Military & Veterans InTransition News

Community Solutions Necessary to Meet the Needs of this Growing Veteran Population

SEATTLE, Aug. 3, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Today, Easter Seals released Call to Action: Support Community Efforts to Improve the Transition to Civilian Life for Women Veterans, a white paper aimed to educate policymakers and others about the need to expand community-based solutions to meet the reintegration challenges women veterans face. The white paper was released at the National Council of State Legislatures (NCSL) summit in Seattle as part of the newfound partnership between the two organizations.

The goals of the partnership are to brief state policymakers about current needs of women veterans, one of the fastest growing veterans’ populations, and to offer solutions states can adopt to assist female veterans and the estimated 200,000 women in military who will transition into civilian life over the next several years.(1) The Call to Action white paper offers recommendations for state and federal policymakers to invest in community-based solutions to improve the transition to civilian life for female veterans. Current challenges include finding and maintaining employment and housing, and maintaining health and family wellness.

“Far too many women veterans who could benefit from reintegration services are unable to access those supports when they need them most,” said Katy Neas, Easter Seals Executive Vice President for Public Affairs. “Easter Seals is working to close that gap through a best practice model that works individually with women veterans and provides directs services or connects them to available supports to help them thrive during their transition.”

CALL TO ACTION
We all share a responsibility in assisting female veterans and all veterans during their transition into civilian life – businesses, foundations, private citizens and governments. The Call to Action report explains how government and state elected leaders can play a great role and suggests legislators specifically can authorize and fund state care coordination programs for women veterans and fund community asset-mapping and service coordination efforts.