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If you know a veteran, please forward this issue to them (you can sign up for my mission reports here). There are some important updates, resources and information they can use. In this Update:
Bucktail American Legion Preserves Foundational Legacy of Veterans Service, Brick by Brick
Recently, I was invited to preview the Bucktail Post #138 American Legion’s latest renovations to their headquarters located along historic Route 6 in Smethport, McKean County. What an honor it was to see all the hard work they have completed on this new American Legion facility. As your senator, I am deeply humbled to have my name inscribed on this honorary brick (pictured above) to be displayed on Bucktail’s ever-expanding Wall of Veterans. To fully appreciate Smethport’s tremendous foundational history of veterans service, I encourage you to review the Bucktail American Legion’s original mission statement below: The Bucktail Post #138 Smethport American Legion is one of the earliest local American Legion posts, chartered the year after Congress chartered the national American Legion in 1919. The post supports community organizations that focus on veterans, youth, literacy, and recreation. The naming of Post 138, the bucktails, refers to the “Bucktail Regiment”, the 42nd Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, also known as the 13th Pennsylvania Reserve Regiment, which was a Union infantry unit during the American Civil War. They were also called the 1st Pennsylvania Rifles, and the Kane Rifles. They were known for their sharpshooting abilities and participated in major battles like Antietam, Fredericksburg, and Gettysburg. Col. Thomas L. Kane was instrumental in forming the regiment, recruiting skilled woodsmen from Pennsylvania. The regiment first formed in April 1861, when Thomas L. Kane sought permission to raise a company of riflemen from among the hardy woodsmen of McKean County. Each man who came to the regiment’s rendezvous point wore civilian clothes and a buck’s tail in his hat—a symbol of his marksmanship. Western PA Community Organization Awarded $750,000 to Help Prevent Veteran Suicide
Last month, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced the Veterans Leadership Program of Western Pennsylvania, Inc. was awarded $750,000 through the Staff Sergeant Parker Gordon Fox Suicide Prevention Grant Program. Grants are awarded to organizations that provide or coordinate suicide prevention services for eligible individuals at risk of suicide and their families who qualify. Veterans Leadership Program serves Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Bedford, Blair, Butler, Cambria, Centre, Clarion, Clearfield, Crawford, Erie, Fayette, Forest, Fulton, Greene, Huntingdon, Indiana, Jefferson, Lawrence, McKean, Mercer, Somerset, Venango, Warren, Washington, and Westmoreland counties. You can learn more about the program here. Recent Real Estate Industry Changes Could Affect How VA Home Loan Benefit Is Used
I mentioned in July this change was coming, and as of Aug. 17, changes to buyer-broker fees in real estate transactions are now in effect. In preparation for those changes, and to ensure the VA’s programs continue to promote access to homeownership, the VA, starting on Aug. 10, began allowing eligible veterans, active duty service members and surviving spouses to use their VA home loan benefits to pay for certain real estate buyer-broker fees when purchasing a home. In the VA’s program, it has been common practice for sellers to pay for the veteran’s buyer-broker fees; without the changes made by the VA, veterans could have been at a disadvantage in the evolving homebuying market. The VA encourages veterans to negotiate buyer-broker fees with their real estate professionals. Veterans can also still ask sellers to cover the buyer-broker fees at closing. In addition to other safeguards, all buyer-broker fees charged to veterans using the VA home loan benefit must be reasonable and customary within local markets. The update to the use of VA home loan benefits was made in response to a settlement reached in March by the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) in a class-action lawsuit that requires NAR to change its brokerage fee rules. The settlement requires two big changes to how buyers and sellers negotiate service from a buyer’s agent. The first of those changes prevents agents from including the buyer’s agent’s compensation when listing a home on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) platform. The MLS is the listing program that buyers’ brokers and listing brokers use to share information about properties for sale. The other major change requires buyers to enter into written agreements with realtors before touring a home, and the agreement must include terms about their own agent’s fee. For more about how this might affect homebuyers, and specifically veteran homebuyers, click here. New VA Grant Program Awards $4.5 Million to Help with Transition from Military to Civilian Life
A new grant program to help service members and their spouses transition from the military to civilian life has awarded $4.5 million to organizations providing employment-based resources and tools. Recently separated service members and their spouses may sign up for the services starting in early 2025. The 13 organizations will each receive up to $500,000 through the Veteran and Spouse Transitional Assistance Grant Program to offer services such as resume assistance, interview training, job recruitment training, employment placement services, employment education and training, and referrals for employment. Some of the organizations are more regionally focused, but others make their services available nationally: American Corporate Partners, Corporate America Supports You, Greater New Bedford Workforce Investment Board, Jacksonville State University, Jewish Vocational Service, Kansas City Scholars Inc., National University, Operation Stand Down Rhode Island, Operation Stand Down Tennessee, Orange County United Way, The Commit Foundation, The Houston Launch Pad and the University Of Massachusetts. You can learn more about this grant program here. The VA also offers additional services to help veterans, transitioning service members and spouses find and keep jobs through programs such as Personalized Career Planning and Guidance and Veteran Readiness and Employment. These programs provide career counseling, assessment and education planning tailored to veteran needs. Free Entrepreneur Training and Mentorship for Post-9/11 Veterans
American Corporate Partners (ACP) and its new ACP Ventures program provides veteran entrepreneurs with 1-on-1 year-long mentorship, on-demand resources and access to other veteran entrepreneurs and industry experts with the goal of assisting veterans and eligible spouses on their path towards fulfilling, long-term careers, whether the veteran is job searching or newly employed. You can learn more about the program here and here. Veterans Job Listing
Every week, the Pennsylvania Nation Guard Associations updates its free job board with good openings for National Guard members, veterans and their families across Pennsylvania and in nearby states. The board features nearly 10,000 employment and internship postings. What are Vet Centers?
I’ve been asked this question by several of my fellow vets and feel it’s important to provide an answer to those who haven’t reached out yet. VA Vet Centers provide free and confidential readjustment counseling for War-Zone Veterans and their families, World War II to the current Global War on Terror. Vet Centers are small, non-medical, counseling centers conveniently located in our region. They’re staffed by highly trained counselors and team members dedicated to seeing you through the challenges that come with managing life during and after the military. Our region is served by the DuBois Vet Center, which is one of 12 Vet Centers in Pennsylvania and over 300 across the country. Whether you come in for one-on-one counseling or to participate in a group session, at Vet Centers you can form social connections, try new things, and build a support system with people who understand you and want to help you succeed. The Dubois Vet Center’ website is designed to provide veterans, family members, and community partners the ability to see what services the center offers, as well as the center’s Community Access Points with a picture of the entrance so first time visitors have a frame of reference to help guide them in. From my time in the State House through my current position, I’ve had a strong relationship with the Dubois Vet Center. They have helped me help many of my fellow vets. Two Recreational Therapy Groups Available at the Dubois Vet Center As part of a national competition, the DuBois Vet Center was approved for initial funding for two recreational therapy groups. One of the groups is an introduction to fly tying for fly fishing, with one of the center’s counselors being an avid fly tyer and fisherman. The other group is a no sew blanket group, which the center hopes will generate interest from women veterans, but the group is open to anyone who would like to join. The groups will be held at the Vet Center with approximately 4 cohorts to run quarterly with 6 vets in each cohort. The center says it hopes to grow these groups and potentially be able to have them at the center’s Community Access Points (CAPs) in McKean, Centre and Blair counties, with the possibility of adding more recreational therapy groups in the future. The center noted the initial funding will help them launch the groups, but they will be actively trying to obtain additional funding they can expand on them. Who is eligible to receive services at Vet Centers? Vet Center services are available to Veterans at no cost, regardless of discharge character, and without the need to be enrolled in VA health care or having a service-connected disability. If you are a Veteran or service member, including members of the National Guard and Reserve, you can access Vet Center services if you:
Contacting your local Vet Center Even if you are unsure if you meet the criteria to receive services from a Vet Center, please contact a center. From personal experience I can tell you that, if the center can’t help you, they’ll find someone who will. Center services are also available to family members when their participation would support the growth and goals of the Veteran or active-duty service member. If you consider them family, so does your local center. Bereavement services are also available to family members of Veterans who were receiving Vet Center services at the time of the Veteran’s death, and to the families of service members who died while serving on active duty. The DuBois Vet Center, located at 100 Meadow Lane, Suite 8, DuBois, PA 15801, can be contacted at 814-372-2095 or toll free 24/7 at 1-877-WAR-VETS (927-8387). The DuBois Vet Center recently announced counseling and referral services are now being provided at the State College American Legion Post 245, in addition to the many services they offer at their locations in DuBois, Altoona, Bradford, Penn State-DuBois, Smethport and their mobile Vet Center. The other Vet Center locations in Pennsylvania are:
For more information, please visit www.vetcenter.va.gov
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