One-stop shopping for veterans
Pittsburgh is lucky to have multiple services coordinated through PAServes
Ican remember the hope and optimism I felt during my eight-hour Transition Assistance Program course at the Defense Language Institute after leaving service in the Pennsylvania Army National Guard. I had just graduated from the Modern Standard Arabic course, and I was excited about all of the opportunities that surely were awaiting me in the “real world.”
Fast-forward three months and it was a different picture, a different me. I was frustrated, having gone on interviews and being told I did not have the proper experience. I was getting desperate. I had student loans from college, among other living expenses and bills, and the unemployment checks weren’t cutting it. I didn’t know what to do or where to turn, so what did I do?
I took a job at the local mall, working side-by-side with 18year-old high school kids, college students and some other folks hit by the struggling job market.
• On a Wednesday morning at the end of June, representatives from eight local nonprofit organizations met in a conference room at Pittsburgh Mercy, one of the largest health and human services nonprofit organizations in southwestern Pennsylvania and home to the coordination center of PAServes: Greater Pittsburgh.
The center’s organizations represent the Department of Defense, philanthropies and nonprofits serving veterans, service members and their families. In my years working with veterans, I can tell you that this kind of coordination between organizations is far from common.
For numerous reasons, veterans services have been a bit disjointed, with organizations working independently while trying their best to serve the diverse, complex needs of their clients, often going beyond their ostensible scope of functions. But collaboration among them is often an illusion: co-hosting an event or operating a referral “system” that involves people making phone calls to someone they know in another organization.
There’s no shortage of compassion and good intentions to serve veterans, service members and their families. It’s just that it’s not being done particularly well. People slip through the cracks. With more than 40,000 veteran service organizations across the United States, this is no surprise.
Therefore, what made the Pittsburgh meeting special was the opportunity for organizations to address common problems they face and work toward shared solutions.
The Veterans Leadership Program of Western Pennsylvania reported a strong need for veterans to mentor veterans in its court mentorship program.
Soldier On was able to clarify its peer mentoring program, which goes far beyond general case management by social workers and allows veterans to assist peers in various aspects of their lives and to drive them to important appointments.
A U.S. Army readiness specialist from a local Reserve unit shared information about an upcoming family event that could be a valuable opportunity for service members and their families to connect to local resources.
In the end, eight distinct organizations shared updates and events, discussed common problems and came to unified solutions, while also making personal connections with one another.
Why did this take place? What makes Pittsburgh so special?
Pittsburgh is home to providers who share a technology platform that allows them to make and receive referrals, track progress over time and aggregate outcomes. PAServes: Greater Pittsburgh was the third in what are now 11 AmericaServes communities across the United States, whose No. 1 goal is to fundamentally transform the delivery of services to veterans, service members and their families.
The members of the PAServes: Greater Pittsburgh network are organizations that recognized how fragmented veterans’ resources were, so two years ago, they did something about it.
• What does PAServes mean to veterans? Let me illustrate with my own story. Here’s what should have happened:
When I returned from military language school six years ago, I would have searched the internet for ”veteran employment Cincinnati Ohio” and discovered the local America-Serves network. I would have clicked a “needs assistance” tab and been contacted within 48 hours by a trained intake specialist. This person would have learned I was looking for a job, needed to figure out how to activate some of my veterans benefits and needed help consolidating debts. In minutes, this specialist would have sent separate referrals to three distinct organizations specializing in employment, benefits and financial services. I wouldn’t have had to go to multiple organizations spread throughout the city, making separate appointments and spending hours driving and waiting to find out whether they could actually help me.
What actually happened was this: I rolled up my sleeves and dealt with job-hunting on my own and never really addressed my benefits and financial needs until years later.
Most would agree that the first scenario would have been better both for me and for the service organizations. Clients can avoid the stress and delays of multiple appointments and the possibility of not meeting eligibility requirements for particular programs. Service organizations are sent pre-screened, program-eligible clients.
Plenty of dedicated, passionate individuals serve veterans, service members and their families across this country. However, only a few communities have upgraded to one-stop shopping for information and services. The AmericaServes program provides the backbone, framework and platform to allow for the kind of safe, effective and timely client information-sharing that can make a powerful impact on the lives of veterans.
In the words of American innovator and industrialist Henry Ford, “Coming together is a beginning, staying together is progress and working together is success.” Let us not just come together; let us truly work together.