members must make a reasonable effort to participate on camera. it is committee and subcommittee policy that members will remain muted when not recognized, just like turning your microphone on and off during an in person hearing. this is out of courtesy to other members so there is not background noise. when you are recognized, unmute your microphone. if you wish to be recognized, please raise your hand using the race hand function, unmute your microphone. if you wish to have a document inserted into the record, please ask for consent and have your staff email the document. it will be uploaded to the document repository. please keep in mind you will need to refresh the repository page as it does not automatically update. without objection, members will be recognized in order of seniority. this will make it easier to make sure all members participating will have the opportunity to be recognized. does any member have a question about the conduct of this hearing? all right, i will now recognize myself for an opening statement. i want to thank all of you for joining us virtually today as we continue our work on the house veterans affairs economic opportunity subcommittee. covid-19 might be changing the way we operate, but it will not stop the work of this committee. the purpose of today's hearing is to improve the transition process for service members by identifying gaps in coordination and opportunities for synergy, and the plethora of resources available to veterans and governmental and nongovernmental entities. the transition process can seem like a tidal wave of information crashing onto our service members as they prepare for civilian life. veterans often share that the maze of pogroms can be difficult to navigate, illustrating the need for a centralized hub and a no wrong door approach. that is why i introduce, along with other colleagues, navy seal chief petty officer improvement act known as hr 2326, this . this legislation, which passed the house over one year ago, would establish a grant program for organizations to provide multiple transition assistance services, such as resume assistance, interview training and job recruitment training from a central source. it would create transition sites to bring in more outside resources and make the process more accessible for veterans who have already transitioned out of the military. it would deliver trend data to the department of labor so they can make their resources more responsive to veterans' employment needs. additionally, my legislation, hr 5516, would authorize federal funding for county veterans service officers, that help veterans and their families understand and access a variety of resources at their disposal. with coronavirus making the transition process harder for our veterans and the economic downturn threatening their livelihoods, our work is more important now than ever before. the fact it has shifted to an entirely online format further complicates things as it impacts the quality of learning by limiting interaction and personalization in a program that many would argue was already too low. let us be clear, one way or another, we will be supporting our veteran community. but it is my goal that the support will focus more on proactively providing veterans with economic opportunities rather than reacting when they reach a point of crisis. i look forward to hearing from our witnesses to determine how we can do so in a collaborative manner. with that, i recognize my friend for five minutes, for his opening statement. >> thank you. i appreciate it so much. thank you for holding this discussion to focus on transition resources for service members and veterans. while it is important we are talking about the topic today as , i said at our last virtual event, this is my substitution for the bipartisan oversight that in person hearings provide. i look forward to working with you to safely return to that best practice moving forward so that the witnesses can be part of the discussions. i believe that improving the transition process is one of the best ways to set service members up for long-term success and i know you agree with that. and i appreciate you working with me on all of this. as the old saying goes, one ounce, an ounce of prevention is worth one pound of a cure. so very true. if we can get the transition we can helpt, mitigate any of the other issues that some veterans face later in life. i have been working on one of our presenters today. he is from my district and we have been working on this and on other issues for our heroes. while we are in the midst of one of the longest transformations of the federal government's transition assistance program in recent memory, thanks to the work done by the subcommittee and our chairman, we know the government programs are not a silver bullet. we know that transitioning the service members and veterans can benefit from innovative sector programs at the community levels. i am glad that representatives from these types of community programs are with us today so that we can learn from their experiences and help coordinate their efforts. mr. chairman, i thank you for inviting my friend and fellow floridian brian anderson, who is a hero in his own right, to testify today. mr. anderson is a tireless advocate for veterans and his organization, the veterans alternative, i am familiar with, provides a plethora of evidence-based treatments and therapies to veterans in need. i am excited he is here with us today to share his experience and recommendations. i would be remiss if i did not put in another plug for hr 7111, the veterans recovery act of 2020, which contains the chairman's bill and my bill to help provide additional resources for organizations like the ones joining us here today. it is really part of the solution. i want to thank the chairman in joining with the ranking member roe and me in sending a letter to the house leadership. when those talks resume and i understand that they have resumed, hopefully our efforts to have it included are successful. one of the most important byproducts of a coordinated successful transition is a reduced risk of suicide. as we know 20 service members , and veterans die by suicide each and every day, probably more than that. earlier this month, the senate unanimously passed the bill as amended, commander john, the veterans health care improvement act of 2019. this is a multifaceted legislation designed to help be a community provider. like the one specifying again before us today, a better support of veterans at risk of suicide. recently the san diego veterans , coalition joined 30 other veteran community organizations from across the country and signed a letter encouraging the chairman to work with house leadership to pass this bipartisan bill and send it to president trump's desk without delay. mr. wilson who represents the , san diego veterans coalition , is here today and i look forward to hearing more from him about this letter of support and why we must act now on senate bill 785. that letter of support followed one from four of the oldest and largest veterans organizations. the disabled american veterans practice, the paralyzed veterans of america, the american legion and the vfw's. and actually, one was sent by one of the newest organizations as well. on, the iraq and afghanistan veterans are asking for similar action. mr. chairman, i would like to ask for unanimous consent to ask we submit these three letters percent at 785. chairman levin: without objection, they will be inserted. and i look forward to working with my friend, the ranking other folks on the committee on the pressing issue of veterans health. i thank the ranking member for sharing these letters and look forward to continuing to work together in the spirit of collaboration. i share your hope that we will be able to get over the finish line this congress. i know we are working on it. i am so encouraged by the recent successes we have had. i am sorry we are not altogether. but thank you for joining us from florida. thank you to our two witnesses joining us from the san diego area. that brings us to our witnesses. vam disappointed that declined to participate in today's hearing. we always appreciate their perspective. but make no mistake we have a , great group of witnesses today as i mentioned, including our respective communities in florida and california. joining us on the panel, we have mr. marise wilson, vice president of the san diego veterans coalition. great to see you, mr. wilson. we have mr. daniel romero, the senior director. thank you so much. we have my good friend and paul, general, thank , you for joining us and for all you do. and we have mr. brian anderson. ofis the founder and ceo veterans alternative. thank you for joining us. as you know, you are all going to have five minutes for your oral statements today. your full written statement will be added to the record. with that, i now like to recognize mr. wilson for five minutes. mr. wilson; good afternoon, mr. chairman. on behalf of the san diego business coalition, veterans and spouses, i am pleased to testify at this hearing concerning coordinating transition. we are dedicated to the purpose of helping our veterans and families successfully transition from military life. we were founded as the premier convenient of san diego county and we bring together over 150 unique organizations, businesses and agencies. and we support these partners in their services, events and activities, as well as through leadership through what we call our action groups in areas such as physical and emotional health, family life action group veterans empowered successful , and thriving, as well as our education appointment and entrepreneur action group. the purpose of the coalition is to assert the needs of our regional veterans, their families and significant others with the intent to improve collaboration and coordination among community services in all sectors, nonprofit, community, state, federal and formal councils. let's get to the heart and soul of it. every year, 250,000 military service members embarq on the -- embarq on the transition of e duty to civilian life. for many, this is a difficult process. it is not just a vocational change but it is a multifaceted, monumental life change. while it is critically important to provide guidance to our service members, it is equally, perhaps even more important that they also receive support to transition their identity from military life through required psychological and cognitive support. a supplemental community-based program to the current tap program is currently needed. we are looking to complement what goes on with tap. moulder navy seal chief serving in this transition, we have what we call the transition integration process or tip. it is an industry driven initiative that promotes a strong workforce by focusing on key integration issues and the challenges in hiring them, tip will help close the gaps of veterans by orchestrating a pipeline from military service to employment and priority throughout the region. tip's goal is to leverage local resources across florida key transition domains. engagement, transition, workplace and community integration. each domain is coordinated through the coalition community members that have been vetted to offer specific services. tracking is managed through a cloud-based community information exchange that monitors and tracks veterans as they move from one service to another. more recently, several workforce studies have revealed that veterans will be paramount as we pull out of the covid-19. congress must support the rapid implementation of house resolution 2326, introduced by mike levin. it calls for the formation of all community-based centers to help address the transition reintegration issues. it will allow local communities to orchestrate resources coordinate training with local , institutions, engage employers and build a viable, local economy. but most importantly, it will help veterans and their families successfully reintegrate into a new life of their own choosing. i leave you with this quote from the office of the chairman of the joint chiefs staff of reintegration in september of 2015. "as a nation, we cannot meet our full potential of reintegrating veterans and their families unless the military, government, nonprofit and veterans service organizations and private partners collaborate around a neutral agenda and partner to address the challenges facing veterans as they move into civilian life." thank you, mr. chairman, for the opportunity to share our viewpoint on transition. thank you, mr. wilson, and thank you for your great work. before we go further, i was informed that the ranking member was not finished with his opening remarks. i am sorry, gus. i want to go back to you so you can finish your opening remarks. rep. bilirakis: i will be brief. i appreciate it. don't worry about it. i got in most of what i wanted to say. i just want to put a plug in again for the senate bill. berniew, when you have sanders agreeing with me on something, that means it is a good bill. senator mitch mcconnell is working on a bill over here and i would agree with most of it as well. but time is of the essence. we have to get this done by the end of the year, because we do not want to have to start all over again in the next session. again lives are at stake. ,and these are our heroes. get them as much help as soon as possible. with that, i will yield back. i look florida listening to you. chairman levin: thank you. i appreciate it. with that, i want to recognize mr. romero for five minutes. thank you for joining us. you are on mute. unmute yourself. there you go. mr. romero: thank you very much, chairman. and thank you for the opportunity to speak today. my name is daniel romero. i work for san diego in a variety of contexts. it is a civilian based nonprofit helping to support families. one of the communities that they hope to support is the military veteran community. placeego is a special where collaboration is a part of history and making sure no one is left out of the conversation. why i bring that up is through our work, we have been able to convene with the san diego military collaborative. this group has 10 years of history of service to the veteran connected community. along with 10 years of service in the community, we have had the opportunity of reaching out , not only to different installations, but also bringing , local governments and more. everybody is welcome. this is definitely a community collaborative that allows opportunities for members to be recognized. and we do our best to not only inform the community, but engaged them through different providers sharing their expertise. 2014, faithaid, in san diego and others where brought to the table to talk about transition. transition in particular, this particular project allows ed transition to be focused on in terms of what was happening -- versus what's happening in the committee. and we have learned that not only service members felt the crunch of time to successfully navigate the transitional practices, but also to the spouse, the military partner was not always involved in that process in knowing what was available to them. they started bringing in local communities to create a workshop. this was firm -- this was for military spouses in particular, although everybody was welcome. the reason that the course was created is that often times -- the spouse is a decision-maker in the household, interjecting on what the career path may look like when they retire or separate. strong female leadership through the collaborative was established and a workbook was created of resources and a one-day briefing was provided. this was not meant to be in competition with the local tap program, but more so to be a precursor, an extreme course so , that when a servicemember enters, they are well-informed of the different parts of transition. i bring that to your attention today to let you know that there have been opportunities to connect. to connect to local installations. we have partnerships that have been established through groups like the family support center. we have brought in the military one source. we have had people come in and better inform our work, so that as we discussed a little bit earlier today, the amount of prevention can be felt as they make the transition into the veteran space is so imperative. that being said, these workshops are definitely something that we want. representatives, in and are well-informed, creating warm handoffs as we want to make sure that that exchange with these workshops are intended to have a follow-up process, for not only the servicemember but the family can receive the information. often times, service members are dealing with their own transition, working to prepare the person who will take their job and perhaps are not able to dedicate the amount of time to think about things like education, employment and their own well-being. and if so, when briefed by the bill put forth, it was an opportunity for us to showcase that partnerships are needed to thrive when it comes to transition. and that shared visibility such as being a part of the committee and engaging in community events really does matter, so that we can create more connection. more importantly we want to make , sure that service members are well-informed. premise in va.he that there to share need to bepects that considered because often times that loss of identity fractures your connection into the veteran state. with that being said, i would like to thank you all for the opportunity and remind you that whenever possible, put forth additional support. the community is welcoming and ready for the challenge. thank you. chairman levin: thank you. i appreciate that very much. i now would like to recognize my friend. dine, i want to thank him for his three decades of service and his continued leadership and for joining us here at this hearing today. general, you are now recognized. : good morning.e thank you for the invitation to testify today. my service includes seven combat tours. i am not part of a government entity and my testimony is based on my experiences during my service and now in retirement. i think the impetus came from my precipitation in the veteran suicide awareness summit that was hosted by congressman levin in july of that included many of 2020, the local stakeholders in the san diego region. during the summer i was asked to , present some of the best practices from my active duty experiences in preventing suicide to be introduced in the local veteran community. what i believe caused the most was my comment on what i considered to be one of the biggest issues concerning prevention of veteran suicide and i did this from drawing on my two years serving in afghanistan where the united states and nato did not meet the timelines of the anticipated end state. i used a 2009 powerpoint slide to illustrate my main points. there has to be positive influence and coordinating --.ion similar to afghanistan with regards to veteran suicide, v.a. has a 10 year national strategy. the v.a. conducts high-level conferences. there are numerous ongoing new programs through the v.a. and your legislated initiative to s. there were congressional five hearings last year. and the roadmap that was recently released. similar to afghanistan, it is certainly not a resource issue based on the last decade of increased congressional funding to prevent suicide. . great deal has been invested it was seemingly not a corresponding reduction to the number of suicides. how organizations are lined to fully impact the issues surrounding veterans. in afghanistan, there was never one clear u.s. leader in charge. the military was in charge of security issues. you would hope that that would coordinate to best maximize the efforts on the ground but without the ability for one leader to set the course and be held accountable for their decisions, defining what was best led to many diverging actions which impacted the ability to timely bring the maximized effects possible to establish an independent government in afghanistan within a reasonable timeline. likewise, at the regional and local level, how does a community best organize to impact better decisions/ there is an array of interested parties and stakeholders, including v.a., nonprofit organizations and profiting businesses. i know that many would argue that there is ample coordination with local councils and boards, but i would contend that given the resources, a better framework of accountability at the regional and local level [indiscernible] legislationat every from these organizations have metrics to measure the effectiveness of a regional or local area, successful action in specific instances, seem not to improve as much as they should considering all of the combined efforts that are being made. there may be a number of options for how best to coordinate in a structured way. there has to be more than information and coordination. the main goal is to have have the authority to have some type of accountability. part of the organization needs to include an inspector general i.t. type of function that only focuses on how organizations are performing in a defined range to ensure the goal of overall synergy is not being subtracted -- sidetracked in its execution. currently, there is work going on in those specialties, as there was enormous efforts in afghanistan. mainly it is done in separate --os without a potter broader understanding. it just seems beyond higher guidance, program and resources, there needs to be a better execution of framework for regional accountability. thank you for the opportunity to testify today. i look forward to your questions. chairman levin: thank you, general. i appreciate those comments. it certainly informed my perspective. and i know we will have more questions for you. now i would like to recognize , mr. anderson for five minutes. mr. anderson. you,nderson: thank chairman levin. i found myself standing on the edge of a structural hole. i have been granted efforts to various nodes of transition and i see the potential for greatness. communities across the united states want to see the full potential of our returning service members. these communities are actively trying to solve the unfortunate reality of transitions. our service branches have been established with a transition model that is useful, but for a warrior it can be like a factory line. this is not discrediting small business administration's, but it is the reality of transitioning 200,000 plus service members a year to local locations. [indiscernible] is unique, but we have a shared understanding of the community. when i left the military, i was sure i was ready for my next chapter. i did not retain everything i needed and the transition was a grind. what helped me was a program developed by community-based nonprofits. i witnessed extraordinary civilian leaders take the time to show and guide warriors down a path of success post military. my transition was a community effort, earning a bachelors degree from saint leo university. trying to reduce veteran homelessness around tampa bay. attending an entrepreneurial certificate program at stanford university -- school. creating the veterans alternative and graduating with a masters degree from columbia university, all were community efforts. people genuinely cared about my success, and these peers and mentors helped me find success in transition. the grind was in all of those successes. the language of my civilian counterparts was different. and i had a checklist to tell me -- and i did not have a checklist to tell me what was next. i had to find it. looking out at the tampa bay community and committees across the nation, i have seen multiple community-based organizations and universities streamlining. assisting warriors in their transition from military service. can you imagine what it would be like for a warrior to have the power of connection through shared networks? these opportunities need to be created if we plan on solving the multitude of difficulties. faced in transition. i focused my efforts on helping warriors navigate posttraumatic and transitional stress. veterans,ombat primarily, and to their spouses. the majority of difficulties stem from transition. over the last four years, veterans alternative has partnered with florida to provide warriors with alternative therapies. fortunately this committee has , made collaboration of care possible beyond what we have accomplished so far. in 2016, the cover act was passed. the bill created commission and sent 18 v.a. regional hospitals for alternative therapies through community-based organizations. it took three years of grinding to get it passed. it has taken four years to get to the point of executing pilot programs. but it is a step. one of the pilot sites is a hospital in tampa, florida. and florida has a similar bill alternative treatment options , for veterans. it includes a partnership with the university of south florida, and collectively we work with 17 other nonprofits and community-based organizations to provide alternative therapies. next week, we, the veterans alternative, university of south florida department of veteran affairs, will sit down with leadership at [indiscernible] -- at both the state and federal level. through the improvement act, which in part provides grants for local groups working to help veterans. i also read through hr for the 5516 intended purpose of serving our veterans and committees in which they live. this is where we should find innovation. bridges connecting networks for good over the current structural holds we operate around. i encourage you to think through the significance of transitional stress as part of the grant process. thank you for your time, i am prepared to answer any questions you might have. chairman levin: thank you very much, mr. anderson. i appreciate you joining us and all of your good words. k. i will recognize myself or five minutes for questions. we will jump right in and i want to start with the general. i share your concern that the current resources for veterans, including suicide prevention initiatives, are too siloed within individual government agencies and not cover mental -- and nongovernment organizations. in your testimony, you suggested local v.a. health care systems take responsibility for reducing veteran suicide in their region. general, what enforcement mechanisms or other message do you envision v.a. employing in order to receive this synergy? general lebidine: in san diego, they have a one v.a. board, which includes all of the community leadership that meets with the v.a. leadership which is great. it encompasses all issues. what i would say is it makes sense, based on their mission, that they are responsible for the leadership of these issues particularly. what i would envision perhaps would be a smaller organization that, as i said, would basically enforce accountability in some sort of framework manner. how would you do that? well quite frankly, many of , these organizations that are involved in these issues are taking some form of government funding. i think that to ensure the fact that everybody is in the right lanes and are not stepping on top of each other and not necessarily when we use the word coordination, really matching the resources to the entity that we would use that. procedure. that is why i was referring to an i.t. type of function that would do nothing but insure the fact that based on that board like arrangements that through funding, to ensure that all organizations were cooperating so it made sense for everyone. chairman levin: do you think we need to assign roles and responsibilities for federal, state, local and nongovernmental organizations to conduct better evaluations of their programs? general lebidine: that is exactly what that would do, in a sense. in other words, that would be the major role, would be to look at the framework of an area. and figure out what lanes each layer of government is in. you know,pe from, obviously it is always a conflict -- that is not necessarily the right work ,etween what is local, federal and who is responsible for that, but i would hope that they would be able to be set up to be able to ensure the fact that we are maximizing what we are doing to ensure the fact that you get -- get some kind of synergy without duplication. it is a real match government , entities and all those that are in the nonprofit world and in the profit businesses that support those types of programs. chairman levin: general, what data do you think we need to track better in order to better inform decision-making at every level going forward? if you readdine: through the bills, part of all of the bills had some sort of metrics on whether or what they are doing is effective. what i would say is [indiscernible] part of what that board would do is to pull everything in my look at that, and then build internal metrics of how that coordination is doing and how it is not. that is why that independent i.g. function is so important. they go down and look at the training and they see what is happening. they see what groups are doing and they provide feedback to get folks in the right lane. in afghanistan, when i served there on my second to were as a -- on my second tour as a general officer i would say to , peers, i read mr. sako's reports and he was the ig of afghanistan. and he had a very hard job. just a mess how much information he was able to glean out given his situation. it was not always perfect and right on the mark, it certainly provided a base for people to have an understanding of what we were doing. and what happened in the past in afghanistan. i use the analogy here that without that type of function , then all of the organizations doing all of these sorts of things are buying individually for those that are battling and transitioning and their families. and i cannot see without overview at the regional level, that also has the ability to respond to the higher entities, whether it be government or the v.a., that we will be as successful as we could be. sorry for going on too long. chairman levin: thanks, general. don't worry. the others, i will have questions for you later. but we will come back to you. i want to recognize the ranking member for five minutes for his first round of questions. rep. bilirakis: thank you. my first question is for mr. maurice wilson. i think the san diego area might be number two in the country. guess who is number one/ ? tampa bay. i don't think you agree with that. they are number two for sure. chairman levin: we have some colleagues here that would make that case. rep. bilirakis: in any case, i thank you so much for all you do , for the nonprofits and working for the v.a. is so good. last week, mr. wilson, your organization, the san diego veterans coalition, signed a letter of support for senate bill 785. it urged the house to quickly pass this bill. can you please elaborate on your support for this piece of legislation and why you believe it should be passed for the house as soon as possible? and of course sent to the president's desk for signature. thank you for the question. let me say that for all of the reasons the bill represents, that is part of the cause for why it needs to be passed. we recognize that health care coordination is a key element. let me add one spin to that. i think that as we look at this challenge here, we have to be careful of how much of a burden we place on the veterans administration and other organizations. even the community-based organizations, where we try not to leave out the one critical person who is equally as important in this whole equation which is the veterans. , which is one of the reasons why we did some studies in that. and we started looking into the concept of what we called the veterans metrics initiative, which was a study that was done by the jackson foundation for the past five years. in partnership with the wounded warrior project, the boston v.a. medical center. and what they found is if we start focusing on the individual's overall wellness by allowing them to participate in what they call a self assessment, we can get more information about where they are with regards to their readiness and then take more affirmative action there. one other piece that we reallyred, which solidifies why we need something like this, is that over 70% of the veterans out there are not engaged in anybody's system. despite the amount of work that we do, if we don't have a process to capture them, we will be forever spinning our wheels. and god bless every organization that is on this call for all of the great work that they are doing. but one of the things we are discovering is that no matter what, we still will not have enough resources to do this unless we involve the most important person, the most important player on the field, which is the actual veterans and engage them in what we call self assessment, which is what i like about this henry jackson foundation study. where they basically engage in more of a self-analysis for the veteran, where he or she participates in a wellness study that predicts their overall readiness for reintegration and determines what their levels of stresses are. and it also sets them up for success where if we can get them in that position where they can begin to self assess and feed that information into other supporting organizations, then we can deliver our services better. we think it is the right thing. it is a smart move. and we are fully behind it. rep. bilirakis: thank you very much. very well put. i appreciate it. the next question is for mr. brian anderson. can you please elaborate on the success of veterans alternative and how interpersonal relationships between the transitioning servicemember can be key in preventing service members from experiencing a turbulent transition? mr. anderson: yes, thank you ranking member. so the veterans alternative, we , have been around for five years. we have provided welfare, basically well-being type services. the goal is to build a healthy connector to the veterans population. and we have done that in collaboration with partners all across the tampa bay area. i see these partners and we keep on trying. i think san diego is great, that there is a coalition. it is crazy how many coalitions seem to pop up on a consistent basis. they all want to solve something. but between all of our organizations there is a gaping , hole. that is where all of the wars, we place them that is first, where they are at, in this gaping hole where our networks are not shared. we are not bridging across these communities to be able to connect. it is not a hit on the v.a. or the department of defense. we have got, you know, we have an air force base right here, a beautiful based and they have a transition assistance program there. but most of our community organizations cannot get involved in that transition process. it is very exclusive. so when you are bringing it down to the community level and you are able to provide resources to community-based organizations that follow the stringent guidelines for how they report their financials and how they serve the warriors to show that they are actually solving a problem, when you bring it down to them, you are involving the community in which these warriors are moving to or you are involving them in their transition process. i can tell you we have some phenomenal leaders across tampa bay. i guarantee you there are communities like this across the united states. they want to work in partnership. we can't do it all. there is a commission that the veterans affairs has to serve our warriors. our county veteran service officers to show the bill that shows them being able to work with community organizations. that is a great way to bring those efforts together. just by connecting our networks. >> i yield back. >> i thank the ranking member and i would now like to recognize my friend and thank her for her two decades of service in the navy and her great representation in the state of virginia. >> thank you mr. leven for holding the hearing. i would say that we have san diego, tampa bay and the hampton roads area, we have covered some of the largest areas in the country. we have eight major bases in the hampton roads area of every service. we want to see them be successful. we have a lot of huge economic growth opportunities happening in this region. i continuously see a gap between the information that the veterans receive through the transition process and the needs of the community and how to link those together. one of the things that has been highlighted a lot in our work on this committee and the subcommittee within our services, both the dod and the v.a. we talked about the increasing number of women who have served. my first question is for mr. anderson and for your program. it has been documented that in certain areas, women received additional challenges, they are concerned about their financial situation. 67% of women veterans say they had difficulty during the transition financially. only 40% of their peers who are men say that. i just wanted to hear specifically from you, mr. anderson, about veterans alternatives. are there any specific programs that have been successful? i would love to bring those to the community. >> thank you very much for that question. the veterans alternative, we focus on transitional stress and posttraumatic stress. we have provided weeklong wellness programs for combat veterans. we have done that with full groups of only female veterans, which has been exciting to see that group. we have partnered with several organizations across the state of florida. we actually have a license plate just for female veterans. it has kind of been something over the last five years that has been taking off, the recognition for our female fighters who have transitioned into the area. so, it is quite amazing to see that. as far as services that we have as the veterans alternative, it is transitional stress that we work with. it is posttraumatic that we work with and provided services for. i wish i could have more information for you. i know i can follow up with some of the services that seem pretty robust across the tampa bay community. a lot of that has involved saint pines and some of the programs they provide for female veterans. >> thank you. i would love to hear follow-up from you or anyone else on the panel for specific programs in the region or the area that we need to look at more broadly. it is the largest growing demographic. i'd like to shift to the general. you talked about veterans broadly. i think the transition is different for those who separate after a few years and those who separate after a full career. i don't know if you have any thoughts from your own experiences or your work, are there additional things that we should be working at? they are not broadly available across the country. >> that is an excellent point. almost every year, it should be made. clarification between those who serve one term or two terms and retirees. it is just a different set of circumstances when they are now transitioning to their next lives and what their problems will be versus our younger veterans and what their issues are. you are spot on. in other words, that is what i was referring to in a sense of silos and how to coordinate. if you take an area like san diego, what organizations have the resources for the retirees versus those who are first-term? i will tell you that when you put, for example, our jr. officers sitting with the transition tax program, the jr. officer will be turned off in an hour. it is insulting to them given what they had to do in that since to get the commission versus those who are coming. i don't mean it in any type of way except that is where people are stationed in life. it is something that has to be addressed in a sense of what programs are providing those types of services. so, i absolutely concur with you. one of the problems we face with all of these issues is that one size does not fit all in the sense of their life experiences and they can turn people off by sitting them in a room and telling them what color of tie to wear in an interview. listening to everyone today, mr. anderson, just listening to him, he got a lot of help but he is also mr. anderson. what i mean by that is he is a successful person. he will make successful divisions. he knew when he was separating what color tie to wear. i would say to you that that is part of the issue that i think they face. how do you coordinate some sort of accountability to keep people in the right lane for whatever area of the country they are working in to maximize them and not overlap them to the extent that we end up, i don't know if it is a great analogy, but let's face facts in the sense that what we are talking about are not new issues. if they were solvable, they would have happened a decade ago. if we don't have some sort of accountability mechanism at the regional level, mr. anderson, mr. romero, mr. wilson coordinated to get the best effects. i think that there is probably some -- believe me, i am not trying to dissect it, i am saying there could be a lot of overlap. that is a long answer, i apologize. >> thank you. there are so may people in this field, trying to help veterans through their transitions. anything we can do to sink in -- to synchronize and make the effort more efficient makes it well worth having this discussion. i yield back, several minutes past my time expiring. >> absolutely fine. i appreciate your comments, general. i had a few more questions of our other witnesses that they didn't get to ask. we will start with mr. romero. an organization like years started to gain traction as a one-stop shop for military and veteran families. i think we need to do more to support that kind of work. if we look at hr 23 and 26, part of the idea is to provide grants for organizations like yours that are using the hub model. how can we evaluate the effectiveness and promote the best practices when it comes to connecting veterans to resources across the sector? -- across the spectrum. federal, state, local and nongovernmental? how specifically should we be evaluating effectiveness and promoting those practices? >> good question. this is one of those things where no one-size-fits-all. in certain accords, there are certain key factions of transition that ultimately determine whether or not a military family transitions successfully. the bill we have been discussing in a lot of ways focuses on the employment and finances. that is crucial. i think that one of the things that we are looking at is the underperforming of veterans and veterans families. we need to find jobs that have some sustainability for the families to live a comfortable levels. job placement is always one metric that we look at. we are also looking at the ability to access certain resources. in some ways we have a checklist as part of our workshops to see has an individual connected to health care benefits? do they understand the process of their final move? but also, as i was mentioning earlier in my testimony, there are some things that are hard to quantify such as emotional wellness. identity of an individual as a servicemember, as they transition into that veterans space, they lose a lot of support they had garnered over the years. frankly, i hate to say there is one magic bullet to measure the effectiveness. more so, i think that there are maybe core metrics across transition that needs to be looked at in terms of the families preparation overall and their awareness. their awareness of the resources that exist. >> thank you for that. another question for you, is the current transition process able to provide a servicemember transitioning out with the information about resources within his or her community which might be halfway across the country, does that matter in another part of the world? and you suggested closing the gap by creating an online repository of all of these resources. if the federal agency were to undertake such a project, what steps would you suggest they take to ensure organizations listed on the site are reputable and provide high-quality services? >> great question. we are seeing in the nonprofit surenity, making organizations are transparent, that is the first key step. i think that demonstrating that transparency and the effectiveness -- should be integral. additionally i think whenever , possible, any relationships where a nonprofit or community member with a dod-connected entity the purpose of the hub is , that individuals in san diego have a choice. am i going to stay or relocate? the cost of relocating in places such as san diego is too high. they may have to go to michigan or another location that actually is able for them to make a living. some of these locations may or may not have access to a local v.a. as robust. having the hub concept virtually -- i should preface virtually with the ability to have. peer navigators will be vital in the success of the hub, virtually or in person. >> thank you. i have a few quick questions for mr. wilson and then we will be done and i will turn to the ranking never for his final questions. mr. wilson, thank you for joining us. what practices does the san diego veterans administration employee among service providers and how can the federal government support that type of collaboration? >> great question. thank you. we actually started about six years ago, working with what was called the v cat model. the veteran community action team. together back put in 2012 that spoke to how community-based organizations work together. how do they monitor themselves how do they plot out success? as backdrop, that's where the coalition began operating our hub through. we discovered because we are working with these veteran organizations and partners, we are already referring to one another. we have a pretty strong insight into what they are doing and what is going on. so now, what we are moving toward, our transition integration process, we have now taken the whole idea of transition reintegration and we have put it into a process that is balanced against several known reintegrations. earlier, the question was raised, how do you know you're being successful? how can we gauge the of success? the report put out by the veterans administration back in 2019, which was the transition and integration of studies listed five elements that typically continue to come up as reintegration challenges or issues. the way we structured help is we began to identify the committee assets we had in engagement, transition, workplace integration and community reintegration. and then we began to engage in what we called community asset mapping to find out specifically which one of our partner members were operating within that area and how can we make sure that it gets referred to them and then go from there to the next delivery of service and the next delivery of service. and then, probably most importantly, how do we track and quantify, which is why we are keyed up in san diego with san diego 211 and the community information exchange. the community information exchange says we all buy into regulation. we all buy into sharing data. we all buy into the fact that we are working for the same cohort. you have to have a reintegration system in process. that is what we put together. i can send you the matrix that is pretty sophisticated and identifies the areas that need to be overcome, who are the organizations that provide that unique service and what other metrics ensure that we get the job done that we move the person to the next level. >> that would be great if you could share that information with our team. you mentioned in your testimony the coalition uses a cloud-based information exchange to monitor the transition integration process. how does the exchange track information that protects veterans but allows service providers to identify and reach out to at risk veterans? >> again, great question. it is a platform that has been extensively studied for the past six years. we have gone through major iterations of oversight. we have talked to multiple partners in terms of compliance, making sure for vetting. we relegated that responsibility to the system which that is what they do, which is data. it is a very similar process that is taking place to unite us on the east coast. but it goeshat, deeper, because it gives you more insight or data on the individual, as well as allows providers to share key information without breaching confidentiality. everyone that gets on the platform has to go through several players of verification documentation before they are allowed to touch the system. >> thank you mr. wilson. i apologize for going long. i wanted to turn it over to the ranking member for any final questions or for a closing statement or whatever else you would like. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i've got a couple questions as well. mr. anderson and mr. wilson come -- and mr. wilson, with progress on combating the suicide crisis, do you agree that commerce should focus on approaches and therapies to help combat this epidemic and other transition therapies? the follow-up is do you think congress should hold off and wait on a perfect solution to the veteran suicide crisis? or an act what we can do today to get help as quickly as ? mr. wilson, we will start with you. >> thank you for the question. let me start with the last question, because i think it is probably the most depressing -- one of the most pressing ones, which is what can we do today with what we already have in existence. i mentioned earlier we are not including the most important aspect in the process, which is the individual servicemember -- how do we get their feedback and support, which is what i mentioned the veterans metrics initiative. it is a process that can be stood up very quickly, where the individual can make their own self-assessment. that information can be stored in a database that has sort of like a warning level that says, if the person assesses themselves personally to be on a to be a five on a scale of one to 10, that's considered critical and warrant some kind of intervention where the system could kick in and notify service providers what has been going on and how to intervene and how to help. the folks in los angeles are getting ready to implement what they call the veterans pure access navigator program. they just put out a call for proposals yesterday. they are already in the mix in terms of deploying these access navigators who can interface with a servicemember and get the information on where are these that in terms of their transition readiness. the problem we have, we do not know what the transition readiness is of all the veterans out there. as i pointed out before, 70% are not even in the system. so we need a tool we can implement tomorrow or last year to implement that self-assessment so we can take some access -- take some action on that one. i will pass it over to mr. anderson. is wet really scares me don't have suicide numbers for the last six months we have been in the midst of covid. i'm really scared about it. we have been attacking this in the state of florida. we passed the alternative treatment options and a state bill that looks at five alternative therapies. we used in evidence-based inventory to all the way to six months after they've gone through whatever that alternative therapy is. now, we are looking at combining those efforts. with measurement. so we can see how this is working. what is really unique about this is it's allowing more community-based organizations to grab a hold of these warriors and make them a part of it. we don't have that ability at the hospitals. through the community-based organizations, you have a support environment that is conducive to help a warrior walk forward and find that fellowship they had of people that are supporting them along the way. that is extraordinarily important. when you make bills like the senate bills where it brings down dollars to community-based organizations to not only help out with transition but also help out with well-being. we are talking about posttraumatic stress. there are other things that the transitional threat that warriors go through just leaving the military can be worse and more traumatic than some of the post-traumatic stress that warriors go through. it is critical that we find opportunities to involve the community-based organizations to help combat suicides across the united states. >> i want to add to what mr. anderson said. veteran wellness is the key when we engage individuals in the process. we haven't engaged them in the process at this point. we are waiting for it to happened so we can respond to it versus prevention. an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. >> i agree. >> mr. wilson, mr. anderson, or anyone else would like to add on to this question. in your written statement, mr. wilson, you layout the challenges facing reallocation of jobs and the need for rescaling. would you support a proposal set up by hr 7111 to provide it post 9/11 g.i. bill benefits to 35,000 unemployed veterans for rescaling? >> absolutely. all of the research points to a need to re-skill or up-skill. -- therele or upscale was an article that came out from google that speaks to the need for certification as a quick turnaround to reskill veterans versus the traditional pathway. this could be an accelerator that could fill the job void. the issue is that because of the turnover of jobs, we will see turnovers every few years. we need solutions to get up skills. let me say one other thing that is very important. at the same time we need tools to help match veterans with their skills so we can put them in the right training. just offering training is not enough, because we will end up top-heavy. we have to take it to a whole other level, which is doing job matching and skill matching and training to fill the gap. >> i have to tell you that here in this area, we have initiatives for manufacturing and other initiatives to give -- get warriors employed when they leave the service. i spoke at a lot of different universities and i mentioned that some of the certificate-based programs that are outstanding at universities are not covered by the g.i. bill. i went through to programs at stanford university, outstanding. i paid for that out of my pocket. that is not cheap to go to stanford. one of them i did have , partnership with another nonprofit which helps warriors transition. they helped support one of those hearing i really appreciated that, because it was on the entrepreneurship program. i had some great people there -- condoleezza rice and general mattis helped us do that process. afterward, we broke ground for the veterans alternative. that is how impactful that program was but it is not covered by the g.i. bill. i learned more about becoming a civilian and how to communicate with other civilians. we wear that veteran -- on our shoulder all the time. we are not wearing the military uniform anymore and we are a civilian. so those opportunities to get educated and learn how to interact with people outside the military, i think it is imperative. if there is an opportunity for g.i. bill to help with some of those programs or certificate-based programs, i think it is the best way we can actually serve more warriors. >> my suggestion is we look into this. you have to have a good start. it looks like this is definitely worthwhile. real quickly, i am going to go to the general. hear -- of course, we should fund the v.a., there's no question, but we must increase our positive outcomes as well. in your written statement, you remarked that the large sums of money being spent with little to no change in daily suicides. do you believe that it would be important to focus on innovative community driven programs that can reach those veterans? -- veterans who avoid government-level assistance? >> for a new transitioning -- our new transitioning veterans veterans, the v.a. has , made a great deal of adjustments. they aren't tracking where they -- they are tracking them. through the health care, they are able to get to that v.a., they generally know where the younger veterans are. according to that, there is supposed to be a handoff between those having difficulty in active-duty, whether mental health or others to the v.a.. i said that to you because as i see it, where i think something could be done immediate is it has been mentioned today numerous times about peer-to-peer. what i think is for a minimum cost sponsored through the v.a. in some sort of part-time where they are screened and we can put together teams of ages and genders and they would go out and contact our veterans, younger veterans that are most at risk and using that peer-to-peer at different levels with teams to help guide them into the programs and provide that support to them, because in my view and my experiences, which are numerous, in great sadness, are veteran suicides, for younger veterans, it is particularly sad when we dissect it back in some regard and truly the issue might have been over a failed personal relationship or just inability to be employed are substance abuse. it's only viewed from a mental health aspects when they connect , with the v.a. and who they put for high risk, it is a larger problem underneath that on the peer to peer end, which brings in all the nonprofits in trying to get to the other core issues that can help them bridge the gap to get them through that period of time. even issues such as when you get to know folks about helping them talk about storing their weapons. it isn't going to happen through legislation, it will happen through people like maurice wilson talking to folks that it is a good idea that understanding and getting the weapon and turnover uncle jack for a while. i think that is where we are missing. i think it is proactive and it has to be veterans. group -- groups that are trained. i see it is all ages and genders and they are screened and work for the v.a.. if we can pay folks to park cars i think they can figure out how to do something that would help with the most at risk cases. >> is there another way -- this volunteer program where the veterans that up in successful but gone through these experiences, the transition process, to link up and call that person a sponsor with a veteran and maybe initiated and facilitated and make sure similar environments and how that person can help? i know quite a few veterans who would want to participate in something like that. they are successful and they want to help their brothers and sisters. does anything like that exist? go ahead, sir. >> i know in long beach they they have a program that does somewhat what i described. i know there are nonprofits that have been doing gods work, i'm positive on that. what i would answer back to you about that is why we move it into hourly pay is because it comes with accountability and you've got to have that in the training of this group. they have to be trained in a sense of what is trying to be accomplished and that is why in my view, i've seen lots of veterans around my age that would give their time freely but goodi am saying is for the of the organizations they need to be paid so that i can turn and say where is your report on a, b, nc. when you talk about volunteers, the problem with some of it is they are volunteers and goodhearted, there has to be an accountability in their performance. >> training is important, but there are a lot of professionals that i know and i could think of many that would love to help their fellow veterans and they would report. it is just a suggestion. do you have any comments on something like that? otherwise i'm going to yield back. >> we have a couple of programs in tampa that do just that. when i was talking about standing at the edge of a structural hole, when we connect our organizations, throughout the v.a., they have a peer support program, a very robust peer support program that has been rolled out to the crisis center of tampa bay and 211 across the state of florida. it is robust and helps warriors with suicide prevention getting into counseling. the more we are able to combine forces across the structural pools and build these bridges, the more we will be able to -- structural holes and build up these bridges, the more we will be able to fill the holes. suicide, preventing suicide, but also experiences and sharing stories, i think it would be very valuable. with that, mr. chairman, i yield back. >> i think the ranking member. and if there are no further questions, we will bring this to a close. i really want to think our witnesses. this has been an excellent discussion. i just sent a text to my staff saying we have to keep this dialogue going. you are all incredibly dedicated and knowledgeable and i have no doubt that we can continue to work together in a collaborative way and we can make real positive change here. this subcommittee for the last couple of years has had great success and gotten results, and i think we are going to have more success in the next several months, hopefully before the end of september when we all get back to washington. this is at a time where there is so much division, this is an area where we generally come together and get things done for our veterans. i want to thank you all. i want to thank all members. yeah five legislative days to extend your remarks and without objection, the subcommittee stands adjourned. i don't have an actual gavel. i have to do a virtual gavel. thank you very much. great to see you all. take care, everyone. >> this afternoon, white house press secretary kayleigh mcenany will hold a briefing with that,ers after presidential candidate will be campaigning in pittsburgh live at 1:30 eastern on c-span. you can also watch online at c-span.org or listen free with the c-span radio app. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] ♪ [the contenders" -- about the men who ran for the presidency and lost but changed political history. tonight, thomas dewey. at 8contenders" this week p.m. eastern on c-span. president trump: biden's record is a shameful role call is a -- of the most catastrophic betrayals and blunders of our lifetime. he's spent his entire career on the wrong side of history. mr. biden: our current president has failed in his most basic duty to the nation -- he has failed to protect us. he has failed to protect america. and, my fellow americans, that is unforgivable. >> the first presidential debate between donald trump and joe biden is tuesday, september 29th at 9 p.m. eastern. watch live coverage on c-span. watch live streaming and on-demand at c-span.org or listen live on the free c-span radio app. we are joined next by former federal emergency management agency administrator craig fugate. thank you for being with us on "washington journal" this morning. guest:

Related Keywords

Afghanistan , Tampa Bay , Florida , United States , Iraq , Tampa , Washington , Boston , Massachusetts , Hamptonroads , Virginia , California , San Diego , Americans , America , American , Maurice Wilson , Los Angeles , Daniel Romero , Brian Anderson ,