Veterans
September 2024, Newsletter
Sign up for the Veteran Stand Down or Beyond the Books, listen or watch the special Health & Hospital Committee meeting on ME/CFS, and learn about Joe's work on the Board of Supervisors in 2021. Read Joe's op-ed about women's health and ways to support, the County's grant to support art and music education, and the impact of Compassion Week 2024.
Supervisors help older adults “age in place”
Supervisor Simitian champions funding for local non-profit Rebuilding Together Silicon Valley to help older adults who live District Five and want to age in place. Building affordable housing costs 26 times more than rehabilitating or repairing an existing home.
Helping veterans get the services they need, and deserve
Veterans are legally entitled to federal and state military service benefits including: disability compensation; non-service-connected pensions; education; burial assistance; survivor’s benefits; Veterans Affairs (VA) health care, and more. But getting these benefits is not always easy. Santa Clara County Supervisors Joe Simitian and Otto Lee proposed increase staffing at the County’s Veterans Service Office (VSO) to help serve more veterans more fully and more quickly.
Supervisors boost services for veterans
The Santa Clara County’s Office of Veterans Services (VSO) will add new Veterans Service Representatives (VSRs) to allow more veterans to get connected to their earned benefits. County Supervisors Joe Simitian and Otto Lee proposed the additional staffing to support local veterans and their families in accessing the federal benefits they have earned.
November 2023, Newsletter
Read about support for County veterans, older adult mental healthcare access and a "coming soon" emergency shelter for families and individuals. Also learn about local events, the availability of COVID-19 vaccines and some Joe History.
Helping veterans get the services they need, and have earned
We need to do more to help veterans take advantage of available benefits and services. I’m gratified colleagues on the Board of Supervisors agreed, approving my proposal, made together with Supervisor Otto Lee, to increase staffing at Santa Clara County’s Veterans Service Office (VSO), an agency established in 1944 and co-funded by the state and county.
Supervisors push to bridge the gap with mobile dental services for veterans
The Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors voted to augment funding for mobile dental services for the County’s resident veterans as part of the upcoming Fiscal Year 2024-25 Budget. This action was brought forward by County Supervisor Joe Simitian and co-authored by County Supervisor Otto Lee, and looks to provide relief to over 64,000 veterans living in Santa Clara County.
Supervisors add “reinforcements” to County Veterans Services Office
Santa Clara County Veterans Service Office will soon be getting additional Veteran Service Representatives to help connect residents who are veterans with the services and benefits to which they are entitled.
