Primary tabs

View
Show Changes(active tab)

Status message

No visible changes

Key to Changes

This text is Revised text

This word has been added to the text

This text is Last Published text

This word has been removed from the text

Modifed styling with no visual changes

Strategic Objective

Enhance VA’s Partnerships with Federal, State, Private Sector, Academic Affiliates, Veteran Service Organizations and Non-Profit Organizations

Strategic Objective

Themes:

Veterans Benefits and Services

VA.gov

Facebook Twitter Linkdin Mail RSS

XML

CSV

Overview
Progress Update

Overview

Summary:

Progress Update

Final Assessment: VA, in consultation with the Office of Management and Budget, determined that performance toward this objective is making noteworthy progress.

Achievements: VA established the MyVA Strategic Partnerships (SP) Team in order to leverage resources external to the VA on an effective and consistent basis, at all levels of the Department, to improve the Veteran experience while enhancing productivity and efficiency. The SP Team formed an internal workgroup with more than 25 representatives from across the Department. The workgroup met weekly to share best practices, new proposals, problem solve challenges and bring individual Administrations and Staff Offices together for updates. The SP Team published VA Directive 0008 on May 29, 2015, that provides fundamental guidance for exploring, establishing, managing, and evaluating public-private partnerships for all employees.^[1] The SP Team began creating a toolkit with needed resources to better equip and empower staff. The toolkit includes a departmental approved Memorandum of Agreement template, SP training course, internal website, non-profit due diligence worksheet draft, and several others in development - to standardize, streamline, and simplify the partnership process. In September 2015, the SP Team launched a SP 101 Training Course for all employees to build and increase their knowledge and awareness of relevant partnership information, strategies, and capabilities. The SP Team is beta-testing a relational database that will manage, track, and provide performance reports on external engagement activities and partnerships, expected to launch in summer FY 2016.^[2] The SP Team has engaged regularly in meetings and discussions with external stakeholders leading to the formation of new and expanded partnerships – including the Summer of Service campaign where VA set a goal to serve 15,000 Veterans and family members from Memorial Day until Labor Day FY 2015. Through these new, expanded, and reenergized partnerships this goal was exceeded by 182 percent, thereby serving over 42,322 Veterans and family members.

In addition, VA is strengthening services to Veterans in local communities by partnering with private sector organizations in order to build networks of local Veteran support through MyVA Communities. MyVA Communities is currently working to train employers in the hiring and support of Veterans, holding employment summits, and learning resource hubs. They will continue to develop and partner with stakeholders and have set a goal of establishing

100 MyVA Communities by December 2016. They also set a goal to, “Reduce the average duration (weeks) of unemployment for Veterans within the first fifteen (15) months of separation by 20 percent in all metropolitan areas targeted for MyVA Communities.” Address key economic growth areas and targeted at-risk Veteran populations across the country through community development efforts.”

VA executed 17 active public-private partnerships including those with Bob Woodruff, LinkedIn, and Coursera. Twenty-eight additional local and national partnerships are currently in development, including partnerships that involve joint outreach and advocacy efforts, hiring/training commitments, enhancements to the VA’s Veterans Employment Center, entrepreneurship cultivation, accelerated learning programs, cooperation with local communities, and other employment-related initiatives.

Challenges: None identified

[1] http://www1.va.gov/vapubs/viewPublication.asp?Pub_ID=803&FType=2

[2] http://www.va.gov/opa/myva/docs/myva_integrated_plan.pdf

Expand All

Strategic Goals

Strategic Goal:

Enhance and Develop Trusted Partnerships

Statement:

Enhance and Develop Trusted Partnerships

Strategic Objectives

Enhance VA’s Partnership with DoD

Statement:

Enhance VA’s Partnership with DoD

Description:

Summary:

VA’s life-long engagement with its clients begins when Servicemembers first enter service and continues through the remainder of their lives. In support of this engagement, VA and DoD are working together to improve the access, quality, effectiveness, and efficiency of health care, benefits, and services provided to Servicemembers, Veterans, and other beneficiaries. VA will work closely with DoD to ensure that these benefits and services are delivered through an integrated client-centric approach that anticipates and addresses client needs; that the delivery of health care is provided through a patient-driven health care system that delivers quality, access, satisfaction and value consistently across the Departments; and through the efficiency of operations that are delivered through joint planning, training, and execution. The Departments must ensure that authorized beneficiary and health information is accessible, usable, shared, and secure in order to meet the needs of clients, customers, and stakeholders.

Strategies:

VA and DoD will continue to work towards achieving these goals with its many DoD partners through the VA-DoD Joint Executive Committee (JEC) in order to improve business practices, ensure high-quality, cost effective services for both VA and DoD beneficiaries, facilitate opportunities to improve resource utilization and sharing, and to remove barriers that might impede collaborative efforts.

VA and DoD will create an authoritative source of health information for DoD and VA beneficiaries, which will include the delivery of a highly flexible, reliable, secure, maintainable, and sustainable systems. VA and DoD will jointly implement the separation health assessment based upon the joint common criteria established by the Departments. VA will continue to partner with DoD and increase the information and self-service capabilities available through the eBenefits portal for active duty Servicemembers and Veterans and eligible beneficiaries.

Learn More

Enhance VA’s Partnerships with Federal, State, Private Sector, Academic Affiliates, Veteran Service Organizations and Non-Profit Organizations

Statement:

Enhance VA’s Partnerships with Federal, State, Private Sector, Academic Affiliates, Veteran Service Organizations and Non-Profit Organizations

Description:

Summary:

Strategies:

VA will establish a partnership award program to acknowledge and recognize successful partnerships in various organizational and service categories.

VA will foster stronger collaboration and information exchange with across the spectrum of care, benefits and services providers.

Learn More

FY 14-15 Priority Goal: End Veteran Homelessness

Statement:

In partnership, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and VA aim to reduce the number of Veterans living on the streets, experiencing homelessness to zero (as measured by the FY 2016 PIT Count).

Indicators:

Reduction in homeless Veterans living on the streets, experiencing homelessness to zero (as measured by the FY 2016 PIT Count).
The “Number of Homeless Veterans” on a single night is determined by the PIT Count, which is conducted annually the last week of January each year “The PIT Count reflects the results of the work performed and the fiscal obligation/budget made in the prior fiscal year.”
Reduction in total homeless Veterans temporarily living in shelters or transitional housing to 12,500 (as measured by the FY 2016 PIT Count).

Description:

VA has taken decisive action toward its goal of ending homelessness among Veterans. The End Veteran Homelessness initiative is intended to prevent Veterans and their families from entering homelessness and to assist those who are homeless in exiting as safely and quickly as possible. VA’s “no wrong door” philosophy will ensure that homeless and at risk for homeless Veterans have timely access to appropriate housing and services. Any door a Veteran comes to - at a medical center, a regional office, or a community organization - will lead to the tools to offer Veteran assistance. Ending homelessness among Veterans will advance the mission of VA by ensuring that all Veterans and their families achieve housing stability.
On a single night in January 2014 during the Point in Time (PIT) Count ^[1], there were 49,933 homeless Veterans in the US. Effectively ending homelessness among Veterans requires rapid access to permanent housing, health care, employment, benefits, and other supportive services. VA works closely with community partners to meet current and new demands for any Veteran who is experiencing or is at imminent risk of homelessness. Housing First and Rapid Re-housing are two of the many evidence-based approaches VA uses to end homelessness. The Housing First model follows the philosophy of providing permanent housing as quickly as possible to Veterans/individuals experiencing homelessness and then wrapping health care and other supportive services as needed around the Veteran to sustain housing and improve their quality of life. Rapid Re-housing is a set of strategies to help families quickly move out of homelessness and into permanent housing. It typically involves: housing search and landlord mediation assistance, short-term or flexible rental assistance, and transitional case management services. Rapid Re-housing provides crisis intervention services to quickly place an individual or family who is currently homeless into a permanent, sustainable housing situation.

[1] The annual PIT estimates are a snapshot of homelessness. They are submitted to HUD each year by communities and account for homeless Veterans in emergency shelters or transitional housing on the night of the PIT count (i.e., sheltered) as well as homeless Veterans who are in places not meant for human habitation such as the streets, abandoned buildings, cars, or encampments (i.e., unsheltered). Communities typically conduct their PIT count during the last week in January when a large share of the homeless population is expected to seek shelter rather than stay outside. Because counting people in shelters is more precise than conducting street counts, the timing of the PIT count is intended to improve the accuracy of the estimates. (Source: Veteran Homelessness: A Supplemental Report to the FY 2010 Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress).

Learn More

Amplify Awareness of Services and Benefits Available to Veterans through Improved Communications and Outreach

Statement:

Amplify Awareness of Services and Benefits Available to Veterans through Improved Communications and Outreach

Description:

Summary:

The benefits, services, and resources available to our current and future clients, and the means and mechanisms for delivering them, must be widely-known and well understood. We will expand the ways in which we connect to our clients to amplify awareness of the services and benefits available to Veterans and eligible beneficiaries. We will connect with Veterans and eligible beneficiaries, our partners, and the Nation through clear, aligned, and proactive interactions.

Strategies:

VA will establish a robust, authoritative communications capability that provides and aligns a clear, concise, positive, and compelling message. We will establish standardized corporate communications policies and procedures to coordinate efforts across the Department.

VA will establish internal standardized enterprise outreach policies and procedures to coordinate efforts across the Department.

VA will develop outreach plans and strategies in collaboration with our partners to ensure Veterans and eligible beneficiaries and their families are aware of all of the programs for which they are eligible; not only those provided by VA and not solely programs designed to serve a Veteran-only population. We will pursue joint outreach campaigns to enable sharing of communications channels and audiences to reach more Veterans and eligible beneficiaries.

Learn More

Agency Priority Goals

FY 14-15: End Veteran Homelessness

Statement:

Indicators:

Reduction in homeless Veterans living on the streets, experiencing homelessness to zero (as measured by the FY 2016 PIT Count).
The “Number of Homeless Veterans” on a single night is determined by the PIT Count, which is conducted annually the last week of January each year “The PIT Count reflects the results of the work performed and the fiscal obligation/budget made in the prior fiscal year.”
Reduction in total homeless Veterans temporarily living in shelters or transitional housing to 12,500 (as measured by the FY 2016 PIT Count).

Description:

Learn More

Agency Priority Goals

FY 14-15 Agency Priority Goal:

End Veteran Homelessness

Statement:

Indicators:

Reduction in homeless Veterans living on the streets, experiencing homelessness to zero (as measured by the FY 2016 PIT Count).
The “Number of Homeless Veterans” on a single night is determined by the PIT Count, which is conducted annually the last week of January each year “The PIT Count reflects the results of the work performed and the fiscal obligation/budget made in the prior fiscal year.”
Reduction in total homeless Veterans temporarily living in shelters or transitional housing to 12,500 (as measured by the FY 2016 PIT Count).

Description:

Learn More

Download
Featured Report

Agency Plans and Reports

Agency Strategic Plan