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Season 5, Episode 15

VA Veterans Centers face staffing crisis in efforts to assist veterans

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Guest Name:


Jeff Stoffer

Guest Website:


https://www.legion.org/ 

Guest Social Media:


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Supportive Documents:


Jeff Stoffer, Director of Media and Communications for the American Legion, joined the America’s Work Force Union Podcast to talk about VA Veterans Centers. Stoffer also discussed the assistance available to veterans at these centers and what the VA’s Readjustment Counseling Services is doing to staff the centers. Stoffer finished his appearance by addressing why younger veterans do not trust the VA like older veterans.

Stoffer and the Legion are working to educate veterans on the purpose of VA Veterans Centers, including what services are offered. The centers fall on the fringe of Veteran Benefits, Stoffer said, but they operate autonomously to better adapt to veterans' needs. He discussed the help needed for the centers to continue providing a safe space for veterans to improve their mental health.

The VA’s Readjustment Counseling Services is an arm that oversees the Veteran Centers. Stoffer talked about how the readjustment counseling services team is working to provide the workers needed to operate the Veterans Centers. Among the efforts is a program announced at the 2023 Student Veterans of America Conference that provides scholarships to veterans seeking higher education degrees in social work and mental health work. Stoffer said certain requirements must be met, but the scholarship and benefits of the program would allow these students to obtain their degrees at no cost.

Stoffer concluded by discussing why the younger generation of veterans does not trust the VA as much as older generations. During the 2023 Student Veterans of America Conference, there were several discussions on how the VA could reach the younger generation and build a better relationship. The Legion is working with the VA to find ways to engage and educate younger veterans so they will be able to access all the benefits provided by the VA, Stoffer said.

Learn more about the VA Veterans Centers by listening to the show above.


America’s Work Force is the only daily labor podcast in the US and has been on the air since 1993, supplying listeners with useful, relevant input into their daily lives through fact-finding features, in-depth interviews, informative news segments and practical consumer reports. America’s Work Force is committed to providing an accessible venue in which America's workers and their families can hear discussion on important, relevant topics such as employment, healthcare, legislative action, labor-management relations, corporate practices, finances, local and national politics, consumer reports and labor issues.

America’s Work Force Union Podcast is brought to you in part by our sponsors: AFL-CIO, American Federation of Government Employees, American Federation of Musicians Local 4, Alliance for American Manufacturing, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes-IBT, Boyd Watterson, Columbus/Central Ohio Building and Construction Trades Council, Communication Workers of America, Mechanical Insulators Labor Management Cooperative Trust, International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers Local 50, International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Crafts, International Union of Painters and Allied Trades District Council 6, Ironworkers Great Lakes District Council, Melwood, The Labor Citizen newspaper, Laborers International Union of North America, The National Labor Office of Blue Cross and Blue Shield, North Coast Area Labor Federation, Ohio Federation of Teachers, United Labor Agency, United Steelworkers.

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