The State of Innovation: California and Massachusetts Lead Pro-Veteran Efforts DAV Distinguished Speaker Series Examines Changing Veteran Demographics
By: Elaine McArdle
Today’s military veterans face distinct needs and challenges that are just beginning to be understood—and some of the most forward-thinking policies to support them are being developed at the state level, according to the fall 2024 convening of the DAV (Disabled American Veterans) Distinguished Speaker Series at Harvard Law School on October 9.
The event—entitled The State of Innovation—brought together prominent veterans’ leaders from across the country and featured Dr. Jon Santiago, a physician and U.S. Army veteran and reservist who is serving as the first Secretary of the Massachusetts Executive Office of Veterans’ Services, and the Honorable Lindsey Sin, Secretary of the California Department of Veterans Affairs (CalVet) and a U.S. Navy veteran. It was moderated by Coleman Nee, Vice Chair of the DAV Board of Directors, who is a U.S. Marine Corps veteran and also the former Secretary of the Massachusetts Department of Veterans Services.
The Distinguished Speaker Series is sponsored by DAV, the nation’s leading veteran service organization. As Nee noted during the event, DAV assists 1 million veterans each year through its local service offices around the country and its national programming. Among other things, DAV represents veterans in their claims to VA for compensation and healthcare earned by their military service, advocates at the federal and state levels, helps veterans obtain and keep employment, provides free transportation to medical appointments for injured and ill veterans, and offers an array of other resources to veterans and their families. Most recently, Nee described how DAV issued the ground– breaking report Women Veterans: The Journey to Mental Wellness, which examines the staggering rates of suicide among women veterans and makes over 50 policy and legislative recommendations.
Nee also highlighted the DAV Charitable Service Trust’s longstanding partnership with and support of Harvard’s Veterans Legal Clinic, which provides free legal representation to low-income veterans and their families around a host of civil legal needs.
Co-hosted by the Veterans Legal Clinic and the Harvard Law School Armed Forces Association, the October 9th event was the tenth convening of the DAV Distinguished Speaker Series. The Series provides an annual forum at Harvard Law School for public servants and thought leaders to speak on issues of importance to the nation’s veterans. The Series recognizes leading figures in the veterans’ community, raises awareness about the needs of veterans, sparks discussion about the public policies that most impact veterans, particularly those with service-connected disabilities, and serves as a call to action for veterans and non-veterans alike to help ensure the nation honors its commitments to those who have served.
One purpose of the Series is to move from discussion to action, said Daniel Nagin, faculty director of the Veterans Legal Clinic and the WilmerHale Legal Services Center of Harvard Law School. “We are so grateful to have a longstanding partnership with DAV,” Nagin said. Nagin also recognized Sin and Santiago for leading innovative efforts to meet the needs of veterans and providing models for other states.
Sin, Santiago, and Nee highlighted changing demographics, including that the numbers of women, African American, Latino, and LGBTQ+ veterans are growing across the country. And the veteran population is aging: in Massachusetts, for example, the majority of veterans are 65 years or older, with complex health, financial, and social needs. While many people are familiar with federal programs for veterans, including the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), efforts at the state level are less well-known. Yet individual states can serve as “laboratories of democracy,” where innovation and creativity thrive, as U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis once wrote, and in the area of pro-veteran policies, California and Massachusetts are leaders.
With about 1.5 million veterans, California is second only to Texas in the nation in terms of the size of its veterans population, said Sin. Like much of the country, California is experiencing an increase in the number of women veterans and veterans from traditionally marginalized communities, many of whom joined the military seeking educational and job training opportunity. California also has a significant population of LGBTQ+ veterans.
In 2017, the California Transition Assistance Program (CalTAP) was launched to inform and connect all service members transitioning to veteran status of the benefits available to them, said Sin. The program exists on every military base and community college campus in the state and is a major way the state is building relationships with veterans in order to serve them throughout their lives, she said.
Massachusetts has fewer veterans—about 240,000 to 260,000 currently, Santiago said. And the population is less diverse than California’s: 90 percent of Massachusetts veterans are white, and 7.4 percent are women. But the numbers of women veterans and non-white veterans are increasing, “and we need to evolve with that change,” Santiago said.
In March 2023, Massachusetts Governor Maura Healy established a cabinet-level department to focus on the needs of Massachusetts veterans, the Executive Office of Veterans’ Services, and appointed Santiago as its first Secretary. Over the past year, the agency has worked to overhaul operations and existing programs to redefine how veterans are cared for. Like California, it is focusing on engagement, Santiago said, including by strengthening relationships with the veterans service officers who work in every Massachusetts city and town. The agency is also increasing outreach and resources to veterans outside of the Greater Boston area.
Connecting to veterans in rural areas is a challenge in California, too, Sin said, since some may not have reliable Internet access or transportation to important services and supports. For that reason, a strong connection between the state and community-based service providers is critical. “Rural engagement comes down to us working with our partners on the ground in those areas,” she said, including on tribal lands. CalVet recently received a grant from the VA to study suicide among tribal veterans, she added.
The issue of helping veterans with “bad paper discharges”—less-than-honorable discharges—is also a priority in both states. Such status can result from a variety of issues including trauma and mental-health struggles related to service or discrimination such as during the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” era. Too often over time, VA has turned away veterans because of their discharge status when those veterans may have in fact been eligible for federal benefits and care. It is a “cutting-edge issue,” said Santiago. “These are people who often need the most help so we should be making our best efforts to make sure they get care and benefits they deserve.”
In an effort to support more veterans, Massachusetts in August 2024 passed the HERO Act, the most comprehensive legislation for veterans in state history. Among many other provisions, it expanded the definition of veteran to recognize the complex circumstances that can lead to a veteran receiving a less-than-honorable discharge, such as experiences of combat or military sexual trauma, or discrimination on the basis of race or LGBTQ+ identity. (Three LSC students in the Veterans Legal Clinic testified before the Massachusetts Veterans and Federal Affairs Committee in support of that change and a number of others that are included in the final version of the HERO Act.)
“Our hope is to get the word out” so that more veterans get the benefits to which they are entitled, Santiago says. “If you think you’ve been discriminated against at the state level, we hear you, we see you, we want to work with you.” California has also made changes to the definition of veteran so that more can receive benefits, Sin said.
Nee thanked the Secretaries for a “powerful conversation” and for their “forward-thinking” efforts for an “inclusive approach to all our veterans’ services.”
Watch the event recording below.
The DAV Distinguished Speakers Series:
(2014) Robert McDonald, Secretary, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
(2015) Ray Mabus ’75, former U.S. Secretary of the Navy and former Governor of Mississippi
(2016) Hon. Robert Russell, founder of the nation’s first Veterans Treatment Court
(2017) Dr. David Shulkin, Secretary, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs,
(2018) Hon. Robert N. Davis, Chief Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims
(2019) Lieutenant Colonel Shannon McLaughlin, Massachusetts Army National Guard, trailblazing LGBTQ+ rights advocate
(2020) Will Gunn ’86, former General Counsel for the US Department of Veterans Affairs, Delphine Metcalf-Foster, former National Commander of DAV, Barbara Ward, former Director of the VA Center for Minority Veterans, and Christopher Parker, Professor of Political Science, University of Washington, who discussed race, the military, and the veterans community
(Spring 2022) U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Shane Lierman, DAV Deputy National Legislative Director, Le Roy Torres, BurnPits360, and Dr. Anthony Szema, Zucker School of Medicine, Hofstra School of Medicine, who discussed the health crises caused by burn pits and the need for immediate legislative action
(Fall 2022) Sebastian Junger, renowned filmmaker and author, Robert Santiago, Commissioner, City of Boston Veterans’ Services, Phoebe Kotlikoff, Vice President, Harvard Law School Armed Forces Association, and Brian Buckwalter, Communications Associate, DAV, who discussed the costs of the military-civilian divide
(Fall 2024) Dr. Jon Santiago, Secretary, Massachusetts, Executive Office of Veterans Services, Lindsey Sin, Secretary, California Department of Veterans Affairs, and Coleman Nee, Vice-Chairperson, DAV Board of Directors, former Secretary, Massachusetts Department of Veterans Services, who discussed state-level innovations to better serve veterans
About DAV (Disabled American Veterans) Charitable Service Trust
DAV (Disabled American Veterans) Charitable Service Trust is dedicated to one, single purpose: empowering veterans to lead high-quality lives with respect and dignity. To carry out this responsibility, the DAV Charitable Service Trust supports physical and psychological rehabilitation programs; enhances research and mobility for veterans with amputations and spinal cord injuries; benefits aging veterans; aids and shelters homeless veterans; and evaluates and addresses the needs of veterans wounded in recent wars and conflicts. For those of every era, the Trust also supports programs that benefit the caregivers and families of ill and injured veterans. For more than 30 years, the DAV Charitable Service Trust has played a critical role in the support of ill and injured veterans, their families and caregivers as they navigate the challenges of life after combat. Each year, the organization assists thousands of America’s heroes through targeted grant support of charitable initiatives across the nation. For more information, please visit https://cst.dav.org/