Community Support Services, Veterans Service Office Outreach
2009 NACo Achievement Award Winner
Mecklenburg County, N.C., NC
Best In Category
About the Program
Category: Civic Education and Public Information (Best in Category)
Year: 2009
The Mecklenburg County Veterans Services Office, a division of the Community Support Services Department, is unique in North Carolina for developing an Outreach Section to aggressively reach out to its veteran population. Based on a local study conducted in 2007, it was evident that a large number of veterans were unaware of the benefits to which they might be entitled, and an equal number were unaware that there was a VSO devoted to “serving the vet—not the V.A.†The Veterans Service Office added staff to perform outreach, produce brochures, purchase promotional items, develop billboards, form new partnerships with groups such as the Charlotte Chamber, air locally produced commercials on TV stations, and increase speaking engagements to increase awareness. Outreach Section staff were provided with laptops, portable printers and wireless cards in order to complete applications in veterans’ homes and assisted living facilities. As a result, outreach to veterans in the July-December 2008 timeframe was nearly twice what it was in the prior year.