Photo by Chris Wieland.
It’s Veterans Day and, appropriately enough, Mayor Vince Gray has released a plan that outlines how the city can better serve its service members, veterans, and their families.
Some background: According to the report, D.C. sent an 11-person team to the Service Members, Veterans and their Families Policy Academy in 2011, in order to learn about ways to improve mental health and substance abuse services for veterans. Upon returning, Gray tasked the work team to come up with ways for how D.C. can better serve its veterans and service members.
Nearly three years later, the city is releasing the Service Members, Veterans and their Families Action Plan, which outlines ways that the city can better serve its veterans. Among the subjects outlined in the plan is ways to “decrease the number of incarcerated service members and veterans,” ensure economic stability and security for service members and veterans, along with employment opportunities and benefits, ending chronic homelessness for veterans, increasing opportunities for service members and veterans to pursue education and training, and, finally, improve access to healthcare “that addresses the needs of service members, veterans, and their families.”
The plan then outlines a variety of strategies to help complete each of the objectives. For instance, to help decrease the number of incarcerated veterans and service members, the plan recommends a support system in the Department of Corrections, which identifies and “[ensures] that veterans are connected to the Department of Veterans Affairs’ Justice Outreach Specialists.
Perhaps the most interesting strategy recommendation is in regards to helping the city’s homeless veteran population. Among the strategies is one to “pilot a coordinated entry and housing placement system as part of the Veterans NOW and 25Cities initiatives to prioritize the most vulnerable residents, including veterans, for housing services.” In addition, the report recommends the using “a combination of VASH vouchers and local funds to house and provide case management to chronically homeless veterans.”
You can read the full report below:
