The Department of Veterans Affairs and the NAACP have announced a partnership to advance and improve the quality of life for all veterans, including minority vets.
VA and the NAACP are joining forces to boost the number of Black veterans enrolled in VA health care; increase awareness of VA benefits and services among Black vterans and increase recruitment of culturally-competent providers at VA.
“At VA, it’s our mission to serve all veterans, their families, caregivers, and survivors as well as they’ve served our country,” said Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough in a statement. “This historic partnership with the NAACP will help us deliver on that promise, enhancing our outreach to Black veterans and helping ensure that we provide every veteran with the world-class care and benefits they deserve.”
VA and the NAACP will also meet regularly to share expertise, knowledge, and coordinate on outreach to minority veteran communities.
“As we commemorate the 75th anniversary of the integration of our armed forces, we must acknowledge the fact that Black veterans have not always received the just treatment they deserve,” said NAACP & CEO Derrick Johnson. “That’s why the NAACP is proud to embark on this historic partnership with VA to further our commitment to ensuring that representation does not come without respect. We look forward to all that we’ll accomplish together on behalf of our Black veterans.”
According to a study from the Council for Foreign Relations, Black men make up 17 percent and Black women make up 28 percent of the American armed forces. Black service members were not as likely to be officers as white service members, the study found.
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The partnership is expected to be critical to VA’s goals to eliminate barriers and inequalities for veterans who have historically been underserved and to provide world-class care and benefits to all veterans, their families, caregivers, and survivors.
As a part of these efforts, VA also recently formed a new Agency Equity Team — known as the I*DEA (inclusion, diversity, equity, and access) Council — which is responsible for helping VA improve outcomes for historically underserved veterans, identifying and eliminating any disparities in VA health care and benefits, creating and implementing a VA Equity Action Plan, listening to and learning from historically underserved veteran communities, and more.
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The council is also working to eliminate disparities and barriers to recruiting, hiring, developing, promoting and retaining employees, including those from historically underserved communities.
Data recently released by the department shows that since 2017, VA has delivered disability compensation benefits to a higher percentage of Black veterans than other veterans. However, grant rates for Black veterans were lower.
Reach Julia LeDoux at Julia@connectingvets.com.