Big Breakthrough on County Veterans Service Officer Funding
County Veterans Service Officers are at work everyday in each Oregon County, assisting veterans with claims for benefits from the Federal Veterans Administration (VA). These claims tend to be complex, and often times veterans face arbitrary delays and unjust denials. Multnomah County's team of County Veterans Service Officers (CVSOs)--like other CVSOs around the state--advocate for veterans' benefit claims, taking on the VA bureaucracy for clients who cannot do so effectively themselves, fighting for every dollar their clients deserve.
While the CVSO program began in 1948, the State of Oregon expanded it in 2005, authorizing additional funding for counties in order to support our veterans returning from Afghanistan and Iraq. The Oregon Department of Veterans Affairs (ODVA) distributes funding to each Oregon county to fund this important work. Although Multnomah County was insufficiently funded in the past, there has been a recent commitment from the ODVA to the Legislative Emergency Board which ensures our County will be appropriately funded beginning July 2009 pending legislative approval of ODVA’s budget.
This is great news for the county and should result in additional funding of approximately $61,000.00 per year for our CVSO program. This additional funding should allow the county to increase staff within the program resulting in more veterans being served.
If you are a veteran or know of a veteran who is unaware of their veterans benefits or needs other help, please contact our local CVSO’s at 503-988-3620 x 25005.
Posted on October 10, 2008
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