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Forward Observer

Forward Observer — When It Comes to Veterans, Strange Bedfellows on Display 5 November: LU’s SDBC and CADCB

Something queer for the good has happened. All of a sudden the Community Action Development Corporation of Bethlehem (CADCB) has taken an interest in veterans’ entrepreneurship. It is ‘partnering’ with the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) to offer a seminar about entrepreneurship opportunities for veterans on 5 November at the Fowler Center in South Bethlehem (click on the flyer thumbnail below and to the right). Actually the SBA partner is Lehigh University’s Small Business Development Center (together with Kutztown University’s, often hidden secret to veterans from the Lehigh Valley interested in starting a business). (more…)

By LVMAC, 10 years ago

Forward Observer

Forward Observer — Punishing the Higher Education System for Veterans – The Pennsylvania Way

Effective 1 July 2015, a little mentioned section of the Veterans Access, Choice, And Accountability Act of 2014 signed into law by the President on 7 August will have huge consequences to Pennsylvania’s public institutions of higher learning. It may well affect the well-being of about 25,000 veterans who are students and up to $300 million in state revenues from the federal government to Pennsylvania’s institutions of higher learning.

Section 702 of that law states:

… the Secretary shall disapprove a course of education provided by a public institution of higher learning (more…)

By LVMAC, 10 years ago

Forward Observer

Forward Observer — Veterans Sanctuary is Gone, but Something of It Remains

As most already know, Veterans Sanctuary unfortunately is no more. It ceased to be after a troubled ten months of operation last year. The building, which was the physical shell for a sophisticated therapeutic approach to treating our returning war veterans, both men and women, when they suffered from chronic addiction to drugs or alcohol and profound war-induced trauma, figuratively collapsed for lack of local county, state and federal government support – only the City of Allentown had assisted.

But a light still shines. (more…)

By LVMAC, 10 years ago

Forward Observer

Forward Observer — Doing Income Verification a Better Way

VA Removes Annual Income Reporting Requirement for Almost All

As the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) enters the twenty-first century of healthcare, it is getting smarter in its uses of the electronic databases of other federal agencies to the benefit of our veterans and their own work processes.

Effective March 2014, almost all veterans enrolled in the healthcare system are no longer required to file an annual VA Form 10-10EZR, a change in policy which affects many veterans in the system. Instead, the VA will automatically match income information obtained from the Internal Revenue Service and Social Security Administration. The new “means test” policy is more customer-centric and ensures healthcare eligibility is kept up to date. (more…)

By LVMAC, 11 years ago

Forward Observer

Forward Observer — Their American Dream is Homelessness?

One Way You Can Help Your Homeless Veterans Locally – Find Them, Gather Them

Not all who are homeless deserve their circumstance. Good families are affected nowadays. We of the Lehigh Valley are a hardy people, but living on the streets or in pioneer camps should not be our final option. It is an unfortunate reality nonetheless.

It seems doubly a shame for our community when one who has honorably served and actually fought for his or her country is found in such a condition. Whether it is this veteran’s pride or behavior, or a combination of both, that has led to the situation should not matter to us – we can always find a plausible excuse for inaction.

As the Lehigh Valley Military Affairs Council (LVMAC) activates its new Lehigh Valley Homeless Veterans Action Committee to attack veteran’s homelessness as a regional problem, one of its participants is already trying to get those in the most extreme of circumstances in from the “cold.” VALOR Clinic Foundation, a new 501(c)(3) nonprofit now working its way down from the Bangor area into the wider Lehigh Valley, has taken up the mission of establishing routine stand downs in the Lehigh Valley. (more…)

By LVMAC, 11 years ago

Forward Observer

Forward Observer — Mini-Stand Down … Learning From Others

They say you can always learn from others. While it is a bit out of our area of operations, we think the 16 November Mini Stand Down in the Reading area is something about to which to take note. (Rumor has it there will be one at the Allentown VA Outpatient Clinic in the near future by another organization. Nothing official has come from the Wilkes-Barre VA Medical Center network to us.) As the cold weather approaches, such events for veterans who are homeless and perhaps living on the streets take on added significance. Kudos to Chapter G, 2nd Brigade Motorcycle Club for taking on this duty … and not just for the first time. See the flyer attached. (more…)

By LVMAC, 11 years ago

Forward Observer

Forward Observer — PS to You, Lehigh Valley Veterans Wanted for Focus

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, using Penn State University (PSU) – Harrisburg as its contractor, is conducting an unusual survey to assess the real needs of veterans and their families.

There are significant concerns with the current system which need addressing at state and federal levels or, in our estimation, this study would not not be conducted. If properly done, LVMAC sees the study as a tool towards achieving future system changes for the benefit of our local military veterans and their families. In addition to literature searches, comparisons with other states, random surveys and interviews of selected organizations to help assess the situation, focus group meetings are being conducted at six sites throughout the state. The Lehigh Valley has been selected for one of these sites – usually we are overlooked. (more…)

By LVMAC, 11 years ago

Forward Observer

Forward Observer — TRICARE For Life Users Face Potentially Higher Costs When Using the VA

In an August 14, 2013 News Release, TRICARE announced that its TRICARE For Life (TFL) beneficiaries may incur higher costs for treatment when using a VA healthcare facility effective October 1 – if the condition for which they are being treated is not related to their service-connected disability.

It states that after October 1, 2013, “as part of the intake process at VA facilities … TFL beneficiaries will be asked if they’re using their VA or TFL benefit or if they have other health insurance (OHI). When electing to use their TFL benefit at the VA, they will also be informed they must pay the remained bill after TRICARE pays its portion of the TRICARE-allowable charge. They may be asked to sign a form indicating they understand their responsibility.” (more…)

By LVMAC, 11 years ago

Forward Observer

Forward Observer — The Cornerstone of Good Community

The cornerstone of a good community is its awareness and engagement in civic life. When it comes upon war, things can sometimes be done outside of government and political processes which can meaningfully assist our military, our veterans and their families. One way is to do fundraising but also to ensure the money goes to organizations that actually help military servicemembers from and military veterans in the communities in which they live. (more…)

By LVMAC, 11 years ago

Forward Observer

Forward Observer — Something Smart from the PA Dept. of Labor and Industry That Might Help Veterans

When it comes to helping veterans find employment — having done away with its Governor’s Veterans Outreach and Assistance Centers (and using them properly before that) and having had problems with the staffing of its Veterans Employment Representative program — the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry (DLI) has not exactly been a frontrunner among state labor departments. But its JobGateway^SM is a web product which comes as close to providing a one-stop employment shopping environment online as you can get, and has the potential to actually help our veterans community because it also tries to engage prospective employers providing good, wage paying jobs, registering those who pass muster. (more…)

By LVMAC, 11 years ago