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Veterans Economic
Communities Initiative
It sounds like the VA’s newest initiative, the Veterans Economic Communities Initiative (VECI), is part of VA’s transformation and will help a lot of Veterans to succeed. Can you tell us about it?
We are very excited about VECI and the potential it has to positively affect the lives of Veterans across the country.
The program was a call to action by the President to create place-based strategies. The Secretary launched VECI in May to increase education and employment opportunities for transitioning Servicemembers, reserve component, Veterans, and their families. We want to make sure that anyone serving, especially Veterans, are aware of, and have ready access to, all of the benefits and services our warriors have earned.
As part of this initiative, Economic Liaisons in U.S. communities will collaborate with government leaders, businesses, educational institutions, and nonprofit organizations to help build a network of support and resources for Veterans and their families.
Our Economic Liaisons are connected to our broad network of VA Benefits Advisors, employers, strategic partners, and service organizations. Their mission is to accelerate and multiply access to resources, information and programs on the ground, leverage the wealth of resources from our government partners at Departments of Labor and Defense, and seek new innovative partnerships on the ground.
Veterans are supported by their communities. Service and volunteer organizations do great work every day on the front lines to serve, train, and educate. Recent studies we’ve seen state that most of these organizations run off of a shoestring budget. So it’s hard, very hard to ask them to have up-to-date analytics and national networks connecting them to leading edge information and programs. That’s where the VA can be a partner. We are not replacing or duplicating the work on the ground. Our role is to be a partner and serve as a combat multiplier, providing national resources and tools. (continued on the next page)
VECI is an initiative that aims to increase education and employment opportunities for Veterans and their families while also strengthening communities. Economic Liaisons in cities across the country will collaborate with government leaders, businesses, educational institutions, and nonprofit organizations, like CASY & MSCCN, to build integrated networks of support and resources for Veterans and their families at the community level.