Imagine dedicating your life to grueling physical training, the burden of your country, and spending months away from home only to return to an unfamiliar and unwelcoming society. This is the reality of some veterans in America, although a new program at the Santa Clara County Library might have a solution to their hardship. Soldiers can be overwhelmed as they try to re-adjust to everyday life, not to mention the stress of finding places to work and live. According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, 39,471 veterans were homeless as of January 2016.
This enormous and unfortunate statistic is largely due to the combined costs of shelter and therapy targeted at post-traumatic stress, which is common throughout the veteran community. These issues paired with the inability to find well-paying jobs contributes to homelessness among people who should be revered.
As an attempt to try and smooth the rocky transition into civilian life, the Santa Clara County Library District has implemented a new program called VetNow that provides opportunities otherwise hard to come by for veterans. Some of these amenities include free academic help in the form of live tutors, standardized test practice, and job-hunting assistance. These systems are geared towards improving veterans’ resumés and helping them manage the logistics of living.
Finding jobs is another of the many hurdles veterans face. VetNow has a solution for this too. Veterans can receive coaching for interviews and writing help with their resumes. Veterans can sign up for the program on the SCCLD website or at SCCLD locations. Not all veterans have access to the internet or transportation to the library so having both of these options increases the availability of the program to those in need.
Another perk of VetNow is that users can meet other veterans through organization. Therapeutic and informative, this service comes without a price tag unlike the average psychiatrist. PTSD is incredibly common amongst veterans and can cause lifelong damage to the afflicted and those around them. The Department of Veteran Affairs reports that as much as seven percent of the U.S. population will develop PTSD at some point during their lives, and bonding with others who have similar experiences is sometimes the best way to at least attempt to suppress the trauma.
Veterans all over the country have access to other programs as well. Some include the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans, which is non-profit network that provides connections to support veterans in areas specific to them. Another organization is Healing Heroes Network, which assists wounded veterans with applying for health care.
Compensation is often an overlooked detail when it comes to veterans. Many leave everything they have behind when they are deployed and have very little to return to financially. The system with which veterans are compensated could be facing alterations come 2018. The new rates for disability compensation are increasing for veterans with injuries rated thirty percent or above. This could be the first step towards improving the welfare of America’s struggling heroes. While it seems that though there should be no question as to whether veterans deserve compensation for the years they served, it is not always so simple. Veterans must appeal for compensation and the ruling is not always in their favor. Thankfully, programs like Legal Help for Veterans provide legal advice and action in these circumstances.
VetNow has had an interesting history. Founded by Brainfuse under the direction of Diane Roche in Santa Clara, the program was initially tested in Los Angeles. Slowly, the program infiltrated the Los Angeles library systems and became successful. It was on the back of this success that the organization reached out to Santa Clara as a possible next location. Lora Cokolat, Roche’s colleague and electronic resources librarian, accepted the offer. Thousands of veterans live in California, and the sky is the limit for how far the outreach of VetNow can go. Hopefully it will mean continuing help and support for those who devote their lives to protecting civilians like us.