Orange County Veterans Year In Review 2019

Orange County Veterans Day 2019 Veteran Leadership Salute

Heroes Hall—“Through The Eyes of Veterans”

Veteran’s Serving Orange County Veterans Board of Supervisors Supervisor Michelle Steel 2nd District Office Tim Whitacre-US Marine Corps Supervisor Doug Chaffee 4th District Office Austin Mejia-US Army

City Council

Brea - Steven Vargas-US Navy Laguna Niguel - John Mark Jennings, Mayor-US Army JAG Buena Park - Art Brown, Mayor-US Marine Corps Laguna Woods - Cynthia Connors, Mayor-US Army Costa Mesa - Andrea Marr-US Navy

Joe Rainey-US Marine Corps Cypress - Paulo M Morales-US Navy Mission Viejo - Greg Raths, Mayor-US Marine Corps Dana Point - Jamey Federico-US Marine Corps

Ed Sachs-US Navy

Richard Viczorek-US Marine Corps Placentia - Craig Green -US Navy Garden Grove - George S. Brietigam III-US Coast Guard San Clemente - Steve Swartz, Mayor-US Air Force Santa Ana - Juan Villegas, Mayor Pro Tem-US Army Huntington Beach - Erik Peterson-US Marine Corps Stanton - Alexander A. Ethans, Mayor Pro TemLaguna Hills - Dr. Dore Gilbert, Mayor-US Army Medical US Navy/US Air Force Tustin - Barry Cooper-US Marine Corps/US Navy

Federal Offices Congressman Luis Correa Office-Veterans Job Caucus & Army Caucus Jose Guevara-US Marine Corps Congressman Gil Cisneros Office-US Navy House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs & House Armed Services Committee Stephanie Wade-US Marine Corps

Congressman Harley Rouda Alexander Gonzalez-US Navy

Congressman Mike Levin House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Congresswoman Katie Porter Gage Sitzmann-US Army

State Offices

Senator Tom Umberg-Veterans Affairs Committee-US Army Assemblymember Steven Choi-Korean Army Cliff Wagner-Chief of Staff-US Army Assemblymember William Brough-US Army Assemblymember Sharon Quirk-Silva

Select Committee Veterans Education & Employment Christopher Aguilera-US Marine Corps Assemblymember Cottie Petrie-Norris-Veterans Affairs Committee

Orange County Veterans Advisory Council

1st District Supervisor Andrew Do

Mario Munoz-US Marine Corps

4th District Supervisor Doug Chaffee Vacant

5th District Supervisor Lisa Bartlett Greg Raths-US Marine Corps

2nd District Supervisor Michelle Steel David Han-US Marine Corps

3rd District Supervisor Todd Spitzer Member At Large Representatives

Robert V “Bobby” McDonald-US Navy Carl David-US Army Erik Duane-US Marine Corps Richard Lundberg-US Army Dale Soeffner-US Army

Orange County Veterans Service Office Orange County Veterans Service Officer Eddie Falcon-US Navy Supervising Veterans Claims Representative Eric Ensley-US Navy Orange County Veterans & Military Family Collaborative Steering Committee Leadership Chair-Gen. Denton Knapp (CA) Vice Chair-Pete Seitz Secretary-Mary Ann Profeta Convener-Jeff Pagano https://www.ocvmfc.info Tierney Center for Veteran Services https://www.ocgoodwill.org/tierney-center/ Heroes Hall Veterans Foundation Chair-Nick Berardino http://www.ocheroeshall.org Association of United States Army President-Pete Seitz http://ausaglac.info/ Veterans Legal Institute Board Chair-Marc Hankin Executive Director-Antoinette N. Balta https://www.vetslegal.com/ US Department of Veteran Affairs Liaison: Dustin Halliwell State of California, CalVet Liaison: Ben Gales OC4Vets Kevin Alexander http://orange.networkofcare.org/mh/services/category.aspx?cid=45001 Campus Veterans Resource Centers: Columbia College-Los Alamitos http://ccis.edu/LosAlamitos Coastline College: http://military.coastline.edu/veterans/page.cfm?LinkID=1584 Cypress College: https://www.cypresscollege.edu/veterans-resource-center/ Fullerton College: https://veterans.fullcoll.edu/

Orange County Board of Supervisors Golden West College: http://www.goldenwestcollege.edu/vrc/

Irvine Valley College: http://students.ivc.edu/veterans/Pages/default.aspx

Orange Coast College: http://www.orangecoastcollege.edu/student_services/Veterans/Pages/ Veterans’-Resource-Center.aspx Saddleback College: https://www.saddleback.edu/vets Santa Ana College: https://sac.edu/StudentServices/VRC/Pages/default.aspx Santiago Canyon College: https://www.sccollege.edu/Departments/VSO/Pages/default.aspx California State University Fullerton: https://www.fullerton.edu/veterans/ University of California Irvine: https://veteran.uci.edu/

Orange County Veteran Priorities 2019-2020 The OC Veteran community has identified these priorities: 1.

Eliminate veteran homelessness in OC during 2019-2020.

2.

Encourage and develop dedicated housing with supportive services for low income and homeless veterans

(similar to the Santa Ana Veteran Village model)

3.

Improve VA healthcare services in OC with reduced wait times and expanded Community-Based Outpatient

Clinics (CBOC) services.

4.

Support the new VA access standards under the Mission Act based upon average drive times.

5.

Provide clinical mental health support to the 10,000 veteran students in OC.

6.

Add new veteran programs funded by MHSA such as the proposed “Outreach to Socially Isolated Senior

Veterans.”

7.

Expand employment opportunities for unemployed veterans by encouraging veteran clubs at the largest

employers in OC and networking models like the Veteran Business Network (VBN.)

8.

Support and expand the OC Veterans and Military Families Collaborative (OCVMFC) with recently added UCI

leadership.

9.

Find additional financial support for charities providing local veteran services.

10.

Support programs to reduce veteran suicides.

“Have We Helped A Veteran Today”