The Tennessee Department of Veterans Services has put together what it hopes will be a high-profile hub to help the more than 35,000 veterans in Davidson County.
The group called Nashville Serving Veterans includes representatives from several dozen state and local organizations. It wants to identify who’s doing what to help — from furthering veterans’ education to helping them find jobs and nailing down benefits. It also will identify what resources are missing, says Department of Veterans Services commissioner Many-Bears Grinder.
Grinder, a veteran herself, says there’s no shortage of organizations trying to help, but not many people actually know what’s out there.
“When a veteran has a specific need, it’s very difficult to hook them up with the organization that can provide those services,” she says.
Creating a centralized resource is not a new concept: In Clarksville, the Montgomery County Veterans Coalition is doing something similar and has even started lobbying to change state policy at the Capitol. That was modeled after another coalition near Cleveland, Tenn., according to the Leaf-Chronicle.
In Nashville, a group called VetLinx has already been trying to do the same thing, says vice president Ralph Land. But he says they don’t have the same prominence as this new group.
“It’s just bigger wigs involved, which is fine with me,” he says. “Whatever it’s going to take to help the veterans, I’m for it.”
Those big wigs, as he calls them, include Grinder, who’s co-chairing the whole project. The head of the regional VA health care system is overseeing a subcommittee, and Nashville Mayor Megan Barry is on the board.
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