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>> Okay, testing.
Is there still an echo?
>> There seems to be a slight echo,
but most of seems to be resolved.
>> Sounds good to me now.
If it started recording,
it might have been the service starting up.
>> All right.
Thank you very much, Larry.
As I was saying, the phones are muted to cut down on as much
as background noise as possible.
Again, welcome to our Wednesday webinar for July
with the Washington State VetCorps.
This is going to be a really good show today.
They have come here to talk to you
about helping veterans navigate higher education.
They've come up with a really creative and innovative program
that helps military veterans adjust from their military life
to their college and civilian life by providing them
with support, resources, and information.
But before we start, I would
like to get just a few housekeeping things
under our belt so that we could help you navigate this webinar a
little bit better and get the most out of it.
Debbie, can you move it to slide 2?
Thank you.
This is our housekeeping slide, and as you can see,
the box on the slide looks slightly
like what you should be seeing to the right of your screen.
It does remind you that the phones are muted
to minimize background noise.
Also, something different on the right side
of your screen that's not on our web screen is
on the right-hand corner at the bottom is a Q and A section.
If you have a question during the section,
just jot it down here, and our panelist will be able
to answer your question via the chat option there
by typing an answer back to you, or letting you know
when they'll be talking
about that during the slide presentation.
Also, we have a chat feature up above.
If you want to provide us with any information, resources,
or additional information you have, you can type
that in the chat message above.
You can send a private message to some of the attendees
that are on our list, or send a message to all participants,
and everybody will be able to see what you've got going on.
Also, at the end of our session,
we'll have a very short evaluation.
We're trying to do these webinars once a month,
and we want to make them as interactive and as educational
and informative as possible, so we really rely on your feedback
to tell us what went well and what didn't go well,
and how could we improve things for you.
So if you could just take a second at the end
to do this that would be great.
Larry, can you pop up the poll and to find out a little bit
about who's on this call?
As you can see to the right
of your screen now, there is a big poll.
It's talking about we've got on the conversation today,
so that our presenters will be able
to know a little bit more about you.
So if you could take a couple of seconds to fill out this poll,
I'll have Debbie go onto slide 3
and start introducing the panelists to us, today,
and then at the end of the introductions, I'll take a back
and give the results of the poll
so that we can all see who's on the phone with us.
Thank you.
Go ahead, Debbie.
>> Debbie, can you hear us now?
>> Yes, we can hear you.
>> Okay, great, thank you.
Thank you for the opportunity to join us today to hear
about the Washington VetCorps program.
The Washington Commission for National
and Community Service partnered with the Washington Department
of Veterans Affairs starting in 2009.
You may recall that the passage
of the Kennedy Serve America Act added a Veterans Corps component
under the Corporation for National and Community Service,
and as a result of our partnership, we were able
to start one of the first VetCorps programs
in the country starting in the fall of 2009.
Since that time, the VetCorps program has been a formula
grantee of the commission, and they have engaged 100 members --
probably 95 percent of those members are veterans,
themselves, and the remaining are spouses,
widows, or family members.
Those members have provided services and support
to over 11,500 veterans and military family members.
And one major accomplishment, I believe, is the addition
of veteran resource rooms in 23 colleges across Washington State
that previously did not have that room available
where veterans could congregate, get support and camaraderie
for fellow veteran students.
So joining me today -- we're all in Olympia
in one conference room -- but I have Mark Fischer,
who is the founder of the VetCorps program
for Washington Department of Veterans Affairs; Sarah Andrews,
who is an alum and now working for the VetCorps program
in a staff capacity; and also Jason Alves,
also a VetCorps alum, who is the new VetCorps program director
as of July 1st.
So I'm going to pass the phone along to Mark
to give you an update on the program and some history.
>> Thanks, Debbie.
This is Mark Fischer, and a little bit
about my background is that I've been working with veterans
for over 30 years now, and so that's partly why I was able
to think about these things over the course of a long time.
We started a program called the Veterans Conservation Corps
at the Washington Department
of Veterans Affairs a little over seven years ago.
And within that, my task was to engage veterans around the state
of Washington in habitat restoration projects,
environmental projecting, that sort of thing,
and I quickly realized that I couldn't do that by myself.
So as I received a little bit more money from the legislature,
I looked out into the communities for veterans
who could be my peer mentors
for other veterans in their communities.
It made the best sense to me.
As one person, I couldn't touch very many people's lives,
but with ten Veteran Conservation Corps program
managers, we could touch a lot of people's lives.
So in a sense, they were the original VetCorps members
without being called that.
They got very little pay,
sort of like what AmeriCorps members get.
And they were doing a lot of volunteer work,
and they were all veterans themselves,
some of them having disabilities,
and they were engaged in service to other veterans already,
so it was easy to find them.
That became the formula for looking for VetCorps members,
as I'll get to that in a second.
So we had a second part of our program,
which was in engaged in colleges.
It was called the Veterans Environmental Academy
that started as the result of another legislative action.
So this is before, pre the GI Bill,
and we were given veterans a stipend every month
to work a couple of days of the week
out on environmental projects
and while they were going to college.
And while we were doing that program,
I noticed something significant about veterans in college,
is that they didn't navigate the college system very well.
There were a lot of gaps and fall-throughs that happened
as a result of their trying to enter into college.
So one of the things that happened as a result
of our first program, is we had a one-stop shop on the first day
of registration enrollment, GI Bill enrollment,
which had everything for these 30 veterans
in this instrumental program, and that worked very smoothly.
I wish we could replicate
that in all colleges for all veterans.
Unfortunately, it's a little bit too much to ask,
but what they told me was that the veterans
who received those services were really happy.
They felt like they could be included
in the colleges studying very quickly,
and they felt it was a win-win.
So when that legislative money went away
at the same time the new GI Bill came into being, we realized,
I realized there was an opportunity here
with the VetCorps program under the Edward M. Kennedy Act
to kind of recreate what we were doing in a much broader sense.
So all these ideas sort of came from the natural evolution
of the work that we were doing already, rather than kind
of springing out of nowhere.
So when the VetCorps program came along,
we put most of our first-year members in colleges,
in the VA Hospital, some in homeless settings for veterans,
and a couple of members at the Warrior Transition Battalion
at joint base [inaudible].
So what we found after the first year is
that the most successful VetCorps members were those
in colleges.
There's a huge captured population of veterans
in college, first of all,
and the Warrior Transition Battalion was the second place
that became the most useful place to put VetCorps members.
So over the last three years,
that's what we've primarily done is having VetCorps members
at two- and four-year colleges, and two members
at the Warrior Transition Battalion.
And I'll talk a little bit
about the upcoming year in a little while.
>> Hi, it's Sarah here.
I just wanted to talk about the first slide,
really some of the most important aspects of VetCorps
and really where the transition began.
So I'd like to start with a personal experience.
I like to illustrate these points by personal experiences.
And one that I had was in trying
to volunteer while going to school.
This was pre-VetCorps for me.
The student clubs really didn't appeal to me.
They often had a younger group, and it was clubs
like horror film enthusiasts, and even a peanut butter
and jelly sandwich club.
There really wasn't anything that seemed really fulfilling
for me, and even trying to volunteer for Big Brothers
and Big Sisters, you have to be gainfully employed,
and being a full-time student doesn't count.
So there's a strong desire, a sense of duty and dedication
to want to volunteer, and really it just needed
to be harnessed and focused.
And so keeping some of those qualities
in mind really is a must for the VetCorps members we seek out,
and the veterans we try to help is finding
that new mission and sense of unit.
So I want to talk briefly about both of those.
What does a new mission mean?
Starting school is just the beginning.
It really is just the beginning.
There's a feeling of now what, what degree program,
what major certificate.
It's that million-dollar question, what do you want to be
when you grow up, that's really honed
down into this really disorienting period
where you're trying to figure all of this out.
And so the new objectives are crucial
for a very highly goal-oriented population.
They need it to know what those goals are to feel effective.
There are very tangible objectives in the military
that they're to achieve the mission.
And without those goals, any number of things can happen,
from isolation to depression to various negative effects
of a difficult transition.
There needs to be that sense of purpose,
or for most of our veterans, there is a strong desire to help
by volunteering and teaching and mentoring.
We've already done that in the military, and really just want
to continue to do that,
so really just the dedication needs to be redirected.
The sense of unit for me is the sense of unity
in that the most common aspect of the military
that veterans say they miss
after separation is the camaraderie.
It's a band that you're together with,
the [inaudible] you're banded together
with that provides a degree of safety and security
that you're all dedicated to each other.
There's a sense of belonging.
There really is no success for the mission without being able
to lean on each other and provide that support.
And that's why the majority of veterans, myself included,
will always put that you're a team player
or that you work well on a team.
Honestly, I feel that's kind of under appreciated
for civilian employers, because it's not just a team
in the military in the sense that you worked well in a group,
on a group project in school,
or you're on the junior varsity basketball team.
This is a team more like a family that you had to rely
on to sometimes even get home safely.
So the veteran community itself can provide that new team
with a new sense of support and camaraderie that really feels
like it's swept out from under you
when you immediately separate.
So the new mission provides the objectives necessary
for a highly goal-oriented population that already wants
to help or make a difference, and just needs to be redirected.
And the sense of unit provides that security and strength
to embark on a new mission with a new team
that you feel you can trust.
I'm going to pass it off to Jason now for the next slide.
>> Jason Alves here.
One of the ways that the VetCorps program meets its goals
in engaging veterans on college campuses is
by engaging the community in service
and increasing the community's understanding
of the veteran's transition.
Like Mark said, one
of our catchalls is the college campuses,
and most of the veterans have access to the Post-9/11 GI Bill
when they get out of the service.
And as one of the listeners commented, a poor job market,
so college becomes a pretty, you know, pretty well-fitting shoe,
I guess, when they get out of the service.
But one of the things that VetCorps tries to do, so I mean,
yes, they are assigned to college campuses
as the primary service site,
but we like to consider them as navigators.
Navigators, meaning that they are acting as the hub of a wheel
for the veterans towards community services,
as well as community services towards those veterans.
We really try to plug those veterans
into stuff that's in the community.
You know, a number of community resources and stuff
like that make up the community, and really trying to bring
that also back into the community.
We also have the -- I guess I don't know any other way
to say it.
We also have the benefit of them being AmeriCorps members.
So as the AmeriCorps members, they're required
to do three service projects in a service year.
Members have fulfilled this requirement in a number
of different ways -- a couple to talk about is
that the Seattle Stand Down.
So a "stand down" is a term used in the military.
It's after, you know, being on the front and stuff like that,
you get the opportunity to come back in a stand down,
"three hots and a cot."
So you take a break,
you go through training, safety stand down.
You kind of go over some of the stuff that may have happened
that wasn't the best thing when you're in the front and stuff.
Anyway, it's a break, it's a chance to not worry
about things, it's a chance to go over stuff that you need
to go over and everything like that.
The Seattle Stand Down, and how it's been coined
in the civilian community and stuff like that,
is an opportunity to bring in homeless or at-risk veterans
and give them an opportunity, clothing, issue, food, you know,
resources for job and education, stuff like that.
So a VetCorps member, or a group of VetCorps members
in the Seattle area, did the Seattle Stand
Down this last year.
125 organizations were involved in the Seattle Stand Down with
over 100 volunteers, about 50 of those were veterans.
And that group saw over 326 homeless
or at-risk veterans in the Seattle area.
Another service project that's been done
with the community is rehabilitation.
So veterans going out and working in conservation --
well, the VetCorps members working in conservation kind
of areas working in rehabilitating a creek.
And then we've got a VetCorps member
that does a teddy bear drive right around Christmastime
for kids in hospitals.
For veterans, we end upbringing in the teddy bears
and then giving these teddy bears to kids in the hospital
who are sick and stuff.
VetCorps members have reported changes on their campus.
So Debbie talked about veteran centers
and veteran's rooms and stuff like that.
They end up becoming amazing one-stop shops
for student veterans to get together and kind
of discuss college, college life, transition and kind
of come together as a group,
and a lot of veterans have talked about that.
But one of the things, too, that veterans have talked
about is changes in their communities.
Communities that go from not really being engaged
with the student veteran population on campuses
to then becoming really engaged, really wanting to get back
to them, wanting to e-mail them, ask them for help,
ask them for support, and kind of working together.
A lot of new partners have been made this way.
A lot of VetCorps members end up becoming kind of --
like we wanted them to be these navigators of services,
and people that want to --
you know, people that want to volunteer, people that want
to serve vets, and then also people that want vets to then go
and volunteer and serve with them.
That also includes employment
and all those wonderful things, so.
The stand down -- Mark would better be able
to answer that question, but.
>> Sure, the stand down comes from a combination of funders.
The VA usually gets involved to some degree in terms
of providing goods and services, like, they'll provide clothing
and backpacks and that sort of thing.
But a lot of community organizations
provided volunteers.
There were doctors there
who volunteered their time, dentists, nurses.
There were a lot of people just volunteering their time
to help the homeless vets.
And then the college where the stand
down was held donated a lot of food,
the lunch that was provided.
So there was just a combination of funders
for this particular stand down.
>> Sarah here again talking about actively seeking
out veterans and family members on campus and in the community.
And again, with a personal experience,
it's just the same frustrations that I had in separating
from the Navy, trying to attend school.
There's an overwhelming amount of information on websites
and trying to figure out the confusing GI Bill criteria,
which they tell you
on the website is an irrevocable decision.
You cannot change your mind later and say, I'm sorry,
I didn't know I was wasting thousands
of dollars I could have used towards a different factor.
And even understanding my disability assistance
and whether or not that covered any healthcare
or if I should be rated higher.
I wouldn't find out until five years after my separation
that I was experiencing symptoms of invisible wound.
That's the problem with invisible wounds is
that they can't be seen, only felt, and it's difficult
to convey this to family members that may not understand,
and school counselors without a lot of experience.
So actively seeking out veterans has enormous benefits.
It supplies a means to just ask questions
and immediately supplies answers.
Even if they say, even if you say, "I don't know,
but I can find out," that's better than nothing,
preventing many of the individual problems
with isolation and depression and relationships and academics.
And even, because it's at a community level,
whether it's the campus or the surrounding veteran community,
it's more immediate action that's possible.
So rather than a website to skip through to find an e-mail
or a hotline to call, and a menu to listen to and great music
to listen to while you're on hold, there's a person to talk
to face-to-face, and that can really make a difference
by reaching out and actively seeking out veterans.
We're providing a funnel of information
and a direct person to turn to.
This phrase has come up numerous times.
I've seen it, you might have heard it,
that colleges have become a conduit of veteran transition.
Whether they knew it or not, or like it or not,
the student veterans are there and they're transitioning
on the college campus.
VetCorps members are, as Jason already said, the navigators,
that is their job title, the veteran navigators,
to navigate the college system, the community benefits,
and the VA system and helping --
the numerous ways they can help provide the network
within which a wealth of knowledge has been available
and a fast acting means of distributing information.
If you can't find the answer right away,
you have a whole team of people that you can ask
and a whole network that you can call out to, to get help.
And it reaches previously untapped populations of veterans
for increased awareness, also.
If you don't self-identify as a veteran,
which many women veterans may not, if you don't self-identify
as a veteran because you were medically discharged
after six months, or there's any number
of reasons why you're not actively seeking your veteran
benefits, you just don't know what's available to you,
and it can be the difference between thousands of dollars
or success in school or even, you know,
healthier relationships.
It can prevent many of the individual problems
with isolation and depression and relationships and academics.
That the disability services available at my school,
I had no idea were available to me
because of the disability rating I had.
But we all know that an ounce of prevention a worth a pound
of cure, and it can make all the difference to a veteran.
It's significantly more difficult
to get a homeless veteran off the street than it is
to prevent, even college -- we have college graduates that are
in danger of becoming homeless.
That's really significant.
And so preventing that is key.
The benefits at the community level are quicker.
You can take action, you can simply get a question answered.
The VA Question Line, it tells you it takes 7
to 10 days for a response.
But just having someone you can go to that has already asked
that question for numerous other veterans on that campus before
and can instantly give you an answer can make a big
difference, and especially if they're aware
of what's happening in regional offices
where your GI Bill may be held
up because there's no one in Oklahoma.
Someone to turn to for that help
and that awareness can make all the difference.
The VA is only at the federal and state levels.
There's no community level for the VA,
and so that difference can be key.
And so actively seeking out the veterans provides that network
for information gathering and distribution, local,
all the way across the state for us, which prevents many problems
for previously untapped pockets
of veterans throughout the entire state,
even in rural areas.
And because it's at a community level, it's faster,
it's more holistic, and it's more well rounded for everything
that perhaps the state or federal level doesn't provide.
So I'll pass it off to Jason again.
>> Next slide.
As a veteran, I can say with some bias, I guess,
that my experience is never going to be duplicated.
Well, other than other veterans as of, you know,
but out of the military, going into a college atmosphere,
dealing with the GI Bill, figuring out the VA system
and stuff like that is a pretty unique experience.
So one of the things
that VetCorps program does is it gives these little experts --
not little, I mean, it gives experts on individual campuses.
And that is really, really important
for the campus leadership, the faculty, the staff,
the administration, on raising the veteran's cultural
competency within that campus community.
And whenever that veteran's cultural competency is raised,
you create a more welcoming, more productive atmosphere
for the veterans that are obtaining education or going
to the colleges or stuff like that.
So these veterans are uniquely positioned, both as students
and VetCorps members, to inform the campus leadership.
They do this information,
they do inform their campus leadership, through engagement
of the university faculty, staff, and administration,
but also by bringing in community partners.
One of the benefits of being underneath the Washington
Department of Veterans Affairs, it has a unique relationship
with different programs that the Department of Veterans Affairs
for the state of Washington has.
VetCorps members has a direct conduit
to the Veterans' Training Support Center, which brings
in Peter Schmidt, who's one of our counselors and educators
that does training on veterans' cultural competency.
The VetCorps members have a direct conduit
to the Washington State Department
of Veterans Affairs PTSD Program,
which has PTSD counselors throughout the State
for inpatient, you know,
access for veterans and stuff like that.
Basically, there's this network of support
that the veterans being experts can bring in to the university,
and they're on the campus.
This cultural competency, as I was referring to, has been shown
to be that first big step in veteran's retention.
As a group often self-described as on the fringe,
a well-informed, supportive campus community keeps
that member, or that veteran, that VetCorps member,
or there's the veteran on campus, in the class.
That's pretty intense, I mean, well, not intense,
but it's pretty important to think about,
that a well-informed faculty member
or a well-informed administrative member is going
to be able to make a better choice when dealing
with that student veteran.
If a veteran has a problem in a classroom,
having that well informed faculty member,
having that well informed faculty member knowing
that there's a network of people who they can go
to with the question how do I connect with this veteran,
or how do I keep this veteran in class, really helps us
out with that retention.
>> Go to the next slide.
We're going to take a quick break and answer a couple
of questions that have popped up online.
I'll try to do these in order,
but I apologize if I don't get them.
So in your experience, what are some best practices
for recruiting veterans for AmeriCorps in respect
to the whole living stipend and time commitment.
So there's two factors here.
We do have a number of our VetCorps members
who are either part-time students
or are taking some online courses,
so they're drawing their GI Bill as well
as taking their AmeriCorps stipend,
which helps a great deal,
as most of you know what the AmeriCorps stipend is about.
The time commitment, many veterans are used to work 12/7s,
7/12s, 84 hours a week, whatever it is, so for them,
a time commitment is not the same as it might be
for somebody else who's dealing with a difficult schedule.
They see that as a challenge, 80 hours a week is nothing.
Another question about recruiting.
So what we find is there's always somebody
at a college who's already doing something.
If you pay attention, you'll find a student
or another veteran who's doing something.
We actually found a veteran at North Seattle Community College
who was getting ready to make the stand down work,
and we made him a VetCorps member.
So it's sort of like, if you look, they're there.
It's just a matter of finding them.
Because veterans want to serve.
I heard the Assistant of the Joint Chiefs
of Staff talk yesterday, and he said, veterans are eager
and want to serve in their communities,
and that's the truth, as far as I can tell.
And you just have to go look for them.
Okay, other questions.
There was another one about, do we plan to coordinate
with other veteran-focused AmeriCorps programs
across the country.
I'm not sure what that exactly means,
but we would certainly be open to talking
to other VetCorps programs across the country
and about projects and ideas.
Any other questions that we missed?
And we also have been working with Lauren Peach,
who is our AmeriCorps legal justice connection.
She's an attorney who is an AmeriCorps member.
So when we find veterans who have difficulties
with legal issues, we can refer to her, and she's been great
in helping our veterans get some of their problems solved.
Veterans get out of the military and often have financial
and legal problems as a result of not exactly knowing how
to deal with the civilian systems, and so,
and some of them have posttraumatic stress,
and so forth and so on, and they get themselves into trouble.
One other piece that Jason mentioned,
I want to at least let you know
that the other thing that's happening
with cultural competency at colleges is that,
partly because of the work of Tim Lovett,
whose a former VetCorps member and now my TBI coordinator,
a lot of college faculty have a little sign on their window
that says "TBI aware."
And that's a great thing for somebody,
whether they're civilian or veteran
who has a traumatic brain injury, to be able to go in
and talk to a faculty member about that
and what they made need in terms of accommodation at that school.
We also have another little sign that's "veteran aware"
or "veteran friendly" on a lot of faculty doors.
So again, a veteran who's having a tough day can go in and talk
to that faculty member.
Just another little example
of how veteran cultural competencies came
across the state of Washington.
>> There's also one other question
about retention veterans who are serving as AmeriCorps members.
And actually in the program year that just ended last month,
the VetCorps retained 100 percent of their members,
all 31 full-time members successfully completed
the program.
And interestingly enough, in year one,
the program tried different types of positions.
They had some minimum time, part-time, and full-time,
and the worst retention was experienced in year one,
and particularly among the minimum time
and part-time positions.
It was harder to keep them engaged and committed
to the program, and so many exited early.
So with this program model we found full-time
to be the most efficient.
>> Okay, next.
Okay, I may be repeating myself.
The veterans -- as OF right now of the veterans transitions
out of the military, I think estimate is right
around two-thirds of those are not actually taking advantage
of VA services.
They're not getting into the VA system,
they're not seeking medical care, and whatnot like that.
Of those two-thirds, I would venture to say that the majority
of those two-thirds are actually
on the college campuses, and stuff like that.
So the VetCorps member becomes a pretty crucial point
in reaching these unserved populations, or not unserved,
but these missed populations of veterans.
The VetCorps member, like I said before, is uniquely positioned
on the campus, as well as within the Washington Department
of Veterans Affairs, to provide quick access for these veterans
into these different services and stuff like that.
They also, like I said before, end up being,
they are these experts, they are going
through the transition themselves, they are working
with the VA themselves.
They are taking advantage of the GI Bill themselves.
And then also, like we said on one of the first slides,
the members are also working very closely
with community resources.
And so the veterans again, like we were trying to say earlier,
become navigators, they become experts, and they really plug
into the veterans in this under served population
into these different services in the VA, hopefully reaching
out to that two-thirds of veterans
that are not getting into VA systems.
Do we have questions?
>> So there's a question about the GI Bill,
whether it supplements living allowance.
Yes, I guess the answer to that is the GI Bill provides a
stipend, as well, and in a sense,
you're getting two different stipends,
but there's never been a disallowance
of those two stipends.
They're not in conflict with one another.
Would any of your folks be willing to present
in other states regarding the success of your program.
Certainly, we have done that,
and we would be willing to do so again.
We actually went down to New Orleans and helped
that program -- actually, the Saint Bernard project came
up to see us, and we also went down to see them to take
to them about their program.
Most vets, most veteran navigators are vets themselves.
Yeah, most of our vets,
our VetCorps members are vets or spouses primarily.
We will have one family member this year, as well,
so kind of a combination of things.
>> I will say on that that it may not necessarily be required
to be a veteran, but we have seen that if it is a veteran
in service, the connection, the ability to bring more veterans
into the services like we were talking about before,
and the ability to really increase the understanding
on the campus community and all that kind of stuff
and on veterans issues greatly increases.
>> Okay, so there's a question about the proximity
of the military bases.
So this is a good time to talk about our next year.
So I received an actual competitive grant
for 50 VetCorps members.
We'll be placing members at all the bases in Washington,
because we see that this Transition Assist Program is
starting to really take hold.
President Obama has really made a change
in the way the Transitional Assist Programs are
being operated.
So soldiers, sailors, airmen,
and Marines will now have more time to know that they're going
to be exiting the military, and within that time,
we can provide VetCorps members on bases
who will help them understand the transition process a little
better and what options they might have
for education, jobs, whatever.
We're working closely with SHRM.
There was a question about jobs.
SHRM is the Society for Human Resource Managers.
So our VetCorps members in the 12 regions that SHRM operates
in our state will be working
with those SHRM regional directors
about providing internships for veterans out of college,
doing resume building at the colleges, and interview skills,
job shadowing, so we really see that employment issues --
we can get them into college, and we can maybe even get them
out of college, but if they're no jobs when they get
out of college, they're going to still be in the same boat.
So we're working hard this next year and last year and this year
on employment issues for veterans.
There is a question about research
about retention graduation rates.
We're seeing anywhere --
one of the things that the VA is not doing,
and the higher education boards are not doing,
is doing is very good job of counting.
But we see statistics anywhere from 65 to 88 percent
of dropout rate among returning veterans in colleges.
That's horrible, and that's obviously why we're at colleges
to try to create more success
in retention among veterans who are in college.
I can tell you from surveys that I've gotten back from veterans
who receive our services from VetCorps members,
many of them say they wouldn't be in college
without the VetCorps member.
So obviously there's a significant,
a significant increase in success in retention
if we can have VetCorps members --
which, next year there will be 40 colleges will be in,
so we want to aim to make this bigger and better every year.
So there's a question about the training.
We do a three-day training in the beginning of the program,
and is it's probably not your typical AmeriCorps
training program.
We went to one of those one year.
So we focus on the invisible wounds, posttraumatic stress,
traumatic brain injury, military *** trauma.
We focus on veteran resources in the community,
federal, state, and local.
We focus on how to do peer mentoring, so we spend a lot
of time on peer mentoring, active listening.
We spend a lot of time on going over resources
and referral information, as I said, and VA information.
Okay guys, what else do we do?
>> I would just like to reiterate too, that I mean,
like we said before, these veterans are the experts
to some extent, because they are using the GI Bill
and they are veterans who are in transition themselves.
Some of unteachable things, some of those ways
that they can connect with the group and stuff like that,
they're, they're inherently brought
into the conversation during our trainings.
>> Right. Any more questions?
>> How can we encourage RSV volunteers?
So let me talk about that.
I think there's a lot of senior veterans who probably are
in the same boat as these young veterans.
They'd like to volunteer their time with RSVP programs.
And there's probably a lot of senior veterans who would
like to be served by our RSVP programs,
so I think that there's all age ranges of veterans.
We're just focusing on the young veterans, returning veterans,
because that's what our primary focus is, but I talked
to one RSV program manager, and she got it, she understood
that there was an untapped potential within her volunteers
to really work on these issues.
How is conservation work tied into what we do?
We do three service projects a year with all
of our VetCorps members,
and many of them choose environmental projects.
However, we also run the Veteran Conservation Corps,
so we get a lot of our veterans who are coming
out of natural resources and environmental science programs
into internships with natural resource agencies,
both state and federal.
Right now, we're working closely with the Department of Ecology
to refer veterans to their program,
which has also become more veteran connected.
They will have, I think,
four veteran crews this next year working
on ecology projects.
There will be a veteran crew leader and four
or five veterans on each crew.
So. Go ahead.
>> We will just wait for the benefit of [inaudible].
>> And so there is a long-term benefit in conservation work
that really started our program.
Quick story.
John Beal was a Vietnam veteran.
He was given a diagnosis of six months to live.
He went down to his local stream and said, well,
if I've only got six months to live,
I might as well do something,
so I'll start cleaning up this stream.
So he started pulling out old refrigerators and batteries
and started looking at the weeds and invasive species
around the stream, and 26 years later he died.
So point being that John Beal started a lot
of environmental projects,
restoration projects using other veterans, and he saw,
and we see that there's a lot of eco-therapy benefit
from doing environmental work among veterans,
especially veterans who have invisible wounds.
For posttraumatic stress, working outside,
working with the environmental is a very healing process.
Quick story.
I think that there's as many benefits for the members
who are giving the services as those who are receiving it.
I think many of our members have changed their degrees
from business to social service or psychology or counseling
because they really have found a passion
for helping other veterans, other people.
We also see people who have kind of come into their own in terms
of their confidence in what they do in life, and how they operate
and how they feel about themselves.
I think a lot of the invisible wounds are healed gradually
through the course of being a VetCorps member.
And we certainly see that in the course of the people
that they help, my surveys indicate that a lot
of veterans receiving service have seen VetCorps members more
than 10 times.
So why are they seeing them so many times.
Part of it is because I think they're getting mentored
in a way that helps them feel better about themselves
and stronger and more confident in their college life.
>> I've seen a couple of questions
about possible military benefits, like the GI Bill
and stuff like that, and if that interferes
with the AmeriCorps stipend or service award
or anything like that.
It does not.
So the GI Bill benefit is not a taxable income,
it's not considered an income, and so it doesn't affect any
of that kind of stuff like that.
There is no cross or -- you know.
>> It's an educational benefit.
>> It's an educational benefit
and it doesn't affect the stipend.
>> Right.
>> So the next slide.
>> Next slide.
Is that one you're doing?
>> No, it's you.
>> Oh, so resources.
So just a few resources.
I'm not going to talk long about this.
You can look at our PTSD War Trauma Outpatient Counseling
program through our agency.
It's the only robust, state-run, PTSD program,
counseling program in the country.
There's a couple of other states that have small PTSD programs,
but we have 37 counselors spread out all over the state
who provide free services to veterans
and their family members.
So this has been going on for 27 years
and it's provided a valuable service.
Tim Lovett, was a VetCorps member three years ago,
also has a traumatic brain injury from Iraq.
He now is the TBI coordinator and goes
around to all the VetCorps members, educating them
about TBI, educating the colleges about TBI,
and helping with more veteran cultural awareness,
as well as civilian cultural awareness about TBI.
We have qualified MS, military *** trauma counselors
in the community that we refer women veterans to,
and men veterans, on occasion.
Employment, I mentioned our partnership with the Society
for Human Resource managers that's really becoming a boon
to veterans in terms of employment issues.
Next slide.
[ Inaudible question ]
Yes. So we have a connection with the --
we provide training programs for civilians working with members
who may be dealing with service-related injuries,
especially invisible wounds.
Through a training program that Peter Schmidt runs
that Jason mentioned earlier,
there is a program called the Veterans Training Support
Center, VTSC, you can Google that, VTSC,
or Veterans Training Support Center.
And you'll find all kinds of training opportunities
that they provide for civilians, as well as service members,
as well as service providers, so in our state, anyway.
I don't know what's going on elsewhere.
Where are we at?
Okay. Okay.
Yep. We've talked about working closely with the bases,
so that one's kind of done.
The last one is why is the VetCorps program successful?
I think it's obvious from what Sarah and Jason have said
that they, as VetCorps members, have found a new calling
in their work, first of all.
I mean, it's obvious to me that they're different people
than they were two and three years ago.
It's successful because veterans
and their family members are the ones who are in service.
They're not needy, they're not disabled, they're not crippled,
they're not somebody that needs the service, they're somebody
who provides the service.
And the people that they're providing the service
to are peers, so they don't see them at downtrodden and somebody
that can't help themselves, but somebody who,
with just a little handout,
can get to where they need to get to.
And we work in underserved populations and locations,
so we're out in the rural areas, rural colleges,
as well as in the urban colleges.
We try to find veterans where they're at.
We don't wait for them to come to us,
but we go out and look for them.
A lot of our VetCorps members not only work at the colleges,
but they work out in the community
with local organizations, they do outreach.
So what am I missing, Sarah?
Anything that you --
>> I was just looking at this question.
>> If you can read it, go ahead and answer it.
>> Yeah, just to clarify using the GI Bill as income
versus pursuing a degree, many vets I work with take classes
that do not lead to a degree and end
up using their GI benefits before they receive a degree.
So we actually have --
Tim Lovett, the TBI coordinator actually got certified
to administer the Myers-Briggs test to help assist with that,
because we are seeing the same thing,
that the GI Bill quickly gets jumped
into as a source of income.
And without knowing really where you want to go and what you want
to do, it can end up leading nowhere
and unfortunately get drained.
>> Well, and at the same time
that Tim can [inaudible] a great opportunity,
the VetCorps position as an AmeriCorps volunteer,
they have the opportunity to, you know, attend these events,
coordinate with the faculty, the staff, and the administration.
They create programs, they create centers,
they manage budgets, I mean, all these different kinds
of things and stuff like that.
So, at the same time, if we can find
out maybe what they're direction is [inaudible] education,
stuff like that, we also have the opportunity to apply it.
Another thing, too, that should be mentioned is a lot
of our veterans, myself included,
are first generational students.
So we're getting out of the military, like I did,
we have a GI Bill, there's not much of a job prospect,
stuff like that, so we dive
into a college degree not necessarily knowing how the
higher education system is going to work, why I'm there,
or anything like that.
So any kind of opportunity, I think,
to help give more direction as to, this is what you do
with a political science degree, or this is what you do
with an engineering degree, and stuff like that,
I think will help out with answering that question
as using it as an income instead of pursuing a degree.
>> And that's the other reason to work with SHRM,
is because many of our seniors come out of --
senior veterans come out of college
without an internship experience, without any resume,
and they really haven't had a chance to examine.
So we're encouraging freshman and sophomores
to really start thinking about these things and to --
with our partnership with SHRM, we can people
into internships earlier on in their career
so that they can see, is this something
that I really want to do or not.
>> Debbie, would you like to open it up for questions?
>> Yes. We still have about 10 minutes left.
Can you hear me?
>> Yes.
>> Oh, good.
We have about 10 minutes left, so if you want
to unmute your phones, just do a pound 6,
or use the raise-hand feature, which is the little hand
at the bottom of the participant panel,
and we can unmute your phone
and you can ask any questions of the panelists.
I think there was also, was there one more
that came up on the -- no.
>> Yes, does the military provide college guidance
to active duty personnel prior to discharge.
Prior to recently, no, not much at all.
The new TAP and ACAP program, the new transition programs
in the military, are geared to do more of this,
but it's still -- that's why we want VetCorps members on bases,
because they're the ones who have gotten out,
and they know what's out there in the community in terms
of college opportunities versus a lot of the folks
who are really not ready to give that information,
or are able to give that information,
are doing these TAP programs, so it's just starting to happen.
>> And I want to make sure that it's not underestimated, too,
what it means to be a first generational student.
Because my personal story, when I started at the college,
I know that I went in there and they asked me what I was going
to school for, and I didn't know the difference
between a master's, a Ph.D., or an associates
or a bachelor's and stuff like that.
So, I mean, that's what level some of the vets are coming
in that they're ready to go to college, they want to go
to college, but they're not exactly sure what's going
to happen from that.
So transition programs are --
>> Are there other questions?
Yes.
>> I'm Anthony Sorbini.
I have a quick comment.
I work at [inaudible].
I'm also a veteran, as well.
I experienced something very similar to what you described
as probably being a first generation student.
Here in the Bay area there's really a big focus
on the science, technology, engineering and math fields,
and I know a lot of veterans
who don't necessarily have an understanding of the job market
or the job market of the future
and how it's going to look regionally.
I was wondering if, you know, I know you spoke a little bit
about this as far as connecting them with jobs.
One of the tough things that I've seen
when we're recruiting veterans that are not enrolled in school,
you know, fresh out of separation,
they really have no information on regional economic development
and kind of, you know,
where workforce development is regionally, where jobs will be,
which causes them, I think, in some ways to kind
of pursue the GI Bill as income and then not focus on, you know,
science, technology, engineering, and math,
which is in demand, particularly in this region,
in the southern Washington and Seattle area, as well.
>> Right. Go ahead.
>> We find the same thing,
and that's partly why we're doing what we're doing
with employment is not only to tap into the local HR managers
and employers, but to get that information to our veterans
about what is being hired.
We're partnered with the Air Washington Grant,
which is a big Boeing grant,
so that we can help folks understand that maybe coming
out of the base and being 38 years old
and maybe you don't want to go to a four-year college,
but if you've got six months of composite strength to work
for Boeing at a pretty good job.
>> So, and I think what Mark just said,
and then what you said, too,
highlights where the VetCorps member kind
of comes in and helps out.
Instead of a group of vets that are kind of scattered
about the campus kind of doing their thing,
possibly first generation student, possibly 38 years old,
and understanding some positive stuff like that,
we have a member on the campus that can help coordinate that
and help make sure that people are plugged
into the correct channels and they know
who their resources are and stuff like that.
It's definitely not a solution to maybe veterans
who are using the income and not knowing what they're going
to school for, but it's more of a step
in the right direction, it helps.
>> I heard a story the other day
about San Francisco State having 2,000 veterans added to it.
Is that an accurate number, do you think?
>> 2,000 veterans in their Vet club?
>> No, 2,000 veterans on their campus, and one certifying --
>> On their campus.
>> Yeah?
>> I think I would probably say that's close to accurate.
The last number I got was around 13, 1400 from one of the --
we actually work with the community colleges.
You know, we kind of look at veterans and some
that are looking for some short-term training
that have the skills that they can transfer a little
bit easier.
Maybe they don't want to do a four-year degree,
so the community colleges have really been a resource for us
to develop training and certificate programs
for local [inaudible].
>> Good work, good work.
>> They have this huge presence of veterans there.
They have the Craig Newmark funded Veterans Resource Center,
and also, you know, got them a really nice big room
in the building to meet with each other.
>> That's great, that's great to hear.
Good work connecting with them.
Any other questions?
Yes.
>> Yes. I was just wondering what programs you guys had
in place.
This is Andre Diaz, one of the AmeriCorps members
from Georgia Perimeter College, and a big problem we're running
into with veterans is the shortfall
between the GI Bill running out
and then exceeding their time for programs.
And just what solutions or what ways have you found to work
around this, or what programs do you guys have in place
that we may be able to kind of implement down here,
or what resources would you suggest for some
of those veterans with such shortfalls?
>> Well, there's not a perfect answer to this question,
but we try to get people to consider work-study positions,
VA work-study positions, which will help a little bit.
We tried to find them part-time jobs.
We do anything and everything we can, but again,
there's no perfect solution to this.
>> And Washington also has a lot
of veteran-specific tuition waivers,
all the way up to 50 percent tuition waiver
at University of Washington.
And so getting, spreading the awareness, of, you know,
what's available at the different schools
in our state has been a big help.
>> Thank you.
>> Any other questions?
>> This is Debbie.
Did you see the last question from Vicky on the Q
and A chat portion about the RSV coordinator
and do vets have a job-seeking resource available nationwide.
>> Yeah. Do vets have a job-seeking resource
available nationwide.
Actually, there's a number of them that are available,
if you want to -- VetBiz is one.
Hero 2 Hired is one that's out there doing a lot of actual,
they're doing, what is it, virtual job fairs
and stuff like that online.
I just got on e-mail about it this morning,
so if you Google Hero 2 Hired,
that's actually a pretty decent resource.
>> Hero 2 Hired, great, thank you.
>> Hire Americans?
>> No.
>> Okay. That's another one.
>> It's a national program, yeah.
So there's a number of them out there.
If you Google "hiring vets,"
you'll probably find a couple more.
>> Thank you.
>> Okay, well, we're getting close
to our 11:00 o'clock timeframe,
so I'd like to thank the Washington State folks
for giving us their time and expertise and telling us
about their program today.
On the last slide they have up, they have a link
to a Tim Lovett You Tube video that is a very good testimonial
about some of the stuff Tim has done.
He was their traumatic brain injury coordinator
for their state, and has a nice little blurb there
that you could listen to for just a couple of minutes.
Also, the recording for this webinar will be hosted
on the Veterans and Military Families Knowledge Network
at the link we have provided here.
That should be up within a couple of days
and will be transcribed for people who want a transcription.
Any questions in the chat that weren't answered we could follow
up with on this session.
And if you hang up and think, oh, my gosh,
I should have asked that, you can still use the space
on the Knowledge Network
to continue the conversation we started today.
The next slide also just reminds you
that we'll have our next Wednesday webinar August 29.
The details will be up on the Knowledge Network soon.
We're coordinating with the American Legion
and hosting some really great training sessions
in the next a couple of months,
and we'll have more information up for you then.
But once again, I'd just like to say thank you.
Please complete the webinar survey at the end of this,
if you can, just because it'll help us improve all these
experiences for you.
And thank you all for your time and attention.
We really appreciate you guys for being with us today.
Any last words from our panelists?
>> Debbie, do you have time for one more question?
>> Yes.
>> Eileen Uzelo wanted to know
who the sponsoring organization is, is it the state
or the University system?
>> It's the Washington Department of Veterans Affairs,
which is a state agency.
>> Thank you.
>> Eileen, if you have any more questions, if you do a pound 6
on your phone, you should be able to ask directly, too.
>> Can you hear me?
>> Yes, Eileen.
>> Okay. Yeah, we have several VISTAs here in Maine
that are placed on campuses, but -- and other university campuses
who are interested in placing VISTAs on campus,
but no kind of overarching sponsoring organization,
which was why I was asking that question.
>> You could approach the Department of Veterans --
each state has a Department of Veterans Affairs,
but they're all very different.
So you could approach the State Department
of Veterans Affairs there in Maine, was it?
>> Yes.
>> And see if they'd be willing to sponsor the program,
but I can't guarantee they'll say yes.
>> It's a big undertaking, thank you.
>> Well, yeah, somewhat, yes.
>> And just to let you know, after the first year
of the VetCorps' operation, the director
of the Washington Department of Veterans Affairs, John Lee,
sent a letter to all of his peers across the country
to left them know of our initial success
and provided Mark's contact information
if anyone wanted more information
about replicating the VetCorps.
And, you know, since that time, Mark has been speaking
with numerous state agencies and programs
from across the country.
So there has been some initial contact made, and, you know,
we want to help facilitate some of that again.
>> Thank you everybody.
>> Thank you.
>> Thank you.
>> Bye-bye, thank you, it was great.