![]() ![]() Regional transportation shortfalls were listed as an access barrier for veterans seeking health care, benefits, and employment in nearly all interviews and working groups.Female veterans in the region face acute obstacles, including difficulty in accessing women’s health care specialists and challenges in finding housing or shelter.According to feedback from interviews and working groups, the Vietnam-era cohort presents the highest amount of need for services. Vietnam-era veterans make up the largest proportion of the DFW region’s overall veteran population.The DFW Metroplex has a large influence on a diverse spectrum of communities, ranging from rural outlying counties like Wise County in the northwest and Hood County in the southwest to urban communities in downtown Dallas and Fort Worth.In 2014, the VA spent nearly $2.5 billion in the region, with major expenditures divided between benefits in the form of compensation and pensions ($1.3 billion), medical care ($844 million), and education and vocational rehabilitation ($292 million).Veterans comprise 8.1 percent of the adult DFW population, making it one of the denser veteran communities in the nation. As aforementioned, the DFW region is home to approximately 386,358 veterans, making up roughly 1.8 percent of the national veteran population. ![]() The research produced a number of observations and conclusions regarding issues facing veterans and military families in the region. The following assessment attempts to answer the following research questions: What is the state of veterans in the DFW region? Where do needs exist among the DFW veteran population? How are the needs of veterans being met in the DFW region? What are the main efforts at meeting the needs of veterans? How does the coordination of existing services take place, and is there a collaborative structure in the region that guides investments, services, and the overall care? 2 This report summarizes research conducted by CNAS researchers between August 2015 and February 2016, using a mixed-methods approach that included qualitative research on regional trends quantitative research using data made public by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the Department of Defense (DOD), and other agencies a targeted survey of veterans in the region and discussion groups with participants representing more than 50 organizations that serve those veterans. The King Foundation and a collaborative of funders commissioned the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) to assess the needs of veterans in the region to assist in planning future philanthropic investment by the Foundation and its partners. This report discusses these issues and makes recommendations for public, private, and nonprofit action to address the issues facing the DFW region’s veteran community. Diverse challenges – access to VA services, economics, housing, transportation issues – face the region’s veterans and the various agencies, nonprofits, and support groups that serve them. However, significant numbers of them also live on the periphery of these urban centers, driven by housing costs and economic opportunity. Within the region, the veteran population is most concentrated in the core urban and suburban areas of Dallas and Fort Worth. Veterans comprise between 5.7 percent (in Dallas County) and 14.6 percent (in Hood County) of each county’s total population, compared with the national average of 6.7 percent. 1 Veterans of all generations reside in this region, including approximately 57,000 post-9/11 veterans. More than 1.6 million veterans call Texas home 386,358, or roughly one-fourth of all veterans statewide, live in the Dallas–Fort Worth (DFW) area. Texas has a rich legacy of military service that continues today in its large and vibrant active-duty and veteran military community. ![]() Renewing the National Security Consensus. ![]()
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