Veterans Outreach Program

About the Program

Category: Community and Economic Development (Best in Category)

Year: 2011

According to the national Center for veteran Analysis and Statistics, as of September 30, 2010, the State of Colorado was the home to 421,300 veterans. Of those veterans, approximately 78,000 lived in El Paso County. It was unclear whether these veterans were aware of the benefits that they could be collecting, or if they were aware of the fact that the county has an organization dedicated to assisting them with the collection of these benefits. The Veterans Outreach Program consists of developing new, innovative ways to get information to veterans and their family members with regard to veteran benefits. The program has been an overwhelming success, costing the County a mere $58,887, which included transportation to and from events, the use of event rooms, advertising, purchase of updated technology, and overtime incurred by staff members. Further, the program yielded a return of $87.00 on every dollar spent in outreach, as the county saw over 500 claims made by local veterans yield an excess of $5 million dollars in awards, and the Veteran Services Office saw an increase of nearly 40 percent in the number of visits per year between 2008 and 2010. Further, the money received from these benefits tends to be spent in the community, where it will turn over several times and positively impact the overall financial health of the region.