Altarum Institute integrates independent research and client-centered consulting to deliver comprehensive, systems-based solutions that improve health and health care. A nonprofit, Altarum serves clients in both the public and private sectors. For more information, visit www.altarum.org

The Michigan Veterans Community Action Teams

(MIVCAT) ProcessWorking Together Effectively in Region 6

16 July 2015

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Project Objectives

Create a sustainable community collaborative, effectively implementing the “no-wrong-door” concept supporting Veterans and their families*

Complete a community assessment of needs, challenges, experiences and recommendations for working collaboratively to serve Veterans

Achieve progress in effective collaboration and delivery of services along with benefits to Veterans

*The term “Veterans” will be used to mean “Veterans and families” from here forward.

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VCAT Vision

T

To develop a Veteran services system of care, characterized by a comprehensive network of service providers, empowered with processes,

information and tools, effectively ensuring that all Veterans who these providers encounter are accurately and quickly connected to the appropriate service

provider(s) and completely served

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Veterans

Service Providers

Education

Health

Care

Employment

Training

Social

Services

Vocational

Rehabilitation

Family

Support

Housing

Care Giving

Independent

Living

Assistance

Veterans and Services Providers

Can face a dizzying array of options to navigate.

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Veterans

Service Providers

Housing

Vocational Rehabilitation

Training

Independent Living Assistance Care Giving

Employment

Social Services

Health Care

Family Support

Education

VCAT

VCAT’s No-Wrong-Door approach

Simplifies the process for all involved.

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Connect and Organize

• Identify and connect service providers• Expand network – “friend of a friend” approach• Create VCAT Structure

• Leadership• Workgroups

The VCAT Operational Process

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VCAT Planning - Progressing Through The Maturity Steps

From Stand Alone: “My organization is doing this…”

To Collaboration: “My organization is doing this and you are invited…”

To Coordination: “What should we do and how should we do it?”

To Integration: “What are we doing collectively and using the same processes and tools?”

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MiVCAT Progress

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Region 6 Progress – Community Assessment

Gather input via

Interviews*

from

Veterans*

to determine

Strengths

The community assessment

provides stakeholders

with information needed to direct the

VCAT.

* Some service providers interviewed were also veterans

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Region 6 Progress – Regional Collaboration

Getting Started• 22 Jan – VCAT Kickoff meeting • 26 Feb – VCAT meeting with presentations on the

VCAT Model and Podio, and Speed Networking

Ongoing Meetings

• 23 April – VCAT meeting with presentations on Transportation, Female Veterans, and Podio , and a workgroup breakout session

• 25 June – VCAT meeting with presentations on Preventing Veteran Suicide, Veteran Entrepreneurship, Success Stories, and Podio

Moving Forward

• Advisory Board sets agendas, engages service providers using Eventbrite, collaborates and initiates community outreach

• Support groups created; Outreach to Eastern MI fair and Lapeer Days

• Planned events – Pheasant Hunt, American Legion & VFW outreach, 26 Aug Veteran Forum at the Lapeer Armory

In six months, the coalition has doubled from 68 attendees at the January kickoff to 141 total attendees by June.

75% of VCAT participants report forming new connections.

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What is Coming Next

Community Assessment Report Interviews Focus Groups Surveys

Facilitated strategic planning session

Develop Plans for working together

To improve services by combining resources and

Closing gaps where veterans are not served effectively

Formation of working groups Key issues identified by community Four Pillars + Working groups

engage

Create Leadership Committee Establish community governance

Support working groups

Lead system improvement

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Questions

Michigan Veterans Community Action Teams (MiVCAT) Project Region 6 Community Assessment FindingsJuly 16, 2015

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Presentation Objectives

Share a summary of the findings from Altarum’s community assessment

Use the community assessment findings to identify opportunities for your VCAT

Begin to think about what the Region 6 Veterans Coalition can do to take advantage of the opportunities identified in the community

assessment

What data were collected for the community assessment?

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Census and VA data

Interviews with veteran service providers and advocates (20 individuals interviewed in February 2015, most in person)

Web-based survey of providers (69 Region 6 providers from 57 organizations)

Focus groups with providers who did not take part in the interviews in Lapeer and Flint in March and April 2015 (16 participants)

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Goals for the Data Collection

Hear from a wide range of providers

Use data collection methods that allow for asking lots of individuals some questions and smaller groups questions that

allowed more detailed responses

Encourage people to identify opportunities not just challenges

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Goals Were Achieved!!

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Context

You are currently one of six regional Michigan VCATs

Next year will see the formation of four more regional Michigan VCATs (some communities are already working on regional coalitions)

Opportunities (and challenges) abound in Michigan and in Veterans support in general

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Michigan Prosperity Regions

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Veterans in Region 6

Findings from the Interviews, Surveys, and Focus Groups

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The Veteran service system is complex and challenging to

understand and navigate

My wife happens to be an RN and serves as his [father in-law’s] kind of patient advocate and helps him kind of navigate through that system; without that, he would be completely lost. There’s no way, he wouldn’t be able to understand any of, you know, what he’s supposed to do in order to access any of those benefits and stuff

When they [Veterans] come to me, in Human Resources, with a need, I don’t know where to send them to. I did have a connection with an individual, but it’s not very helpful. They were very vague in what they’re able to do

For SSVF Program in order to qualify you have to have one day of active duty and anything other than a dishonorable discharge. Then they don’t qualify for VA medical benefits or they don’t qualify for like a HUD VASH voucher. So our biggest thing is trying to find mainstream benefits like…you know, Social Security; we’ll do expedited Social Security apps or do SOAR applications for them, try to come up with Medicaid, food stamps, things like that.

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How might the VCAT make it easier to navigate the system?

Hubs and spokes and resource lists

Providers and Veterans need to know the entry point for key services (for example, comp and pen; homelessness; education

benefits)Varies by county (county offices often but not always, so can

family assistance specialists)Needs to be manageable and the hubs need to be able to link to

spoke organizations

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How might the VCAT make it easier to navigate the system?

Learning Opportunities

VA 101

Provider presentations to the VCAT

Newsletter updates

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How might the VCAT make it easier to navigate the system?

Engagement

Educating the community and policymakers about why differing definitions of Veterans make the system challenging

Encouraging increased capacity in county offices that don’t fulfill all the functions that State law envisions for them

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Need for more outreach and more effective outreach

I don’t know if we’re making full advantage of the Stand Downs, you know locating right there, having people on-site that could be people that could do the referrals. I haven’t seen that in the ones I’ve been to.

We had a summit and we used Fox radio station, their demographic was more of the folks my age and a little bit older who listen to the rock music. We had about 26 vendors that were in our facility in Flint and were able to give information; and we did 96 assessments of veterans and military personnel that walked through the doors that day and we had about 140 people in attendance.

We’re bombarded, we’re overwhelmed with billboards and commercials and ads and spam e-mails and social media and everybody’s got 15 social media accounts and…or those people that use them do. So I believe individual relationships is really where it’s at.

Most Successful Communication Strategies for Older and

Younger Veterans

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Source: Region 6 Provider Survey

Word of mouth

Face to face

Telephone

E-mail

Print newspapers

Radio

Veteran specific print media

Social media

Internet

Text messages0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35%

31%

21%

12%

10%

7%

5%

5%

5%

0%

0%

29%

16%

4%

13%

0%

2%

0%

18%

13%

2%

Under 50 (n = 44) Over 50 (n = 42)

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Veterans Rely on Providers and Other Veterans for Information

Source: Veterans Source of Information Question, MI-VCAT Veterans Survey 2014

Challenges in Reaching Veterans29

Source: Provider Surveys

We do not have the staffing necessary to do outreach

We do not have a large enough outreach budget

We are not sure what the best way is to reach Veterans

They are geographically scattered

We do not have a message that resonates with Veterans

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 50%

40%

38%

38%

36%

13%

38%

42%

12%

36%

8%

31%

33%

11%

44%

4%

32%

32%

27%

38%

5%

Region 5 (n=56) Region 9 (n=66) Region 7 (n=79) Region 6 (n=83)

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How might a VCAT address outreach?

Coordinating outreach efforts to reach more groups with consistent messaging

Developing common outreach materials

Using collective strength to obtain access to free outreach outlets

Challenge of reaching older Veterans and widows

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18 to 34 years

35 to 54 55 to 64 65 to 74 75 and up0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

5%

24%25%

24%

22%

28%

37%

18%

10%8%

VeteransNon-veterans

Age groups

Perc

ent o

f pop

ulati

on in

eac

h ag

e gr

oup

Source: American Community Survey 3-year estimates 2011-2013

% Distribution of Veterans and Non-Veterans by Age Group in Region 6

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Reaching older Veterans and widows

Genesee County does it good because they have outreach to all of the senior centers in Genesee County where they have somebody there at least once a month

There’s nothing out there to advertise if you’re the spouse of a Veteran that has died, you may be eligible for benefits. I run across them constantly. Every time the law changes and there’s a new presumptive added, there are more surviving spouses that are eligible for benefits. They just came out with ALS, anybody who was in the service 90 days or longer, dies of ALS, it’s a service connected death. So that Veteran could have died 20 years ago, if that spouse hasn’t remarried or remarried after age 57, there’s a benefit there for her.

When a funeral director handles a burial if it’s a Veteran, they get a flag and they do the marker. Now that would be the perfect time to have somebody refer, say here you know…they might be entitled to benefits, why don’t you call this number.

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How might a VCAT address the needs of older Veterans and widows?

Develop a standard presentation and brochure for this group

Coordinate outreach among members

Reach out to senior citizen homes, funeral directors and others who work with this population

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Transportation is a challenge for many Veterans

We contract for services outside of the county, Jewish Community Services provides transportation to Saginaw and Ann Arbor. It is mostly for low income elderly but if they have capacity, they will take families or pretty much anyone, if they’re low income. Where is that, advertised? How do we let people know about that? It just blows my mind that we’re paying for this service but so many people don’t know about it.

Pooling resources to buy bus passes so many organizations set a part of their budget aside to buy bus passes for their clients and there’s never enough. There are never enough bus passes.

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How might a VCAT address transportation?

Developing a guide to transportation options in different counties or identifying a transportation hub contact

Helping to organize volunteer or reimbursed drivers to fill transportation gaps (Uber-like service for Veterans)

Seeking funding to try innovative approaches to transportation issues (either Veteran specific or in conjunction with health or social service agency)

Working with local transportation authorities to address gaps or improve cross-county service

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Veterans who have discharge issues can be difficult to find services for

One thing that can be done with less than honorable discharge is the opportunity to try and get a discharge review, get upgraded, depending on the nature of the discharge they may not be totally ineligible for benefits. A county office or a service organization could pursue the potential for an upgrade. It is a long drawn out process and yes they can be successful. (Region 9 key informant)

There was a recent release through DoD that said that they were going to go back and take a look at an awful lot of discharges that were issued and there was some sort of a mental condition associated with the character of service. (Region 9 key informant)

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How might a VCAT address discharge issues?

Educate providers about who in their area can address discharge issues (probably varies by county)

Make sure everyone is kept up-to-date on changes in policy around discharge issues

Make sure everyone has a good understanding of the general population support system and make sure the provider in that system understands this Veteran is not eligible for Veteran services

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Other Issues that Came Up

Legal issues: Possible need for more Veterans Courts and non-criminal issues (child support, bankruptcy, child custody)

Serving homeless Veterans: Finding them in less populated areas and finding housing outside of Flint

Ensuring the VCAT meets the needs of Veterans across the whole region

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Other Issues that Came Up

Education: Making sure Veterans get credit for military training and making sure they make the right choices for using their education benefits

Employment: Credentialing and military experience and finding transportation to job sites

Sustaining the VCAT: There’s been a history over the last 5 years of different veteran groups getting started and then fizzling out and fading those of us who have an interest and a desire to help veterans, you know. We’ve showed up over the years and helped these different groups get started and then seen the groups kind of go by the wayside.

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How have assessments like this been used?

Pilot VCAT community

assessments raised

questions about the

effectiveness of typical job or resource fair

West Michigan Veterans

Coalition’s Employment and Training

Subcommittee discussed

alternatives to typical fair

Coalition sponsored

targeted events with select

Veterans and employers that

resulted in multiple job

offers

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Breakout Instructions

Purpose is to identify priorities, strategies, and action steps for key focus areas related to Veterans services

We will break up into groups to discuss these

In order to plan for breakouts we would like those of you who will participate to select the group you are likely to participate in

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First breakout task : Priority setting

Priorities are the main topic or topics you want to address in the area

It is impossible to solve every problem and issue so you should think about what makes sense for this coalition to tackle and

vote for your highest priorities

Second Task SMART Objectives44

S is for specific

M is for measureable

A is for achievable

R is for realistic

T is for time-bound

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Examples of SMART objectives

By March 1, 2016 at least 5 colleges and universities will have implemented a new Veteran friendly policy.

By August 1, 2016 the Region 6 VCAT will have developed a checklist for Veteran-friendly job fairs/outreach events and a process for endorsing and publicizing the ones that meet these criteria.

By August 1, 2016 the Region 6 VCAT will have developed a web-based directory of hub contacts for key areas including support with benefit applications, services for Veterans who are homeless, discharge upgrade support, and support navigating the VA.

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Final Task

Develop a list of the action steps needed to achieve those objectives

For all these tasks, start with your highest priority area, go to your 2nd highest priority area if you have time

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Priority Area:

Objective (make it SMART):

Actions Needed to Achieve Objective When will it be completed by? Who Needs to Work on It?

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Once we reassemble

Gallery walk

Opportunity to review what each breakout group has produced

You can make comments or suggestions on each group using post-its

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Questions?

Four Groups50

Education

Employment

Healthcare

Quality of Life (other resources and services including housing assistance and support for homeless Veterans; support with the VA pension and compensation application and appeals process; support for Veterans involved with the criminal justice system; emergency economic assistance; and recreation opportunities)

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Please join your group if you plan to participate in the afternoon breakouts