Watson. “This model is proven for Veterans and, professionally, I am also interested in learning how it could be extrapolated for other populations. Homelessness is a solvable problem.” And VCP, she noted, is part of the proof.
Among Watson’s top priorities in the role are ensuring the highest quality standard of services across VCP locations, building relationships in new communities, and lifting up the voices of Veteran clients. “There are opportunities to further elevate the perspectives of the Veterans who we serve—perhaps as mentors, staff, or board members,” she said.
Since starting at VCP earlier this year, Watson said she has already learned a lot about the individual needs of Veterans, like the military specific terminology and associated service benefits. At the end of the day, she said, this job is fundamentally about helping people and impacting the community.
“The problem of homelessness is complex,” she said. “But these are all human beings. Each with their own unique needs and their own personal stories. And, importantly, each with an infinite capacity to change.”