President Obama announced several new executive actions on Tuesday (Aug. 26), outlining five priorities on which his Administration intends to focus to fulfill America’s promise to its service members, veterans and their families.
During a speech given at the American Legion’s 96th convention, the President detailed new efforts to strengthen service members’ access to mental health care, improve transitions between the DoD and VA, ensure veterans have access to quality education, and infuse new energy into President Obama’s call for community action. He encouraged every American to do his or her part to support service members, veterans and their families.
MFRI’s director, Shelley MacDermid Wadsworth, participated in several consultations and meetings with Administration officials to provide guidance as these newly announced executive actions were wwweloped.
“As an organization that aims to make a difference for families who serve, MFRI applauds the President and the cabinet departments for their energetic and collaborative approach to addressing these very important challenges,” said MacDermid Wadsworth. “Eliminating backlogs at the VA and smoothing transitions from the Department of Defense to the VA and communities are longstanding challenges that continue to require vigilance, focus and hard work.”
MFRI’s work aligns well with the newly-announced priorities for the government, said Beth Johnson, director of external relations.
“Our work with the Star Behavioral Health Provider program (SBHP) has already helped to provide over 31,000 hours of military cultural competence training to almost 2,500 community members in four states,” Johnson said. “More than 550 trained community-based mental health professionals are now listed on the SBHP registry, ready to serve military members, veterans and their families. And our work extends to education, employment and research domains as well.”
MFRI works hard to assist community groups in their efforts and provide the latest research and evidence to ensure they are making the most of their outreach. We also help them put these findings into practice through events like our recently held Battlemind to Home Symposium V, which brought together more than 400 community leaders from across the Midwest to learn about ways to assist transitioning veterans.
Finally, MFRI’s Education & Employment initiatives are improving the experiences of service members and veterans at post-secondary institutions, as well as those seeking meaningful employment. And we never forget our research mission to generate important new knowledge that will inform all of these efforts.