Post Tag: "Disabled Veterans"

Swords to Plowshares Joins California Interagency Council on Veterans

On February 1st, 2012 by Jordan Towers

Swords to Plowshares is proud to announce that Keith Boylan, the Policy and Program Coordinator for the Institute for Veteran Policy has been appointed Chairman of the Sub-Committee on Employment for the California Interagency Council on Veterans (IAC). On August 23, 2011, Governor Brown issued an Executive Order establishing the California Interagency Council on [...]

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TOPICS: Afghanistan • Bay Area Veterans • Disabled Veterans • Employment • Green jobs • Job Training • Policy • Swords in the News • Veteran Jobs • Veteran Policy • Vets

Veterans and Beneficiaries Receive 2012 Cost of Living Adjustment

On January 24th, 2012 by Jordan Towers

WASHINGTON – Veterans, their families, and survivors receiving benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs saw a 3.6 percent increase in their compensation and pension benefits beginning January 1. “Veterans, their families and their survivors are entitled to benefits that keep pace with the cost of living,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki. [...]

Sec's VA and HUD Testify Before Senate on Ending Veterans' Homelessness

VA Expands List of Ships With Agent Orange Risk

On January 23rd, 2012 by Jordan Towers

The Veterans Affairs Department has added 47 vessels to its list of Navy and Coast Guard ships whose crews may have been exposed to the defoliant Agent Orange. Former service members who served aboard these “blue water” ships as well as the more than 200 others listed in VA’s database from 1962 to 1975 [...]

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TOPICS: Agent Orange • Disabled Veterans • Navy • Veteran News

VA Announces Changes to Emergency Care Payment Policy

On January 12th, 2012 by Jordan Towers

WASHINGTON – The Department of Veterans Affairs announced today a change in regulations regarding payments for emergency care provided to eligible Veterans in non-VA facilities. “This provision helps ensure eligible Veterans continue to get the emergency care they need when VA facilities are not available,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki. The [...]

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TOPICS: Afghanistan • Bay Area Veterans • Disabled Veterans • Iraq • OIF/OEF • PTSD • VA claims • VA health care • Veteran News • Veteran Policy • Vets • Women Veterans

SF Veterans Mural Project: Murals On A Mission

On January 10th, 2012 by Jordan Towers

Amos Lee Gregory wants people to know that every day 32 U.S. veterans attempt to commit suicide and 18 are successful. It is a statistic that he cites in conversations about the SF Veterans Mural Project, which he launched in November on Shannon Alley between Geary and O’Farrell and Jones and Taylor in the [...]

Veterans Toolkit Workshop

On January 4th, 2012 by Jordan Towers

Veterans Toolkit Workshop with UC Berkeley and American Corporate Partners WHEN: January 28, 2012 LOCATION: 100 Cesar E Chavez Student Center, UC Berkeley Coming home with questions about how to take the next step? Wondering what the next chapter of your life looks like? Get the tools, support, and strategies you need for charting [...]

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TOPICS: Afghanistan • Bay Area Veterans • Disabled Veterans • Event • General • Resources • returningvets • Women Veterans

Bay Area Veterans Face Readjustment Hurdles As Iraq War Ends

On January 1st, 2012 by Jordan Towers

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) – As the nearly nine-year war in Iraq draws to a close, Bay Area veterans who are returning home to rejoin their families and resume their civilian lives may face unexpected challenges. Keith Armstrong, director of couples and family therapy at the Veterans Affairs Center in San Francisco, said that [...]

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TOPICS: Bay Area Veterans • Deployment • Disabled Veterans • Iraq • Swords in the News • TBI • Veterans • Women Veterans

Tough Job Market for Post 9/11 Veterans

On December 12th, 2011 by Jordan Towers

Swords to Plowshares executive director, Michael Blecker and women veteran coordinator, Starlyn Lara speaks with CNN about the difficulties of finding work after war. Since 2001, more than two million military personnel have served in war, either in Iraq or Afghanistan. Veterans returning home have found it difficult to find work in a job [...]

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TOPICS: Afghanistan • Disabled Veterans • Employment • iraq veteran • Job Training • OIF/OEF • Swords in the News • Veteran Jobs • Veteran News • Vets • Women Veterans

800px-War_Memorial_Veterans_Building_(San_Francisco)

Employment Workshop For Veterans at the San Francisco Resource Center

On October 24th, 2011 by Jordan Towers

The San Francisco Veterans Resource Center Presents: How To Get A Federal Job with Guest Speaker: Eduardo A. Ramires, (RET) USAF from the Department of Veteran Affairs Wednesday, October 26th, 2011 1:00-2:00pm 401 Van Ness San Francisco, CA 94102 Room [...]

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TOPICS: Afghanistan • Disabled Veterans • Employment • General • homeless veteran • Job Training • OIF/OEF • Policy • Veterans • Women Veterans

VA Revising Sexual Assault Claims Process

On October 21st, 2011 by Jordan Towers

Under pressure from Congress, the VA is trying to come up with a better way of handling disability claims from veterans who say they are suffering trauma as a result of sexual assault or rapes suffered while in the military. A key problem is how to handle claims when there may not be much [...]

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TOPICS: Afghanistan • Disabled Veterans • MST • PTSD • Veteran News • Veteran Policy • Women Veterans

East Bay Vets Find Employment In Green Energy Industry

On October 14th, 2011 by Jordan Towers

OAKLAND — Michael Ferreira and Ron Rodd were born 40 years apart, and served in different branches of the military. Ferreira was a U.S. Marine and Rodd served in the U.S. Navy. Rodd went to Vietnam in 1967 and Ferreira completed two deployments to Iraq, returning home for the last time in 2008. It’s [...]

Supporting Veterans and Taking National Priorities Local

On October 10th, 2011 by Jordan Towers

On October 4th Swords to Plowshares joined community leaders in the San Francisco Bay Area for a discussion at the Commonwealth Club of California about supporting veterans and taking national priorities local. The panelists included Deborah Alvarez-Rodriguez, President and Chief Executive Officer of Goodwill Industries of San Francisco, Major General Michael Myatt, President and [...]

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TOPICS: Disabled Veterans • General • PTSD • Veteran News • Veteran Policy • Veterans • Veterans Administration • Vets

After VA Survey Shows Long Wait Times for Mental Health Care, Chairman Murray Calls for Action

On October 4th, 2011 by Jordan Towers

Schedule mental health appointments for veterans in required time; 70% say they don?t have adequate staff or space to meet the mental health care needs of the veterans they serve. (Washington, D.C.) – U.S. Senator Patty Murray, Chairman of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, has sent a letter to the top health official [...]

New Study Shows True Human Cost of War

On July 6th, 2011 by Megan Klein Zottarelli

A very important new study by Catherine Lutz at Brown University reports on the very high human costs of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars. This research catalogues the deaths and injuries of military personnel, U.S. private contractors (who make up 54 percent of the total US workforce in Iraq and Afghanistan), as well as non [...]

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TOPICS: Afghanistan • casualties • Deployment • Disabled Veterans • Iraq • killed in action • Mental Illness • OIF/OEF • PTSD • Resources • Suicide • TBI • VA claims • Veteran News • Veteran Policy • wounded in action

Swords Trains 750 Attorneys on VA Claims and Discharge Upgrades

On May 19th, 2011 by Megan Klein Zottarelli

On May 6, 2011 our Legal Director, Teresa Panepinto and Staff Attorney, Katie Dwight delivered a training for attorneys through the Practising Law Institute (PLI) on “Advocating for Veterans – The Basics on Benefits, Discharge Upgrades and Cultural Competency.” Over 750 people participated in the training either live and via webcast; in fact, it [...]

Senate Puts Pressure on the VA to Care for Veteran Caregivers

On February 9th, 2011 by Megan Klein Zottarelli

The VA has missed the January 31 deadline to start carrying out provisions of The Caregivers and Veterans Omnibus Health Services Act of 2010, providing supportive services to caregivers of wounded veterans. Because of this inaction, caregivers, many who had to leave their jobs to care for their veteran, continue to go without needed [...]

VA Adds Chat Feature to Online Application for Health Benefits

On January 18th, 2011 by Colleen Corliss

VA Secretary Shinseki continues to make the process of applying to benefits simpler. In July 2010 he simplified the disability application form and now the process for applying for health benefits is becoming more streamlined. A strong word of caution though, disabled veterans need assistance in order to ensure that their initial claim is [...]

VA Pilots Expedite Payments to Disabled Veterans

On November 19th, 2010 by Benjamin Phillips

‘Quick Pay’ and ‘Express Lane’ Initiatives Work to Cut Processing Time WASHINGTON (Nov. 16, 2010)- VA has launched two pilot programs to test new procedures that will speed the payment of Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) compensation benefits to Veterans with disabilities connected to their military service. These new programs are part of Secretary [...]