 The state has been increasing the amount it spends on veterans'
services in recent years. But the bulk of that money is spent on
older veterans, while many younger soldiers and National Guard
troops are returning to a difficult economy, looking for help with
jobs and training."You'd wipe out a lot of those issues veterans
are running into -- homelessness, unemployment -- if you focus on
education," said Andy Lucido, a former U.S. Army officer in both
Iraq and Afghanistan who took advantage of an Illinois Veterans
Grant after returning and argues that such programs should be
expanded for others.
The Illinois Department of Veterans' Affairs doesn't know for
sure how many veterans of the Iraq and Afghan wars live in the
state, spokesman Louie Pukelis said. But 2010 U.S. Census figures
put the number of Illinoisans who were in the armed forces after
1990 at about 191,000. That's almost double the number of Illinois
vets found in the 2000 census who served after 1990.
With a multibillion-dollar budget deficit, the state has
increased funding of the department 46 percent to $97.74 million a
year since the Sept. 11 attacks, according to state documents
obtained by The Associated Press through the Freedom of Information
Act. But state officials say most of the additional money has been
mandated either by increases in staff pay negotiated in union
contracts or a new state law last year that required more nurses for
nursing home patients.
The vast majority of the money Illinois spends on its veterans --
$82.86 million, or 85 percent -- goes into the state's four
veterans' homes, which serve between 900 and 1,000 former military
personnel.
"I think it's where it ought to be," said Erica Borggren,
director of the Department of Veterans' Affairs, about the financial
emphasis on older veterans. "Those veterans served in World War II
or Korea. That's been a core, defining mission for our agency for a
long time now."
But agency officials envision the number of younger veterans
steadily increasing and believe the state may be in a better
position to handle some of their needs than the federal government,
Borggren said. So, acknowledging the lack of money, they are looking
for solutions that aren't just financial.
"We all know these are tight times and we have to be really
mindful of how we spend our money," Borggren said. "There will be
growing needs."
Illinois generally gets good marks for its handling of veterans'
issues. Derek Blumke, a veteran of the Afghanistan war who helped
found the national advocacy group Student Veterans of America while
a student at the University of Michigan, said many states pay lip
service to veterans' issues, talking a good game while uncertain how
to help younger vets, much less how to pay for that help.
Illinois isn't among them, said Blumke, who as a student was part
of an advisory committee Gov. Pat Quinn put together to provide
feedback on veterans' services.
"With Illinois and a couple of other states, I think they've
created more of a culture," said Blumke, who went to work for the
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs after graduating last year.
"There's been a significant investment in Illinois. But beyond that,
the governor's office and his directors have made it a culture in
the state: 'This is what we're doing.'"
As lieutenant governor, Quinn made a point of attending the
funerals of Illinoisans killed in Afghanistan and Iraq. As governor
he has continued to work with lawmakers to roll out programs
intended to benefit veterans. This month the governor announced a
new home loan program for veterans and eased state police hiring
restrictions for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. He spent a portion
of the Christmas holiday this year visiting wounded U.S. troops in
Germany.
[to top of second column] |
But with a relatively slim $14.88 million of the state Veterans'
Affairs budget in 2011 not spoken for by veterans' homes, the
department at times depends on the generosity of other institutions
to meet younger veterans' needs.
The Illinois Veterans Grant has helped many returning soldiers
like Lucido. The 30-year-old is less than a year away from getting
his MBA from the University of Illinois and has a job lined up with
a consulting firm in Washington, D.C.
But the state hasn't provided enough money to cover the program's
costs in years, and the grant remains a popular choice for Illinois
vets even with improved federal G.I. Bill benefits available in
recent years.
Illinois' public universities cover what the state doesn't pay.
The state's nine public universities spent more than $13 million on
the program in 2008, the most recent year for which a collective
figure was immediately available from the Illinois Student
Assistance Commission.
"Were the schools ever to stop fulfilling the requirements of the
law because of a lack of funding, that would be an issue," Borggren
said.
Illinois also tries to help soldiers suffering from
post-traumatic stress disorder through a new Illinois Warrior
Assistance program, started in 2011. But the Department of Veterans'
Affairs had only $274,000 for the program.
Iraq and Afghanistan veterans have higher unemployment rates than
the general population -- 11.1 percent in November, 2.5 percent
higher than the general population, according to the U.S. Department
of Labor.
To address that, the state is trying to help find companies with
job openings and persuade them to become part of an ongoing effort
to connect veterans with jobs, Borggren said. Employers sometimes
have to be sold on the skills developed in the armed forces --
clerical, mechanical, electronic and computer skills, for instance
-- and how they translate to the civilian world.
"I think the unemployment issue is something that can't really be
fixed at the federal level," Borggren said.
She said public awareness of veterans' needs seems to be strong
right now, something that works in her department's favor as it
looks for ways to serve returning troops. But it may not last.
Victor Smith, a 78-year-old U.S. Navy veteran who works as
legislative director in Illinois for the Veterans of Foreign Wars,
said public attention to veterans' concerns tends to quickly fade.
"When the wars are over, you shove the veterans back in the back
room," he said. "It's going to happen again; it'll fade into the
background."
[Associated Press;
By DAVID MERCER]
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
redistributed.
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