Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships (CFBNP)Virtual Summit

Thank you, Conrad Washington, for hosting us and for that warm welcome—and thanks to all the Veterans and VA employees who will be joining us over the next couple days.

My thanks as well to Melissa Rogers, Executive Director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. Melissa, it’s an honor to have you join us and reinforce President Biden’s commitment to this critical work.

And, most of all, thanks to all our faith-based and community partners participating today. It’s a privilege to be here with so many great leaders from different faith communities. I couldn’t be more grateful for all you do, and for our partnership serving Vets, their families, caregivers, and survivors.

You know, the work we do at VA is about fulfilling a promise. It’s the promise that our country makes to everyone who signs up to serve in the military, and it’s as simple as it is fundamental. If you fight for us, we’ll fight for you. If you serve us, we’ll serve you. If you care for us, then we’ll care for you when you come home. The thing is, the whole country makes that promise. But it’s our job at VA—with the help of partners like you—to keep that promise.

And, as you’ll hear from VA leaders joining you at this summit, we’re fighting to keep that promise in so many ways. We’re providing world-class care to Veterans. In fact, just last week two academic journals published articles concluding that VA is consistently delivering health outcomes on par or better than the private sector. We’re delivering timely access to the benefits that Veterans have earned—including toxic exposure benefits, educational benefits, survivor benefits, home loans, life insurance, and so much more. And we’re giving Veterans the dignified, lasting resting places that honor their service and sacrifices.

But, as you’ll see throughout the course of the next couple days, we can’t do that great work without your help. Here’s why. One of our top priorities is getting more Veterans into our care. There are about 9 million Veterans enrolled in VA care right now, but there are about 19 million Veterans in America. Among the Vets who do receive their care from VA, approximately 90% trust VA to deliver their care. And we need to build more trust with women Vets, whose trust score is down near 86%, and significantly improve trust with our younger, post-9/11 Vets.  Across the board, the younger the Veterans, the less they trust us.

So, we need to build that trust. We need reach to those folks and bring them into our care, because Vets in VA care do better. And that’s where you can really make a difference. It’s one thing for a Veteran to hear about VA services from us. It’s an entirely different thing for them to hear about VA services from you. Because you are the people in Veterans’ lives and communities every day. You pray with them, work with them, and spend time with them. You are the folks they know and love. You are the folks they trust. So, a recommendation from you can go a long way toward convincing a skeptical Veteran to give VA a try. And doing that, well, it can change their life.

Let me tell you a quick story about a VA chaplain named Robert Allen, out of Milwaukee. Before joining the ministry, Chaplain Allen served as an Army mechanic in Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom, with the elite 101^st Airborne Division Screaming Eagles. And Chaplain Allen comes from a military family—his sister served in the Army and Air Force, while his dad and brother served in the Navy.

So it’s no surprise that he chose VA chaplaincy when he left the Army, to continue serving his brothers- and sisters-in-arms. Chaplain Allen wanted to be someone Vets could turn to, no matter what, particularly to talk about mental health. Chaplain Allen knows that about one-quarter of people struggling with mental health challenges will first seek guidance from clergy, the highest of any group.

Chaplain Allen remembers one Vet in particular. This Vet told him that he’d had some bad experiences at VA, and he was wary of coming back. But this Vet was looking for a community and a connection with other Vets who experienced similar challenges. So, he decided to attend a VA seminar on moral injury that Chaplain Allen was leading. That day, the Vet said, “This is where I’m supposed to be.” The Vet now leads prayer during the group’s weekly Bible study and Sunday morning worship, and his fiancé was baptized in the Milwaukee VA chapel last month.

Most importantly, the Vet is trusting VA again and getting the care he earned, all because he connected with a faith leader he trusted. And that right there—that’s exactly what our partnership is all about. You’ve earned the trust of Vets in the community. And that kind of trust can make all the difference in the world.

Now, you don’t have to be a VA chaplain like Chaplain Allen to partner with us. There are many ways you can support Vets in your community. You can attend events like this, where you’ll hear directly from the experts about all the services VA offers—so you’ll know exactly where to send Veterans in need. You can join the fantastic webinars that Conrad and his team host each month; discussions that tackle issues like suicide prevention, or women’s health, or Veteran homelessness—and explain how you can help Vets in need. You can participate in VA’s Rural Community Clergy Training Program—led by VA chaplains like Chaplain Allen—that equips rural clergy with the tools they need to connect rural Vets to mental health care resources. You can host an event for Veterans in your community and invite VA leaders, connecting them directly with our services. And you can even start a Veterans support group in your organization if you don’t already have one.

However you want to partner, whatever you want to do—please, work with Conrad and his team to do it—because we are always here to help. All I ask is that when that day comes when a Veteran comes to you, struggling, and asks for help, send them to us. We will not let you down. We will not let them down. We will stop at nothing to get Veterans the help they deserve. So, thank you for being here today and for partnering with us every day. It’s an honor to work with you to serve Veterans, their families, caregivers, and survivors as well as they’ve served us. Have a great summit.