Heroes and Families Summit 2009 is over, see the slides and issues below.

The 2010 Conference will be much bigger and be a non-profit summit held in Sep, 2010 in San Antonio, TX Pre register now for this event at enjoy a 30% early registration discount.  info@hope4heroes.org

We had a very productive conference with over two dozen agencies in attendance.

We have listed the conference slides below.  The conference was historic on both it’s scope and outcomes.  The core issues where addressed in detail.  We will present detailed findings to the President Obama and Congress in Nov, 2009.

We want to thank Congressman Ciro Rodriguez for his support of the event and taking time for Questions.

These are the three core outcomes we will be taking on.

1.  The need for services in rural communities.

2.  The need for more NPO’s to fill the gap in services deliver-ability within the VA health care system.  We recognized that there are caring providers at the field level but there still remains a culture that is not embracive of change and complete understanding at higher levels of the problems faced by veterans or the service deliver-ability lag.  Further that VA does not place enough resources on available benefits and how to access them.  We as NPO’s can bridge this gap by cooperating with the VA on educating veterans and acting as advocates for veterans.

3.  That NPO’s need to partner more and share information with veterans as a collective body.

SPEAKER SLIDES

Guest Speaker: Ted Daywalt, CEO, VETJOBS: Slides

Guest Speaker: Adrian F. C. Starks, Chief, Civic Outreach Team, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs) / Community Relations:Slides

Guest Speaker: Col Dean Stson, Pentagon Yellow Ribbon Program: Slides

Guest Speaker: Dr. Cyndie Porter and Mrs. Karen Wyatt, University of Incarnate Word: Slides Part B: Slides

Event sposnored by The University of Incarnate word

Support provided by The National Alliance For Veterans

Top Issues we are presenting to Congress:

Issue: Education, communication and awareness of all available resources from all available agencies is not happening for our veterans and their families, impacting deliverability of services.

Issue: The current VA health care system is inflexible. There is also inconsistency with access to treatment and timely diagnosis.

Addtional Issues we are studying:

Issue: National homeless rates for vets.

Issue: Educating employers on issues faced by vets coming back form Iraq and Afghanistan.

Issue: Streamlined claims processing and more staff in VA to have a “90 day to vet” benefits cycle.  No vet should wait more then 90 days for benefits or response so that appeal process can start.  30 Day fast track on appeals involving disability from combat related injuries.

Issue: Vets in trouble with the law.  Dealing with rising crime rates from vets and jail to work programs for vets coming out of prison.