Veterans Resources

This page is for Veterans and their family members to find local resources. As this webpage is under constant development, we encourage you to check back with this page periodically.

2009 NCHV Annual Conference Presentations Available Online

A schedule of sessions from the 2009 NCHV Annual Conference held May 20-22 at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City in Arlington, VA is now available online, with descriptions of each session, speaker names, and presentation materials. To view this information, click here. The conference program is available for download by clicking here.

The Department of Veterans Affairs' (VA) Veterans Health Administration (VHA) has founded a national suicide prevention hotline to ensure veterans in emotional crisis have free, 24/7 access to trained counselors. To operate the Veterans Hotline, the VA partnered with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. Veterans can call the Lifeline number, 1-800-273-TALK (8255), and press "1" to be routed to the Veterans Hotline.

Mission

To Serve California's Veterans & their Families.

More specifically, to provide California veterans and their families with aid and assistance in presenting their claims for veterans' benefits under the laws of the United States; to provide them with beneficial opportunities through direct low-cost loans to acquire farms and homes; and to provide the state's aged or disabled veterans with rehabilitative, residential, and medical care and services in a home-like environment at the California Veterans Homes.

This mission is based upon the philosophy that programs of benefits for veterans fulfill necessary, proper, and valid public purposes by promoting patriotism, by recognizing and rewarding sacrifice and service to country, and by providing needed readjustment assistance to returning veterans and their families, whose lives were interrupted when they responded to their country's call to military service.

Vision

California veterans will live the highest quality of life with dignity and honor.

Goals

We will provide high quality advocacy and services for all California Veterans.

We will provide the best long-term care and enhanced quality of life for all State Veterans Home residents.

We will maintain effective communication with all staff and stake holders.

We will use resources wisely.

Core Values

Respect for All

Absolute Integrity

Outstanding Service

Commitment to Excellence

A "Can Do" Spirit

NETWORK OF CARE WEBSITE

Trilogy Integrated Resources LLC, creator of the Network of Care Web sites, is a company dedicated to improving information and communication in the health and social service fields at the community level. Trilogy works primarily with state and county governments and other local human service entities to establish one-stop information places, centered on highly interactive, community-based Web sites. Trilogy's efforts in creating these "virtual communities" ultimately focus on two things:

Arming consumers and their families with access to comprehensive information, advocacy and other resources to empower them to make the best, most informed decisions possible regarding needed care in their lives.
Enabling the service delivery community - public and private - to better deal with the problems of fragmentation through the use of extremely effective tools. These tools better coordinate their efforts to get the right service to the right person at the right time.

California Launches Veterans Benefits Website

Veterans and servicemembers across California who struggle to locate mental health programs, benefits information and other resources now have a one-stop website. Sponsored by California's county mental health agencies, the new website aims to aid veterans and servicemembers who do not know where to turn for information. The website operates in 10 languages and allows them to search through a jobs database for veterans, join in social networking and create personal health records. To view the website, click here.

PLACER COUNTY NETWORK OF CARE

The Network of Care for Veterans & Service Members is part of a growing awareness and effort to take a community approach to the needs of returning veterans, to ensure that they are a valuable part of a healthy community and that the community is a meaningful part of the health of the veteran. The Network of Care for Veterans & Service Members is a one-stop-shop for virtually all services, information, support, advocacy, and much more. This public service is an attempt to bring together critical information for all components of the veterans' community, including veterans, family members, active-duty personnel, reservists, members of the National Guard, employers, service providers, and the community at large.

War causes wounds and suffering that last beyond the battlefield. Swords to Plowshares’ mission is to heal the wounds, to restore dignity, hope, and self-sufficiency to all veterans in need, and to significantly reduce homelessness and poverty among veterans.

Founded in 1974, Swords to Plowshares is a community-based, not-for-profit organization that provides counseling and case management, employment and training, housing, and legal assistance to more than 1500 homeless and low-income veterans annually in the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond. We promote and protect the rights of veterans through advocacy, public education, and partnerships with local, state, and national entities.

The first and formost resource for returning Veterans are the VA VetCenters. There are 250 VetCenters (Click here for the national directory) around the country, each staffed with a dedicated team of specialists and professionals experienced with the issues and concerns of todays returning Veterans as well as the needs of Veterans from previous wars and conflicts.

Readjustment Counseling Service

A common purpose: Serving the needs of Veterans

The VetCenters and the Veterans Administration are our first line of resources for our homecoming Veterans. As this web portal develops you will find more services and resource links.

Veterans Benefits, Click on the graphic below:

National Veterans Toll Free Crisis Line:

If you are a Veteran with an immediate crisis that is potentially harmful to yourself or others, please consider calling the National Veterans Association's toll free crisis line at 1-888-777-4443.

The National Veterans Foundation (NVF) is a non-profit organization serving the needs of Veterans for over 17 years.

Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act

The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA, 38 U.S.C. §§ 4301 – 4335) is a federal law intended to ensure that persons who serve or have served in the Armed Forces, Reserves, National Guard or other “uniformed services:” (1) are not disadvantaged in their civilian careers because of their service; (2) are promptly reemployed in their civilian jobs upon their return from duty; and (3) are not discriminated against in employment based on past, present, or future military service. The federal government is to be a “model employer” under USERRA. See 38 U.S.C. § 4301.

United States Department of Veterans Affairs - Advisory Committee on OIF/OEF Veterans and Families

Interim Report Available

Update from Dole/Shalala Report

Advisory Committee on Women Veterans

211 Texas Information Network

My HealtheVet

Employment Histories of Recently Discharged Veterans: study conducted by VA

National Survey of Veterans

United Veterans Council

In April 2007, the Secretary of U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs established the Advisory Committee on OIF/OEF Veterans and Families. The purpose of the Advisory Committee is to provide advice and recommendations to the Secretary regarding health care, benefits delivery and related family support issues that service members confront during their transition from active duty to veterans’ status. The Committee will focus on the concerns of all men and women with active military service in Operation Iraqi Freedom and/ or Operation Enduring Freedom.

VETERANS and MILITARY FAMILIES for PROGRESS is a national organization dedicated to ensuring that the rights and needs of veterans, active-duty service members and their families are:
Understood by the American public,
Endorsed by our elected officials, and
Protected by legislation, regulation, and public policy initiatives.

Massachusetts Statewide Advocacy for Veterans' Empowerment (SAVE)

"You give us the call…we’ll give you the answer.”

The fundamental principle of the SAVE program is to advocate for veterans who are not able to obtain the benefits they have earned due to institutional or personal barriers. The program’s primary mission is prevention of suicide and mental health distress through the identification of issues facing veterans when they return from service and proactively providing them with access to benefits and services that may address these issues and result in positive transitions back to civilian life.

SAVE acts as a liaison between veterans and their families and the various agencies within the federal and state governments.

The SAVE team works closely, and in collaboration, with the Massachusetts National Guard. Resources offered by the Massachusetts National Guard and their Family Readiness Program are available to all service members and their families, regardless of the branch in which they serve.

Department of Veterans Affairs Facilities Locator and Directory (Click Here)

Veterans Benefits on the Internet

VA consumer affairs........................ www.va.gov/customer/conaff.asp

VA Benefits and Health Care Information:

Compensation & Pension.............................. www.vba.va.gov/bln/21/

VA Benefit.ts application......................... vabene.ts.vba.va.gov/vonapp

Health benefits and services.......................... www.va.gov/vbs/health/

Burial and memorial bene.ts................................... www.cem.va.gov/

Education bene.ts................................................... www.gibill.va.gov/

VA home loan guaranties.............................. www.homeloans.va.gov/

Board of Veterans’ Appeals................................. www.va.gov/vbs/bva

Benefits outside the U.S.................... www.vba.va.gov/bln/21/foreign/

TRICARE............................................................. www.tricare.osd.mil/

CHAMPVA................................................................ www.va.gov/hac/

Forms:

VA forms................................................................ www.va.gov/forms/

Other government forms.......... www.vba.va.gov/pubs/otherforms.htm

Employment Assistance:

Veterans’ preference ........ www.opm.gov/veterans/html/vetguide.asp

Federal government job openings.................. www.usajobs.opm.gov/

Dept. of Labor .................................. www.dol.gov/vets/welcome.html

Business Assistance:

Small Business Administration............................ www.sba.gov/VETS/

Small and Disadvantaged Businesses.............. www.va.gov/OSDBU/

Other Useful Sites:

Arlington National Cemetery.................... www.arlingtoncemetery.org/

Department of Defense...................................... www.defenselink.mil/

Military funeral honors.................. www.militaryfuneralhonors.osd.mil/

Military records................. www.archives.gov/research_room/vetrecs/

La Versión en Español de Este Folleto:

www.va.gov/opa/feature/

Following are web-sites that provide information on Veterans benefits and how to file/ask for them. Accordingly, there are many sites that explain how to obtain books, military/medical records, information and how to appeal a denied claim with the VA. Nearly 100% of this information is without charge and available for all veterans, the only catch is you have to ask for it. You need to know what questions to ask so the right doors open for you -- and then be ready to have an advocate who is willing to work with and for you, stay in the process, and press for your rights and your best interests: