Time to Start Paying VA Back?

On Saturday Jan. 23, VA posted the following letter on their website. Although the letter is light on details, one thing is clear, those of us who received the “cash advance” on our GI Bill payments will soon begin paying VA back as the VA begins “recovering” the advance payments.

The letter is posted here in its entirety.

VA Letter:

WASHINGTON - The Department of Veterans Affairs is beginning the process of recovering advance payments made available during the fall 2009 semester to Veterans and service members who applied for education benefits.

“The advance payments were a huge success and helped thousands of student Veterans during the first days of the historic Post-​​9/​11 GI Bill focus on studies and not their finances,” said Keith Wilson, Director of Education Services at VA. “Now, we can get to the business of closing the books on advance payments and focus on supporting Veterans for the spring semester.”

VA will begin sending out notification letters this week explaining the repayment process.

In October VA instituted an advanced payment process for all eligible students who were currently enrolled in an institution of higher learning for the fall 2009 term to ensure that all Veterans and eligible students were able to focus on their academic studies and not be burdened with financial concerns. As part of that process, a web portal was established to allow electronic submission for advance payment. Advance payments were also made on-​​site at VA offices around the country. At that time student Veterans were told that advance payments would be deducted from future benefit payments.

In collaboration with the Department of Defense, VA will also notify active duty service members who may have mistakenly applied for the advance payment of their options for returning un-​cashed checks or reimbursing deposited funds.

VA discontinued advance payments via the website portal following the conclusion of the fall 2009 semester. VA is currently processing approximately 7,000 education benefits daily, up from an average of 2,000 at the beginning of the fall 2009 term. As of January 22 the Department has processed more than 105,000 of the approximately 132,000 spring enrollments received. Since the inception of the historic new program last year, VA has paid out more than $1.3 billion in education benefits, and opened the door to higher education to more than 183,000 Veteran students.

Veterans Conservation Corps

Veterans Conservation Corps in Washington State...Therapeutic Transition, Green Job Training and Valuable Conservation

Veterans Conservation Corps is sprouting in Washington state and being developed for expansion to additional states. This decompression time provides vets with new skills, stress management and new stateside friends. And their generous donation of volunteer time improves our homeland environment at the same time. Win-win-win-win...!

http://www.californiagreensolutions.com/cgi-bin/gt/tpl.h,content=3149

Thousands Of Vets Could Get Benefits Upgrade

Thousands Of Vets Could Get Benefits Upgrade

By Kimberly Hefling, Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- The military has agreed to expedite a review the records
of thousands of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans discharged with
post-traumatic stress disorder to determine whether they were improperly
denied benefits.

The agreement stems from a judge's order in a class action lawsuit
originally filed by seven combat veterans who alleged the military
illegally denied health care and other benefits to those discharged
because of the disorder during a six-year period that ended Oct. 14,
2008.

Legal notices are currently being mailed to about 4,300 veterans
informing them that they can "opt-in" to the lawsuit until July 24 to
participate in the expedited review. Attorneys for the veterans estimate
that millions could be paid to veterans under the agreement, with some
veterans receiving hundreds or more dollars in increased monthly
benefits.

The National Veterans Legal Services Program was to discuss the suit at
a press conference Monday.

Former Army Sgt. Juan Perez, 36, of Owosso, Mich., said the resolution
of the suit filed in 2008 in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims was a
relief. Perez, a father of five who did two tours in Iraq, said he
struggles with migraine headaches and an eye injury related to a head
injury sustained in Baghdad. He also has nightmares and takes medication
for his mood related to PTSD.

Since he left the military, he said he and his wife were laid off from
their jobs and declared bankruptcy, in part because of medical bills
from the birth of his two youngest kids.

"I'm glad that they are finally moving forward and reevaluating the
soldiers that need to be reevaluated and doing the right thing," Perez
said. "It's been kind of a struggle not only for myself but a lot of
individuals that didn't get what they were supposed to get in the first
place."

PTSD is an anxiety disorder that can develop after a terrifying event
where the person was physically harmed or felt threatened. Symptoms
range from flashbacks to problem drinking.

The lawsuit addresses the issue of the disability rating given by the
military to veterans discharged with PTSD. Each of the seven plaintiffs
was given a rating of 10 percent or less.

The law requires the military to assign a disability rating of at least
50 percent to those discharged for PTSD, said Bart Stichman,
co-executive director the National Veterans Legal Services Program, a
nonprofit organization that represents the veterans. Since October 2008,
the military has given the 50 percent rating to those discharged with
PTSD, Stichman said.

The higher rating ensures that the veteran receives lifelong monthly
disability payments, free health care for the veteran and the veteran's
spouse, as well as health care for the veteran's minor children.

If a veteran qualifies for a higher disability rating, they may receive
back pay as well as reimbursement for health care expenses.
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED

Clover Park Tech

Announcement for Outreach to Minority and Women Veterans Project

The King County Department of Community and Human Services (DCHS) is pleased to announce the release of an RFP for its Outreach to Minority and Women Veterans Project. DCHS is accepting proposals from agencies to provide outreach services to connect minority and women veterans to veterans’ benefits, services and other resources in a culturally appropriate manner. The purpose of this project will be to locate, identify, engage and refer minority and women veterans and their families, to veterans benefits, services and resources, and other regional housing, health and human services available to them, providing advocacy and follow-up as needed. Agencies will be expected to develop or expand their knowledge of issues facing veterans and their families; to retain and report performance measures; and to follow-up with clients once a referral has been made. Collaborative, inter-agency proposals will be accepted. All applications need to be received by 4:30 p.m. on Friday, February 19, 2010...

Link

SCC's MLK Day Food Drive tops 25,000 lb. Goal

Question: Can a group of Shoreline Community College students who find inspiration in the words and example of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., collect 25,000 pounds of donated food in just one day?

Answer: No, they can collect 26,233 pounds in one day, add to the total the next day and then donate it all to local food banks

The project involved putting donation sites and volunteers in front of nine participating grocery stores across the north end of King County on Monday, Jan. 18, 2010. While the project was coordinated through the Center for Service Learning, Caldwell also worked with SCC Veterans Center coordinator Jonathan Phillips and student Ava Munson, who serves in student government as Minister of Social Justice. A number of college administrators and staff also volunteered for the project...

Link

UWB, CCC students participate in Day of Service

To celebrate the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and take part of the MLK Day of Service, students from UW-Bothell and Cascadia helped with projects around Bothell on Saturday Feb 16th.

Highlights of note:

200 volunteers including staff, students and faculty at Cascadia and UWB planted 500 seedlings at Juanita Woodlands; removed yards of blackberry brambles at Blythe Park; visited three senior centers in Bothell; assisted a foster care home with yard and house chores; donated 200 food items to Greater Bothell Parent Resource Center; decorated 100 additional food bags; wrote messages in 75 cards for Children's Hospital; did prep work for the mural that will be completed at Maywood Hills Elementary by Cascadia art students later this quarter; and participated in MLK Day reflection activities. Also, on day of the MLK Holiday, 20 people gathered to participate in dialogue with Bothell Mayor Lamb and attend the march through downtown Bothell.

Veterans in Construction Electrical

About Veterans in Construction Electrical (VICE)

The Puget Sound Electrical Joint Apprenticeship Training Committee (PSE-JATC) is offering career opportunities in the highly skilled trade of electrical construction. In cooperation with NECA and IBEW local 46, PSEJATC has created and launched a new training program for US military veterans returning from active duty. “VICE” is a 14 week intensive training program for selected veterans with an aptitude for the electrical industry. PSEJATC is proud to assist transitioning veterans enter into an exciting career within the electrical construction industry.

http://www.viceforvets.org/Veterans_In_Construction_Electrical/HOME.html

Textbook Publisher to Rent to College Students

In the rapidly evolving college textbook market, one of the nation’s largest textbook publishers, Cengage Learning, announced Thursday that it would start renting books to students this year, at 40 percent to 70 percent of the sale price.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/14/education/14textbook.html?_r=1&em

Dependable Strengths Training for Vets - FREE!

We have been able to secure a no-cost training opportunity for student veterans to be offered at Edmonds Community College on January 22 from 8-12:00.

Dependable Strengths (DS) was created by Bernard Haldane who worked extensively to help military personnel back in 1945 transition from military to civilian life. The Dependable Strengths Articulation Process has since become part of the alumni placement process for the Harvard Business School and has been taught around the world in China, South Africa, South Korea, Japan, and England with college and university students, k-12 system, prisons and prisoners, major corporations and employees, unemployed workers and the list goes on. Haldane, now deceased, has a quote that best summarizes the work:

“Because you’re unique, there’s something you are better at than anybody else. You have a unique pattern of Dependable Strengths…when you know the core skills of your pattern, you have power over how they are developed, combined, and applied. Then you gain job security, resilience, employability, focused energy, new possibilities and more.”

While the training typically occurs over a 2 day period, this training consists of an initial four hour session followed by another if participants want one one. The cost is usually around $750 for the full training and the trainers also bill something like $600/day. The DS crew wants to honor the service of our vets and this training is at no cost to them. So far there are 10 enrolled for the class with a maximum of 20.

All those interested should contact Peter Schmidt at peter.schmidt@edcc.edu