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Counties Convene to Pave the Road for Returning Veterans
September 3, 2008
Today, the New York State Association of Counties (NYSAC) launched a new state-county partnership designed to streamline the programs and services for New York’s returning veterans and their families.
The program, "Paving the Road Home, Building a State/County Partnership to assist Returning Veterans and Their Families,” will address the issues and challenges confronting our service personnel deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, and ways county leaders can help them and the families they leave behind.
“New York State has 40,000 active service members, and is home to more than 1 million veterans. The nature of military deployments for our current conflicts has placed severe hardships on our military personnel and their families,” said NYSAC Executive Director Stephen J. Acquario. “This new partnership will help promote the services at the state and local level that can be of assistance to the members of our armed forces and their families during this trying time.”
Paving the Road Home is an ongoing educational partnership program that will be highlighted in a track of programs at the NYSAC Fall Seminar in Niagara Falls on September 25th. For details and registration information, visit www.nysac.org.
“The issues surrounding these conflicts—including multiple deployments, the nature of combat involved and the fact that over 53 percent of those servicemen and women deployed are from active duty call-ups of Reserve and National Guard units—make the challenges facing our returning veterans and their families especially difficult,” said Col. James D. McDonough, Jr. USA (ret), Director of the New York State Division of Veterans Affairs. McDonough detailed some of the services that veterans are automatically available for upon returning home including health benefits, the Home Energy Assistance Program (HEAP) and food stamps.
“We have an increasing number of veterans returning home to our communities and we must bring a sense of urgency to support their transitions from military service to civilian life,” said Patrick R. Rourk, president of the County Veterans Service Officers Association of New York State and St. Lawrence County Veterans Services Director.
The New York State Association of Counties is a bipartisan municipal association serving all 62 counties of New York State including the City of New York. Organized in 1925, NYSAC's mission is to represent, educate and advocate for member counties and the thousands of elected and appointed county officials who serve the public.
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