VAAC Report September 2016

Airmen toss their rifles in the air while participating in ceremonial drill training at the Air Force Memorial in Arlington, Va., July 26, 2016.

Air National Guard photo by Staff Sergeant Christopher S. Muncy

SEPTEMBER 7, 2016

REPORT TO THE ADVISORY COMMITTEE

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ADVISORY COMMITTEE TO THE OREGON DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS’ AFFAIRS September 7, 2016 ADVISORY COMMITTEE Dennis Guthrie, Chair ....................................................................................... Redmond Tony García, Vice Chair ......................................................................................Portland Kim Douthit, Secretary .....................................................................................Portland John F. Howard ................................................................................................. Medford Mike Jones .......................................................................................................... Ontario Reyn Leno................................................................................................... Grand Ronde Rosy Macias............................................................................................................ Salem Jon Mangis ............................................................................................................. Salem Val Valfre, Jr. ……………………………………….....................................................Forest Grove

ODVA STAFF Cameron Smith .................................................................................................. Director Cody Cox ........................................................ Veteran’s Home Loan Program Manager Martha-Estela Garcia ................................................... Special Assistant to the Director John Haytas..................................................................... Information Services Manager Nicole Hoeft ..........................................................................Communications Manager Mary Jaeger.................................................................. Aging Veteran Services Director John Osborn .......................................................... Facilities and Construction Manager Julie Owens ......................................................................... Human Resources Manager Laurie Skillman ...............................................................................Senior Policy Advisor Bruce Shriver ................................................................................ Chief Financial Officer Mitch Sparks.......................................................... Statewide Veteran Services Director Edward Van Dyke ...................................................................................Deputy Director

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ADVISORY COMMITTEE TO THE OREGON DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS' AFFAIRS Quarterly Meeting Wednesday, September 7, 2016 | 9:30 AM – 12:00 PM Oregon Veterans’ Home | 700 Veterans Dr., The Dalles, OR 97058 AGENDA I.

WELCOME AND ADMINISTRATION • Call to Order – Chair Dennis Guthrie • Pledge of Allegiance – John Howard • Veteran Story – Mike Jones • Swearing in of New Committee Member – Chair Guthrie • Committee Member Introductions – Chair Guthrie • Meeting Rules – Tony García • Audience Introductions • Review and Approval of June 1, 2016 Minutes

II.

ODVA DIRECTOR’S REPORT – Cameron Smith, Director

III.

SUBCOMMITTEES UPDATES – ODVA Staff • Finance – Bruce Shriver • Aging Veteran Services – Mary Jaeger • Legislative Affairs and Policy – Laurie Skillman • Statewide Veteran Services – Joe Glover • Veteran Home Loans – Cody Cox BREAK

IV.

SPEAKER – Carolyn Aldwin, PhD, Oregon State University • Studying Aging Oregon Veterans: A Potential NIH/ NIA Study

V.

OLD BUSINESS ITEMS

VI.

NEW BUSINESS • Proposed Locations for the 2017 Meeting March 1, 2017 – St. Helens, America’s Best / Elks Lodge /Moose Lodge June 7, 2017 – Redmond, TBD September 6, 2017 – Medford, TBD December 6, 2017 – Salem, Anderson Readiness Ctr. / Elks Lodge / VFW • Open for committee members -

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• Next Advisory Committee Quarterly Meeting: Date: Wednesday, December 7, 2016 | Time: 9:30 AM – 12:00 PM Location: Dept. of Public Safety Standards & Training, 4190 Aumsville Hwy, Salem, OR 97317 VII.

PUBLIC COMMENT (Speakers Limited to 3 Minutes) Public comment time is set aside for persons wishing to address the Advisory Committee on agenda matters. Action will not be taken at this meeting on citizen comments. However, the Advisory Committee, after hearing from interested citizens, may place items on a future agenda so proper notice may be given to all interested parties. At the conclusion of the meeting, there will be a Town Hall forum for individuals to bring up broader veteran community issues. Members of the community may also submit written public comments to the Committee at the following email address: vaac@odva.state.or.us

VIII.

BUSINESS MEETING ADJOURNED VETERANS TOWN HALL

CONNECT WITH ODVA

WEBSITE BLOG FACEBOOK TWITTER

www.oregon.gov/odva www.oregondva.com www.facebook.com/odvavet @oregondva or www.twitter.com/OregonDVA

ADVISORY COMMITTEE vaac@odva.state.or.us PUBLIC INFORMATION ODVAinformation@odva.state.or.us SUBMIT AN EVENT www.oregon.gov/odva/INFO/Pages/index.aspx SUBMIT A STORY VetsNews@odva.state.or.us EMAIL SUBSCRIBE ODVA”) VETS NEWS

www.oregon.gov/odva

(Under “Connect with

www.oregon.gov/odva/INFO/Pages/vetsnews.aspx 503-373-2389 LEGISLATIVE BILL DIGEST www.oregon.gov/ODVA/Pages/VetsLeg.aspx

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ADVISORY COMMITTEE TO THE OREGON DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS' AFFAIRS Quarterly Meeting Minutes

Wednesday, June 1, 2016 | 9:30 AM – 12:00 PM Shilo Inn, 2500 Almond St, Klamath Falls, OR 97061 Dennis Guthrie, Advisory Committee Chair, called the meeting to order at 9:30 AM. Pledge of Allegiance by all Introductions: Committee Members: Dennis Guthrie – Vietnam Veteran, 1st Cav Division, 1969-1970, US Army, Redmond Kim Douthit – US Coast Guard, Navy Wife, Portland Tony Garcia – Operation Iraqi Freedom, Judge Advocate ORNG, Portland John Howard – US Navy, Medford Mike Jones – Ontario, US Army, Vietnam Veteran Rosy Macias – US Marine Corps, Salem Jon Mangis – Vietnam Veteran, 22 Years with ORNG, Former ODVA Director, Salem Val Valfre, Jr – US Air Force, Forest Grove Cameron Smith – US Marine Corps, ODVA Director, Portland Swearing in of New Members by Chair Guthrie: John Howard, Rosy Macias, Val Valfre Audience Introductions: Ed Vandyke – US Army, ODVA Director Operations Laurie Skillman – ODVA Policy Advisory Cody Cox – ODVA Home Loan Program Manager Aaron Hunter – ODVA Financial Services Martha-Estela Garcia – US Army, OR Army National Guard, Special Assistant to the Director Mary Jaeger – ODVA Aging Veterans Services Nathaniel Boehme – US Air Force, ODVA LGBTQ Veterans Coordinator Van Moore – Westcare Management, Salem Kelly Odegaard – Westcare Lebanon Veterans Home Administrator Bridgette Maker – US Coast Guard, Disabled American Veterans Jim Price – Vietnam Vet, Marine Corps League Jim Little – US Navy Veteran, Vietnam Veteran, Douglas County VSO Carmen Little – US Navy Spouse of Jim Little Meloni Beauchamp – US Army, Military One Source Jeff Edwards – Lt Col Oregon Air National Guard, 173rd Fighter Wing, Kingsley Field Michael G. Young – US Army, Veterans Enrichment Center, Klamath Falls Randy King – US Army Raymond Keen – US Army

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ADVISORY COMMITTEE TO THE OREGON DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS' AFFAIRS Quarterly Meeting Minutes Continued

Rosalie Keen – Spouse of Raymond Keen Charlie Upton – US Army, Vietnam Vet, Dept. Commander Military Order of Purple Heart Robert Haltiner – US Army, Vietnam Vet, Military Order of Purple Heart José Miranda – US Army, Vietnam Vet, Owner of José’s Trading Post Jay Lilly – US Marine, Vietnam Vet, 1st Marine Division Association Beth Lilly – Spouse of Jay Lilly Charles Pike – US Army, Lake County VSO Michelle Valfre – US Navy Phil Mangis – Son of Jon Mangis ODVA Committee Member James Lindsey – US Navy, Klamath Lake Community Action Andy Smith – US Navy, Association of Oregon Counties Steven Price – US Marine Corps, Marine Corps League Ken Kestner – US Marine Corps, Lake County Board of Commissioners Chair Sharon Jones – American Legion Auxiliary, Ontario OR Paul Skinner – US Marine Corps, Veterans Justice Outreach Kathy Pierce – Klamath County VSO Review and Approval of March 2, 2016 Meeting Minutes – Chair Guthrie asked committee members if they reviewed the March advisory committee meeting minutes and if there were any corrections.

Motion was made to accept the minutes as published. Motion was seconded. Motion was unanimously approved.

Veteran Story: Committee member Kim Douthit shared a story by Sean Davis, Author of The Wax Bullet War that he wrote for a presentation for Memorial Day 2016. It was read as Sean Davis read it.

“Every community in our country was affected by the Civil War; so much so that a year after the day the war ended many towns closed all their shops so people could go place flags and flowers on the graves of their loved ones. Think about how that translates to modern times. Can you think of a day in your lifetime that shut our country down a year after the event occurred?

September 11, 2001, would be most people’s answer. In one day almost 3,000 people were killed, in a country with a population of 285 million. The Civil War lasted four years, and we lost 600,000 people out of a population of only 40 million.

This unofficial holiday would happen in May for years after the Civil War until General John Logan decided to organize an effort and create what they called Decoration Day. Eventually Decoration Day changed to Memorial Day, but since the South saw it as a celebration of a Union victory, not everyone celebrated on the same day. It wasn’t until after World War I, when the United States lost 130,000 servicemen and -women that we really united as a country to give the fourth Monday in May its true meaning.

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In World War II we lost 419,000 servicemen and -women. In fact, the world lost 3 percent of its population in that war. In the Korean War we lost about 54,000 of our best. In Vietnam we lost 59,000 souls, and in the current Iraq and Afghanistan Wars we’ve lost 6,882 so far.

In this last war, I lost a soldier in my squad during a coordinated and violent ambush. He was two feet behind me when he was killed. His name was Eric Scott McKinley, and he was a dear friend. We lost too many from my company: Eric, Kenny Leisten, Dave Weisenburg, Ben Isenberg, Earl Werner, and Taylor Marks. Earl and Taylor were killed on a different tour, but all of these losses really affected me on a level most people can’t understand. I came back from three deployments a different person, so different that I didn’t know who I was, how I was supposed to fit into the world anymore, or even how to really interact with society. I wrote my book The Wax Bullet War about this struggle in my life, a struggle too many veterans share and can relate to.

Memorial Day is a time to mourn and remember those we’ve lost, and I believe that can mean mourning and remembering the pieces of ourselves that we will never get back. I also believe this day reminds us veterans who were fortunate enough to come home that our service hasn’t ended. We made a promise when we raised our hands. We made a promise to our families, our communities, our country, and our gods—the sacrifice of our brothers, sisters, fathers, mothers, sons, and daughters holds us to that promise. I don’t mean the oath of enlistment. The promise we made was to find our true potential, to be leaders, to bring out the best in those around us, to cover down, and to make wherever we are a better place for us being there. That’s what I believe it means to sacrifice what we’ve sacrificed for the greater good.

Too many people equate a veteran with someone who suffers from PTSD. We’ve started to see it in pop culture, TV, movies, even music videos. I worked with State Representatives Julie Parrish and Paul Evans to help put together and promote the Veteran/Lottery Fund Bill. When it was time to testify before the committee that would say yes or no to the bill, we had a room full of veterans of all ages from all wars, but it wasn’t our testimony that convinced the committee to pass the bill. In fact, they didn’t even let us testify. It came down to money (as most of our laws do nowadays). The presenter showed that with an investment of one dollar of the lottery funds we had the potential to get back twenty dollars of federal money. The plan was to hire more veteran service officers with the lottery funds so they could help more veterans get disability percentages from the VA (i.e., federal money), and that money would be spent in Oregon where our veterans live. While I was happy the bill passed and the money would go to veterans issues, I was almost insulted that our government sees veterans, especially combat veterans, as soulbroke heroes who have lost the potential to ever be whole again. In my opinion, they are betting on how messed up we are, rather than how we can positively change the communities we live in. What if they invested in our ideas, in our talents, and our abilities rather than investing in our diseases or injuries?

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I don’t blame them, but somehow we’ve come to a point in our history where we see our veterans as a negative rather than a positive. I’m not saying we need to do away with the disability rating. I understand how many people are using that to live. But I believe we should set aside some of those funds and invest in what our veterans can do.

We need to honor the sacrifice of those we’ve lost as well as their families. But we also need to celebrate our lives. We need to remember our potential. Keep that promise. I want to encourage my fellow veterans: Inspire to those who need it. Do great things in your community. Do great things in your life. Do things you didn’t know you were capable of. Show the people around you that we’re more than soul-broke heroes. Get them to believe it, and in that way, you can make someone who doesn’t think they can go one more day believe it too. Live so the victories in your life are shared by those who aren’t with us anymore. Honor the millions of servicemen and women who died before you, but honor yourself as well. Make your life a monument that will inspire others.”

Director’s Report – Cameron Smith Director Smith thanked Klamath County for hosting the Advisory Committee, mentioning that they had last been there 10 years ago. He also thanked the community for their strong support of the veterans in the area and of the County VSO, Kathy Pierce, the National Guard, and the military family that large in the area. He reminded everyone that Klamath County is a community that steps up for its veterans and military families.

He went over the first ceremony recognizing “Decoration Day” after the Civil War and the fact that for 150 years we have been honoring our warriors having gone before us. Director Smith went on to talk about how we continue to honor their service and sacrifice and in going into our meeting move towards, “How do we continue to strive and move forward to better serve our veterans across the state going forward?”

Director Smith shared the news out from this last February’s session was House Joint Resolution 202, where 1.5% of lottery revenues will be dedicated to the services of veterans and not necessarily just ODVA’s budge, but to the good of serving veterans across the State of Oregon. This was a legislative referral, a unanimous bipartisan vote, across the House and Senate to refer as a ballot initiative. There will be a chance for everyone to vote on it in November. As he further shared on HJR 202, he shared how ODVA’s budget will be built from 10% cuts to 150% increase, depending on passage. His reminder on HJR 202 was that it is going to be up to the veterans’ community to raise their voice and spread the word on HJR 202.

In the 70 year history of ODVA we have had that county and state partnership to meet that outreach to our veterans’ community, with Josephine County being our first couny veteran service office. Never have we had 4 generations of veterans like we do now, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, the Gulf War, Iraq, Afghanistan, plus those have served during peacetime. We’ve had

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34 counties with veterans’ service officers and now for the first time in 35+ years we will have 35 veteran service offices, when Polk County comes on line.

Director Smith closed by letting everyone know that the US Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Secretary Robert McDonald was in state on a Tribal Veterans Tour and that he would be meeting with him later on in the day along with the Confederated Tribes of Grande Ronde, which was why committee member Reyn Leno was not present.

Subcommittee Updates: Included with the briefing packet handed out to committee members and available on the website are quarterly updates from ODVA staff on Financial Services; Veterans Home Loan Program; Legislative Affairs; Statewide Veteran Services; Communications; Conservatorship Program; Oregon Veterans’ Homes in Lebanon and The Dalles; Facilities and Construction for the past quarter. During subcommittee updates, ODVA staff presented their reports to the committee. Additional information is summarized below.

Financial Services – Jon Mangis introduced the first presenter, Aaron Hunter. He then spoke briefly about the Home Loan Program and ODVA in the 80’s and 90’s. Aaron Hunter presented the financial report and spoke about the Loan Program first. He spoke about how the Loan Program shows a loss, but really it is what finances the other programs at ODVA, such as the Veterans Services or claims section, back office is handled by the Loan Program.

Veterans Homes: Made $300,000 of profit ytd. Census 140 in The Dalles, 131 in Lebanon.

We are on a 2 year budget cycle. Lottery money will be a major contributor, without HJR 202 we will be looking at reductions.

Questions asked by committee member Tony García were about the grant money being significantly lower in which Mr. Hunter explained was due to the one time grants received in 2015 for standing up the Lebanon home, not due to operating the home. He also asked if under a scenario of no grant money would the veterans operate at a loss or profit in which Mr. Hunter explained that the Veterans Homes had just started to break even and as the Lebanon Home continued to fill up the and The Dalles stayed at a high with a 140 census, we would be profitable. Mr. Garcia asked about the capacity of the Lebanon Home, which is 154 beds, house of 150, 154 being full.

Committee member, Val Valfre, asked about the second half of 2016. He asked if looking forward ODVA was looking at an improvement in the decrease in the Home Loan Program. Mr. Hunter responded by letting him know that the March 31 quarterly numbers and loan program actually increased its loss because of the subsidization of the other programs. At the next meeting there will be a number closer to that of 2.5 million dollars loss for the loan program and a 1.1 million increase for the home program.

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Kim Douthit, committee member, had questions about the “Lottery Bill” HJR 202. She asked the spending plans. Is ODVA planning to maintain staffing in the department and then move forward or is there any other plans for those monies? Mr. Hunter went through how ODVA has been developing various budget proposals based on the bill passing and not passing. Director Smith mentioned that often there hasn’t been a lot of new resources that could go to anything new, so in the past ODVA heavily leveraged historic programs, funding off of the Home Loan Program, but any color of money whether lottery or general fund, is always a good avenue to better support our County VSO’s at the local level. Klamath County for example has stepped up significantly with a property tax to help at the local level. That statewide support to County VSO’s being a big chunk of the opportunity, programs at ODVA is another third, and what it would look like to have funds to our partner organizations, community colleges, housing efforts, mental health efforts knowing that it isn’t solely going to be ODVA, County VSO’s, or Fed VA that makes veterans thrive. Director Smith went back on “How do we better support service organizations and other partners with some of this funding?” The vision that has begun to percolate is kind of a broad a third, a third, a third.

Mr. Mangis reminded all to spread the word on HJR 202 through their service organizations / the press.

Aging Veterans Services – Mr. Mike Jones then introduced the Aging Veterans Program Director, Mary Jaeger. Mary Jaeger gave a brief overview of her past experiences in working with the elderly in Human Services and her 1st year of work at ODVA as the Aging Veterans Services Director. She also went over the sections within the Aging Veterans Department in ODVA, the two Veterans Homes (The Dalles and Lebanon), and Conservatorship which helps people manage their finances at the direction of the court. The Conservatorship program is like a third nursing home, serving not only veterans, but 16 spouses and children of veterans. It prevents institutionalization of those veterans, spouses, and kids by helping them hang on at home or wherever they live. The team does very involved case management, not necessarily the easiest cases or veterans to assist. Her huge insight after a year is that ODVA is the department of Veteran Advocates and have been widely received by the Human Services Legislatures in helping share the story of the agency which is the story of Oregon’s Veterans.

She also shared about the upcoming briefing for aging professionals, on aging veteran benefits.

One question asked by an audience member was in reference to Conservatorship. The question was which children and spouses were being assisted by conservatorship, the children and spouses of WWII veterans or everyone? Ms. Jaeger did let him know that it is everybody, but specifically at this time that they are dealing with the children of WWII veterans. The other question was if conservatorship was the same as welfare and if we were teaching these children how to be dependent on the system, in which we are not. What conservatorship IS doing is supporting these children with their own benefits so that they do NOT have to go into an institution or be on welfare. These particular kids are kids with many, many healthcare and

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emotional issues, such Downs Syndrome or any other combination of issues, that without the agency they would be in a kid’s nursing home, in a residential setting. They required the assistance of their parents and when the parents were gone, relatives took them in and the Federal VA assigned their benefits to ODVA to manage for them.

Committee member, Rosy Macías, had question on entrance to the Oregon Veterans’ Homes.

She asked how one got entrance into the homes, which Ms. Jaeger responded by letting her know that it is the same requirements as for any other skilled nursing home in the state of Oregon, plus having been Honorably Discharged and meeting 3 of the 5 daily living criteria that the Federal VA has put on the homes. Ms. Macías asked for clarification on the residents of the homes, that it wasn’t necessarily for veterans who were looking for housing and that for conservatorship it wasn’t just for veterans who needed financial assistance in which Ms. Jaeger clarified that conservatorship clients live anywhere but the Homes and that it is up to the direction of the Federal VA or local courts, sometimes a combination of both to assign the case to Conservatorship. Ms. Jaeger let Ms. Macías know that she could help her to bring the attention of the Federal VA or the courts if she had a client that needed assistance. John Howard, committee member, also mentioned that there is a lower level of legal conservatorship; there is a payee status where the VA will say this veteran is unable to handle their own finances and a payee will be assigned.

Ms. Jaeger commented on a current story of a private conservator / payee who was put in jail this week for 4 years for abusing the finances, largely, of veterans that she was serving. She will serve her sentence in Washington County. It reinforces why this service that ODVA provides is very important and that we are hoping that the legislature will underscore that importance by giving us some more opportunities to help other veterans. Without ODVA’s conservator program, some veterans would be in nursing homes, assisted living, adult foster homes, some other setting that would be costing the state money. It is a tremendous service that the ODVA Conservatorship team does for these veterans and their families. Ms. Jaeger closed by thanking Klamath County for their excellent work.

Discussion was also had in reference to Klamath County being in the running for having a Veterans Home built, but still have not made it. They had even had land donated. Having a clinic in their area was also of discussion. The fact that they have to go to the Medford Clinic during winter is extremely difficult due to the weather. The veterans in Klamath County would very much like to get some kind of an “upgrade” there in reference to a clinic. Mr. Mangis provided clarity on the selection process for the public, as he was on the selection panel.

Legislation, Administrative Rules and Agency Policy - Laurie Skillman then gave a brief overview of the Policies/ Bills, which are listed in the handout. She gave an overview of the Incarcerated Veterans Taskforce who will report to the Legislature all of their findings. They are looking at incarcerated veterans and the services they need. She also shared that ODVA has a new

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Woman’s Veterans Coordinator, Elizabeth Estabrooks and a new LGBTQ Veterans Coordinator, Nathaniel Boehme. The two positions were implemented from legislation and that ODVA has contracted with a research group to conduct a study on the utilizations and access to health care for women veterans in Oregon. Ms. Skillman went over that Senate Bill 1524 was signed into law, effective January 2017. It did away with the yearly requirement to get a doctor’s note to renew the medical marijuana card for service connected, stable veterans. She also went over the language in House Joint Resolution 202.

In reference to HJR 202, the Lottery Bill, questions were asked by Tony García. He asked if a Yes vote would alter the education and economic development level to which Ms. Skillman replied by letting all know that around one third of the pot of lottery funds is dedicated and MUST go to their designated areas, while another pot is not dedicated, but constitutionally lottery funds must be spent on education or economic development so in fact that no it will not alter the education and economic development level. Mr. García also asked what was on the agenda for 2017. Director Smith went over that the very interesting part is that we have very broad authority to do what we need to do. Often the conversation becomes more the ways and means to deal with our budget. ODVA could do almost anything under the current statutes to better serve veterans, we’ve been brain storming how to better serve Tribal Veterans as a legislative concept, and how do we get better access to health care as a legislative concept, to raise the visibility of the mission out of emerging legislation, out of some of the task forces.

Statewide Veterans Services – Kim Douthit introduced Ed Vandyke, who is the Director of Operations for ODVA, speaking on behalf of Mitch Sparks, Director of Statewide Veterans Services.

Mr. Vandyke gave some highlights from the department. He relayed that Mr. Sparks recently gave a presentation to the Oregon Medical Marijuana program in regards to the new legislation that passed. He made a connection to USDVA and the Oregon Corrections Department to fast track presumption of benefits for recently released incarcerated veterans. He and Mr. Vandyke have working with DHS in reference to a program called PARIS, there is a memorandum of understanding, which allows DHS and ODVA to recognize veterans that may be entitled to benefits who are not on currently on them. This will take effect in July. Mr. Sparks, Ms. Skillman, and Mr. Vandyke have also been working closely with the Women’s Health Study.

The Salem office reviewed 673 interviews 187 claims filed in the 4th quarter, the Portland office main focus is appeals issues. Fourth quarter 4118 reviews, 161 hearings (decision review officer hearing, travel board hearing for Washington DC), 9 appeals (This number means that the CVSO’s are doing an excellent job. They are finding the appeal, finding the error and submitting the appeals and ODVA is not having to do them) Training is being conducted throughout the state, by Gus Bedwell and Dave Cooley. Mr. Bedwell has been conducting 1 day regional training throughout the state; one on one site visits, and also participated in a round table

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conversation in protecting veterans from fraud with Air and Army Guard. Women Veterans Coordinator is going around the state doing information gathering. Emergency Grants in the 3rd quarter, there were 28 applicants, 14 approved from Emergency assistance grant for a total of $13,421.00. The average grant was $915.00 mostly used for mortgage, rent, or utility.

Highly rural transportation grant Jan – Mar 2937.65 hours expended on medical trips, 1564 trips completed, 82,8929 miles driven, for 292 vets.

Ms. Macías asked how the Highly Rural Transportation Grant works. Mr. Vandyke explained that these are pass through monies that get managed by the counties, some by the CVSO, county professional, the information is spread by word of mouth / medical professionals. Ms. Macías also asked if ODVA had a list of the counties that have these grants, at which ODVA does. Mr. Mangis asked about Salem interview’s vs. claims, which was explained as not all interview lead to claims. They can informational only. Mr. Valfre asked if the emergency assistance fund was approved at the local level, which it is approved at the state level by Mr. Mitch Sparks, but often bubbles up from the county.

Home Loans – Cody Cox gave a brief history of the Home Loans. In March 1945 the first Home Loan was funded, since then over $8 billion has been funded in home loans to Oregon veterans and served about over 350, 000 veterans during that timeframe. The Oregon Veterans Home loan program is the longest continuous running home loan program in the State of Oregon.

He then went over how ODVA is now a Fannie Mae type lender. On a conventional loan ODVA writes things on a trustee that allows us to do a judicial foreclosure, in which very few are done.

Due to the consolidation that took place 8-9 years ago, ODVA no longer has loan agents around the state; no longer have that outreach to the market place around the state. Now loans come to us through third party originators which in turn ODVA builds relationships with a lot of mortgage brokers, with mortgage bankers from some of the larger banks and either have them submit the loan to us on a broker level where we underwrite the loan and fund the loan in our name or we have some of the larger banks who underwrite and fund the loans in their name and ODVA purchases the loan from them in a closed loan scenario, called our vendor loan.

Mr. Cox explained how in the mortgage lending business there are about 4 different lending channels - internet, retail, wholesale, and correspondent. ODVA has offered two of those into the market place. He spoke of the biggest struggles being trying to penetrate the market place to make people aware that the loan program is still around and viable. He also explained how the interest rate is spread between what we purchase bonds for and what we lend it back out for, which creates the majority of our operating revenue for the agency, not just the home loan program. So when there is talk of a deficit, it is because there are a lot of systems and departments that get funded by the home loans program.

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For the first quarter of 2016 unit numbers were up, but our dollar value was about $1 million less than last year. 2015 was a record; we funded just under $73 million that was the most since 1997. We are trying to repeat that, but volume is down. One of the stats from the Oregonian is that there is 1.4 months of inventory in Portland, Oregon in the tri-county area, that means that if no one put their house on the market today that whole inventory would be liquidated in less than a month and half, because of that, the Oregonian article also states that prices are escalating. The average sale price is $397,000 dollars and the medium income is $350,000 so it’s a good time to sell your house, but if you sell it, where are you going to move to? Everywhere I go the conversation is around the housing shortage. There are lot of qualified buyers, but the houses that get sold are after about 13-15 different offers on the same house, so there is major competition. What that does to us is it slows down our loans.

Second thing to talk about, when we purchase the money on the bonds or sell those bonds and lend those back out, that difference is what funds the majority of the organization, my goal is to increase that servicing portfolio. Between this period, end of the first quarter, this year vs. last year, our servicing portfolio did increase by $30 million, a little over 12.5% we are increasing the portfolio.

Third thing, delinquency numbers, at one time ODVA had a very high delinquency rate, but that is not the case right now. At this time ODVA owns 2 loans, which are SOP’s, State Owned Properties, one of those is going to close, we sold it on a 4 year lease option and she is exercising her option, a property in Oakridge and it is closing in 15 days. Another one in Sheridan will have a tenant, which will at least give us some revenue. There are a couple others in the pipeline, as far as foreclosures; one is Seaside and Pilot Rock. The Home Loans Program does really good on our collection and delinquency efforts; because we are mandated by the constitution to do everything we can to avoid foreclosure. Our folks are very adept at finding solutions to help that veteran stay in that house.

He closed by saying that he would like to go out and speak to groups/organizations to help get the word out on our program and that we have a distinct program different from the federal program.

Kingsley Field, Oregon Air National Guard Update: Col Jeff Edwards, 173 FW Operations Group Commander Col Edwards first thanked the audience and committee members for their service and the service of their family members. He then gave an overview of what Kingsley Field does. They have 32 airplanes, we teach F-15 pilots how to fly this jet, we put through about 60 students per year with about 28 of those students being brand new pilots, fresh out of school. They go through a 6 month course. The other half are going through refresher training. We are the only F-15C school house in the nation.

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He went over the mission for Kingsley Field: To produce the best air-to-air combat pilots, intelligence specialist, and healthcare professionals while providing our nation and state fully trained airmen ready to deploy for AEF and Homeland Operations. (Federal and State missions) He went over why Oregon is a great place to train. Oregon has the capacity to train like we do, big training air spaces in the state and fairly low demand on them, we have a large capacity to grow. We have the largest collections of air power in the Western United States; with 32 jets sitting on the ramp right now with drones we have 38 airplanes.

Col Edwards went over how the National Guard is different from the Active Duty. How National Guard builds and develops those community partnerships. They engage with the community and try to give back with different programs.

Veterans Justice Outreach Program: Paul Skinner and County VSO Kathy Pierce Klamath County had the first Veterans Treatment Court in the state of Oregon. In April 2009 a mandate was issued for all medical centers to have a Veterans Justice Outreach. Mr. Skinner reviewed some of the statistics from the Bureaus of Justice. The Veteran Justice Outreach Coordinator connects eligible veterans with VA services and ineligible veterans with county services officers to possibly have a claim or have a character of service upgrade.

There are 3 focus areas: Courts, Law Enforcement Education, and Jail Outreach. VJO involvement reaches Klamath County, Jackson County, Josephine County, Klamath County, Lane County and Marion County. Paul went over Telehealth Court, which is very much like Skyping with the judge.

Veterans court to leads to a comradery, brotherhood, where they work with one and other and like alcohol and drug recovery in which you have a sponsor, you have a court mentor who are veteran volunteers from the community. Since its launch there have been 75 veterans admitted, 7 peer mentors, 52 graduates, 6 terminated, 1 deceased (auto accident traveling from Klamath Falls to White City – DAV van overturned in winter weather), 13 current participants, 2 courtesy supervisions, and 1 voluntary withdrawal. This is an 18 month program and gives them the ability to have a felony taken off their record, but only that they are able to get help for their alcohol/drug issue, TBI and or PTSD issue. Age range is 22 – 70 years old.

Most Measure 11 crimes do not qualify for Veterans Court. Klamath County has only had 3 repeat offenders.

Law Enforcement training on PTSD and TBI is also provided. Education is a big part of the program.

Old business: • Draft of the Annual Report will come out in August and submitted after Labor Day. • Proposed meetings for 2017: o March 1, 2017 – St. Helens, Columbia County

15

ADVISORY COMMITTEE TO THE OREGON DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS' AFFAIRS Quarterly Meeting Minutes Continued

o June 7, 2017 – Redmond, Deschutes County o September 6, 2017 – Medford, Jackson County o December 6, 2017 – Salem, Marion County Motion made to accept dates and locations by Mike Jones, motion was seconded. Motion accepted.

New Business: • Officer nominations and elections: o Mike Jones nominated Dennis Guthrie to remain as Chair, Tony García as Vice Chair and Kim Douthit as Secretary. Jon Mangis seconded that nomination.

Nominations accepted.

• Subcommittee discussion: o Mike Jones given option as to what committee he wanted to chair, chose Home Loans and Tony García went to Aging Veteran Service.

• Next Meeting: o Wednesday, September 7, 2016 | Time 8:30 -12:00 Location: Oregon Veteran’s Home, 700 Veteran’s Drive, The Dalles OR 97058 Questions/Discussion from Audience: • Homelessness: A lot of money is being put into treatment aspect of the problem for veterans, but is there funds that will allocated to the provision side, where we could provide counties with affordable housing for veterans to get into? o Ed VanDyke discussed strategy on getting homeless vets into housing and maximizing the vouchers issued.

• How or can we use bank owned homes? o If there is Federal financing involved, then that may be an avenue to use those homes. Nathaniel, whose background is working with homelessness, offered his services in brainstorming and sharing groups that can help with homelessness.

Consensus from the group was it comes down to vets helping vets.

•

The Oregon National Guard will pay for membership into the Purple Heart

•

Eagle Landing, new facility on VA ground in Roseburg, the community is concerned because there are non-veterans housed at that facility. The community is not happy with that and wants to have only veterans housed at that apartment complex; they asked that the Advisory Committee along with ODVA be stewards of the public’s money so that only veterans can be housed there.

Chair Guthrie adjourned the meeting at 12:30.

16

DIRECTOR’S REPORT

Cameron Smith, Director ODVA This summer, I have been fortunate to connect with many of the members and leaders of our veteran community at the annual conventions of National Service Organizations. The connections are invaluable to hear where we are succeeding and where we have opportunities to improve services for Oregon’s veterans.

The veterans’ community has closely followed House Joint Resolution 202 – which is now officially Measure 96 – and would dedicate 1.5% of lottery revenues to serve Oregon’s veterans. Measure 96 will be on the ballot in November for Oregonians to decide.

As part of our agency request budget through the Governor’s Office, we will present a range of options from how to best minimize impacts of any budget reductions to how we would recommend spending any new resources. Whether our budget is flat, down or up, our strategic direction remains the same.

Our first priority area is to continue to target veteran services to ensure a robust statewide network of advocates to help veterans access their earned benefits. The second priority area is to strengthen and sustain existing state veteran benefits administered by ODVA such as the home loan program and veterans’ homes. The third priority area is to continue to mobilize partnerships to better serve veterans for their health, education and economic opportunity. We particularly emphasize partnerships to better support student veterans on campus, ensure all veterans access to health and mental health resources, and prevent veterans’ homelessness.

The input from the Advisory Committee is essential to connecting us to the veterans’ community and shaping our priorities. Your advice and counsel also help inform how we implement on our strategies. I encourage you to review the individual program’s quarterly updates that follow and keep your ideas coming for how we can better serve Oregon’s veterans.

And with a heavy heart, I also want to note the passing of Mr. Al Herrera, a past Chair of the Advisory Committee. Al passed away on June 1st this year and we lost a great friend and a tremendous champion for Oregon’s veterans. His humility and passion for service made him the consummate veterans’ advocate. Al will be missed, but our memories of him will continue to provide great inspiration for our shared efforts for Oregon’s veterans going forward.

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FINANCIAL SERVICES DIVISION

Bruce Shriver, Chief Financial Officer Department Requested Budget for the 2017-2019 Biennium The Department submitted its 2017-2019 Agency Request Budget (ARB) to the Department of Administrative Services (DAS) on August 1st, 2016 for their review and analysis. Upon completion of their review of the Department’s budget request, DAS will make their recommendations on the Department’s proposed budget to the Governor’s office for their consideration. The Governor’s Office and DAS will ultimately determine the Department’s budgetary request for the State Legislature’s consideration and incorporate it, as well as other state agency budgets, into the 2017-2019 Governor’s Budget which will be released in early December 2016.

For comparative purposes, the Department’s 2017-2019 ARB is shown below along with the Department’s 2015-2017 Legislative Adopted Budget (LAB). The most significant difference between the two budgets is in the Veterans’ Services Program area, reflecting additional funding requested for aging veteran services, county veteran service offices, national service organizations, partnerships and program funding alignments.

Unaudited Quarterly Financial Statements The March 31, 2016 unaudited quarterly annual financial statements show an overall decrease in net position in the Veterans’ Loan Program of approximately ($2.7) million for the first nine months of fiscal year 2016. The same period for the prior fiscal year showed an overall decrease in net position of approximately ($1.2) million. These current fiscal year reductions are primarily attributable to increased debt related expenses, operational costs, claims expense from loan cancellation life insurance, as well as the on-going subsidization of veteran services activities.

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FINANCIAL SERVICES DIVISION Continued The Veterans’ Home Program unaudited quarterly financial statements show an overall increase in net position of approximately $1.1 million for the first nine months of fiscal year 2016, compared to an increase in net position of approximately $2.4 million for the same period of the prior fiscal year.

Included in these figures were transfers and capital contributions into the Veterans’ Home Program from the Veterans’ Home Trust Fund and federal grant monies which totaled approximately $0.3 million and $4.4 million respectively in fiscal years 2016 and 2015.

The Changes in Net Position for both the Veterans’ Loan Program and Veterans’ Home Program are shown in comparative form on the graph below.

Other Financial Services Division Activities: Over the past several months, the Financial Services team also worked on contracting & procurement efforts, processed federal grant reimbursements, worked on fiscal year 2016 financial reports, worked on arbitrage rebate calculations, started on the annual long term cash flow forecast on the Loan Program, conducted other post-issuance bond compliance activities, exercised early bond redemptions, worked on the preparation of the Department’s 2017-2019 Agency Request Budget and legislative concepts, worked with ODVA’s outside auditors on financial audits and risk assessments, and performed other related financial activities as needed.

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AGING VETERANS’ SERVICES Mary Jaeger, Director

On June 9th, 2016 ODVA, in conjunction with Oregon Gerontological Association, hosted an event at the ODVA auditorium to provide information regarding benefits for and concerns facing aging veterans in Oregon. This event was a huge success. A total of sixty-four people from other state and federal agencies, service providers, non-profits, long-term care facilities, the university system, and the general public were in attendance.

Conservatorship - Kelly Breshears, Manager Conservatorship Demographics Residence type 4

16

Nursing Home 43

Residential Care Facility Adult Foster Home

32

1

4

Assisted Living Facility 4

29

Pay Source

8

Private Pay 9

Medicaid

42

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AGING VETERANS’ SERVICES Continued Representative Payee Demographics

Pay Source 8

Private Pay 18

Medicaid VA Nursing Home Contract/ VA Per Diem

59

Residence type 1 5

Homeless

18

Nursing Home 37

13

Residential Care Facility Adult Foster Home

12 3

5

Assisted Living Facility Room & Board Facility

14 15

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AGING VETERANS’ SERVICES Continued Oregon Veterans’ Home, Lebanon - Jeremy Woodall, Program Director Story of Honor

The Walk Out: We believe in honoring our veterans and their family from the first inquiry and start of the admission process, through their entire stay at the OVHL; even after their departure, whether that’s a discharge to their residence or the veteran passes away. For those who pass away while at the Home (to date we have had 87 veterans or their spouse passed away), one final step of honoring them is our Walk Out. Our Walk Out looks like this… A procession is led out of the veteran resident’s room consisting of the flagdraped veteran, the Honor Guard from Post 51, our volunteer Chaplain, and the family. The procession makes its way through the halls of the house and outside to the waiting van from the funeral home. Veteran residents, staff, and volunteers line the hallways to pay their respects. Those lining the halls follow outside and stand while the procession comes to a stop and the Honor Guard folds the flag. Sometimes families will pray, one family sang a song. The funeral home representative then loads the veteran into the van.

Now admitting OIF/OEF veterans

It is shared often that ODVA is serving veterans from four generations and five war-time periods. This is reflected at the OVHL as well. At the end of the day, we are a long-term care facility providing nursing home level care for those who meet eligibility criteria. The need for nursing home level care is not discriminatory to any particular war period or age group. Nursing home level care has typically been needed to care for our aging population however recently it has unfortunately been needed to provide care for younger veterans as well. In May of this year the OVHL admitted its first OIF/OEF veteran. Since that time we have admitted one other veteran from this war-time era. We are working to prepare for the unique care that this younger generation will need.

OVHL Demographics

Service Period 9

22 30

WWII Korea Vietnam Peace Time Gulf War OIF/OEF

46 34

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AGING VETERANS’ SERVICES Continued

Branch of Service

Air Force Army Coast Guard Marine Navy Spouse

Oregon Veterans’ Home, The Dalles - Dallas Swafford, Program Director

The Oregon Department of Veterans Affairs, along with our partners at the Veterans Care Centers of Oregon, put a strong emphasis on ensuring the Oregon Veterans’ Home in The Dalles remains a state of the art skilled nursing facility that provides the highest quality of care and life for the veterans we serve. As the infrastructure at the home ages and the veteran demographics continue to change it is imperative we collectively look at what needs to be enhanced or renovated to continue providing the highest standard of care and quality of living for the veterans and the spouses of veterans who call Oregon Veterans’ Home their home.

In recent years we have made updates such as providing all resident rooms with their own individual televisions and multichannel cable, a multi-sensory therapy room, improved outdoor patio areas and what has likely been the biggest project to date, the Stan and Jean Adams Community Center.

The next step of what we hope is many projects to continue to update the infrastructure at the Home is a complete remodel of the kitchen. One of the primary reasons for the remodel is to retrofit the kitchen to more easily accommodate the new model the dietary staff is implementing. In the past the more traditional serve out to resident veterans and spouses at the Home in The Dalles has been based on a traditional cafeteria style serve out. More and more we have heard residents vocalizing their wishes for a broader choice in the variety of foods they are served and to be able to make the choice meal to meal.

Knowing choice in food is major factor for quality of life for all of us, the management and dietary staff at the home have worked diligently to make the changes needed to ensure those who call the Oregon Veterans’ Home in The Dalles their home have more of say and a bigger variety in their daily meals. The remodel and retrofitting of the kitchen will be a major step in accommodating the new dietary model.

This is one project that will ensure we remain a state of the art facility that provides highest quality of life possible for the resident veterans and spouses who live at the Home in The Dalles.

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LEGISLATION, ADMINISTRATIVE RULES AND AGENCY POLICY Laurie Skillman

Legislative Days: September and December 2016

The Oregon Legislative Committees will have “Legislative Days” September 21-23 and December 1214, 2016. During this time, the report of the Task Force on Incarcerated Veterans and the Study on Women Veteran Access to Health Care will be presented to committees. ODVA will also provide updates on the agency and legislation implemented.

FAST FACTS ON LEGISLATIVE DAYS: Since Oregon adopted annual sessions in 2010, the Legislature meets for a maximum of 160 days in odd numbered years and 35 days in even numbered years (“Legislative Session”). The period of time between sessions is the “interim.”

When the Legislature meets during the interim, they are called "Legislative Days," which occur approximately every eight weeks and last for three or four days. Committees may hold informational hearings on topics that could lead to legislation, hear updates on implementations of past legislation, hear reports from state agencies and Task Forces, and keep current on the subject areas. Legislation is not passed during the interim.

Ballot Measure 96 (HJR 202)

House Joint Resolution 202 (“HJR 202”), a proposed amendment to the Oregon Constitution that would require 1.5% of state lottery funds to be dedicated for the benefit of veterans, passed unanimously out of the House and Senate in 2016. Constitutional amendments require a referral to Oregon voters, and the proposed amendment will be on the November 8, 2016 ballot. To pass, a majority of voters must vote in favor of the measure. On August 5, 2016, the Secretary of State assigned “Ballot Measure 96” to the proposed amendment.

CERTIFIED LANGUAGE FOR BALLOT MEASURE 96 Ballot title: Amends Constitution: Dedicates 1.5% of state lottery net proceeds to funding support services for Oregon veterans “Yes” Statement: “Yes” vote dedicates 1.5% of state lottery net proceeds to fund veterans’ services, including assistance with employment, education, housing, and physical/mental health care.

“No Statement”: “No” vote retains current list of authorized purposes for spending state lottery net proceeds; keeps lottery funding for education and economic development at current levels.

ODVA Proposed Legislation for 2017

ODVA is proposing three legislative concepts that are currently being drafted by Legislative Counsel for the Governor’s consideration.

Home Loans: This legislative concept is a technical amendment to the veteran home loan statutes to make statutory requirements consistent with 2015 legislation.

Tribal Veterans: This legislative concept recognizes and honors the service and sacrifice of Native American veterans and provides statutory authority for ODVA to assist Oregon Indian Tribes in their programs of service to veterans and accredit Tribal Veteran Service Representatives.

Health Care Navigation: This legislative concept recognizes the challenges and barriers to accessing and utilizing health care and mental health care from the United Stated Department of Veterans Affairs, state, and local community resources, and authorizes ODVA to provide statewide expertise, advocacy, and assistance in navigating the complex health care systems for veterans.

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STATEWIDE VETERAN SERVICES Mitch Sparks, Director

During the fourth quarter, Statewide Veteran Services has been pursuing interagency connectivity, to ensure all Oregon veterans have access to earned benefits and efforts among agencies are not duplicated.

• • •

Attended the National Congress of American Indians Mid-Year Conference tribal consultation meeting to determine the top 5 priorities for native veteran’s needs Attended two My VA Cascadia meetings Hosted and provided training for regional TVR’s for Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Oklahoma PROGRAMS

Statewide Veterans’ Services, Salem Office—Joe Glover, Manager

Providing direct service to veterans, dependents, and survivors for Marion and Polk Counties 1000

831

800

654

633

623

600 400 200

226

209

175

175

0 First Quarter, 2015-16

Second Quarter, 2015-16 Interviews

Third Quarter 2015-16

Fourth Quarter 2015-16

Claims Filed

Statewide Veterans’ Services, Portland Office—Martin Ornelas, Manager

Supporting County Veterans Service Officers through quality assurance and appellate representation, as well as interoperability with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Portland Regional Office 4500 4000 3500 3000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 0

3,922

3,898

180 160 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0

3,380

2,399

First Quarter 2015-16

Second Quarter 2015-16

Third Quarter 2015-16

Fourth Quarter 2015-16

154

5 First Quarter 2015-16

Quality Assurance (Rating Board and File Reviews)

128

123

101

13 Second Quarter 2015-16

9 Third Quarter 2015-16

Representation at Hearings

27

18 Fourth Quarter 2015-16

Appeals Filed

STATEWIDE VETERAN SERVICES Mitch Sparks, Director

Training Certification and Outreach—Gus Bedwell and Dave Cooley, Program Analysts

Mr. Bedwell led regional training for the Eastern Oregon Region; co-facilitated and led training for a Tribal Veteran Representative Conference on the Umatilla reservation; co-presented aging veteran benefits for social workers and human service workers for various state organizations; created and presented training for VA Education Coordinators at universities and community colleges; conducted two five-day Introductory VSO Training sessions; and participated in an internal VA TBI training. Mr. Cooley provided Training and Assistance onsite visits to Gilliam, Hood River, Lake, Malheur, Morrow, Sherman, Union, Umatilla, Wallowa, and Wasco counties.

Women Veterans Coordinator—Liz Estabrooks, Program Analyst

Ms. Estabrooks traveled to 9 counties this quarter, where she conducted 8 listening sessions (for a total of over 50 women veterans); gave 6 presentations to community partner groups (connecting with over 100 community partners); met with 6 elected officials; staffed an informational table at 2 resource fairs; did three interviews (2 radio and 1 newspaper), and connected with 8 VA representatives. She also made direct contact with 26 community partners, including representatives from universities/community colleges. She held two trainings for over 200 attendees, focusing on increasing awareness of the presence of women veterans in Oregon, their issues, needs, challenges, and barriers; and how community partners can improve their services to veterans through identification of and appropriate outreach and services to women veterans. These were held at the Oregon Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence Conference and a monthly Cedar Hills Hospital mental health provider training.

Liz also worked closely with The Rede Group to design the questions for the Women’s Health Study and to increase participation in the study. Liz has advocated on behalf of 8 women veterans to help them with benefits or service issues. Her direct contact with veterans has helped her in preliminary identification of the major obstacles and challenges facing women veterans, allowing her to begin designing – in collaboration with partners from two counties (Multnomah and Josephine) educational summits for providers and partners.

LGBTQ Veteran Coordinator—Nathaniel Boehme, Program Analyst

On May 16th, ODVA saw the addition of an LGBTQ Veterans Coordinator; the first in Oregon, and the first government-funded position of its kind in the nation. Nathaniel Boehme (a gay veteran himself) came from Los Angeles to take on this role where he’d been working with veterans experiencing homelessness. Already in the short month-and-a-half since he started, he has met with and presented to over 30 distinct organizations and people serving both the LGBTQ and veterans communities from the southernmost city in Oregon east to Bend. He is currently working to assess the needs of the LGBTQ veteran community while marketing his position and services available. He has been working one on one with veterans for discharge upgrades, correction of military records, and connection to honorably-earned benefits. Because of his expertise in working with veterans experiencing housing instability, at the request of the Director, Nathaniel has also been involved in coordination efforts of services to homeless veterans across the state. He is humbled and honored to have joined ODVA and we feel lucky to have him.

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STATEWIDE VETERAN SERVICES Mitch Sparks, Director

Grants Management—Dave Cooley, Program Analyst Emergency Financial Assistance Fourth Quarter 2015-16 (April – June): 39 applications for grants were received, with 14 of those approved for a total of $13,421. The average grant was $959. Most approved grants continue to be for mortgage/rent and utility payments.

Highly Rural Transportation Grant The grant is active. Ten rural counties with a population density of less than 8 residents per square mile are transporting veterans to VA and non-VA medical appointments. All Oregon counties that qualify for this grant are now participating. Mr. Cooley led a one day training and best practices session for all counties in April, and conducted onsite visits to Harney, Lake, Sherman, Gilliam, Malheur, and Wallowa Counties during this quarter.

Reported for April through June: 2,498.25 1,634 68,249.26 296

Hours of time expended on medical trips Trips completed (one way: home to appointment) Total miles driven Veterans served

Lines For Life The grant is active. Lines For Life provides 24 hour phone and text services to at-risk veterans and their families. 511 calls from fifteen identified counties were logged for the period April 1 – June 30, 2016. The calls had an average wait time of 25 seconds, and the average duration of a call was 11.5 minutes. Emergency services were notified for one call during this period. Referrals were given to 39% of the callers for mental health appointments, drug and alcohol treatment, and assistance with the VA.

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VETERANS’ HOME LOAN PROGRAM Cody Cox, Program Manager

Production Review •

For the 2nd Quarter, 2016, the Home Loan Program closed 44 loans for a gross dollar volume of $10.3 mil.

For the same period in 2015, the Home Loan Program funded 77 loans for $16.7 mil. This represents a decrease of 43% in the number of units, with a 38% decrease in dollar production. Reduction in loan production through 2016 vs prior years is reflective of market conditions. While interest rates remain at historic lows, available housing inventory is extremely low, creating a rapid increase in property values.

•

The chart below shows a 2014, 2015 and 1st Quarter 2016 monthly production comparison of dollar volume funded for the OrVet Home Loan program.

$10,000,000 $9,000,000 $8,000,000 $7,000,000 $6,000,000 $5,000,000 $4,000,000 $3,000,000 $2,000,000 $1,000,000 $-

2014

2015

2016

•

At the end of the Second Quarter 2016, the ODVA has a total of 1,864 loans in portfolio, with a total dollar amount under servicing of $262,320,971. Of these, 1,384 units and $247,427,077 are new loans. Old loans were at 480 units totaling $14,893,893. At the end of the Second Quarter 2015, the ODVA had a total of 1,881 for $237,975,166 under servicing, with 1,274 units at $219,731,333 as new loans and 607 units at $18,243,834 as old loans. First Quarter 2016 reflects an increase of $24,345,805 in loans under servicing, or a 10.23% increase.

•

June 30, 2016 also marks the fiscal year end. For the Fiscal Year 2016, the Home Loan Program closed 270 units for $62,280,288. These production levels mark the highest fiscal year funding dollar amounts shown on records going back to 1998.

Loan Delinquency Review • • • •

For the reporting period of 03/31/2016, there were 3 State Owned Properties/Real Estate Owned (SOP/REO) in inventory, an increase of one property from the prior quarter.

There were 5 loans in a Foreclosure status, a decrease of 2 from the last report date.

The number of loans in Bankruptcy is at 8, unchanged from the prior quarter.

The total of all loans reporting in the 90-day or greater delinquency position was at 10, expressed as 0.5% unit delinquency on a portfolio of 1,864 loans and at 0.3% dollar delinquency on the outstanding dollar portfolio balance of $262.3MM.

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VETERANS’ HOME LOAN PROGRAM Continued •

ODVA continues to experience reduced delinquency rates as compared to other Government Residential Loan Programs. The Mortgage Bankers Association publishes a quarterly National Delinquency Survey and the following represents Oregon specific comparative data from the most recently available Second Quarter 2016 report. The delinquency rate expressed as a percentage of total loans (units) past due for the Federal Veterans Affairs home loan program in Oregon was 2.68%, FHA home loans in Oregon were at 5.08% and Conventional Prime home loans Oregon were at 1.70%. Comparatively, for this reporting period, the total delinquency for the ODVA home loan program was 1.6% at 29 units, significantly down the previous report. In dollars, the total amount past due is $2,208,754, which is 0.80% of total servicing dollars, a large decrease from the previous report.

Quarterly Staffing News •

No new hires during the reporting period

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FACILITIES AND CONSTRUCTION John Osborn, Program Manager

The Dalles Veterans’ Home On August 1st ODVA received confirmation from the chief of veteran home construction that Oregon will receive grant funding to upgrade the interiors of The Dalles home in the 2017 USDVA budget. The details of this grant were outlined in previous advisory board reports and will help finance the complete renovation of The Dalles home interiors. This work will provide new flooring, paint, wallpaper and ceiling tile throughout the facility, remodel the nurse stations, upgrade of all resident rooms (paint, wallpaper, ceiling tile), remodel of the production kitchen (new kitchen equipment, new flooring, fiber reinforced panel the walls, new lighting and ceiling tile), remodel of nutrition centers at all four wings, remodel of rehabilitation and therapy area including replacement of equipment.

In addition, we would replace the majority of the furniture in the facility as it is old and worn. We will also construct a storage building at the southeast end of the existing parking lot. Initial we will proceed with the remodel of the kitchen and construction of the new facility storage building. We are hoping to begin soliciting bids from qualified contractors by late fall and proceed with construction after the first of the year.

Lebanon Veterans’ Home The addition of the covered walkway from the community center to Delta wing is approximately 80% completed with final completion set for the end of August. This project also provided for the addition of 2 more storage buildings at the north and south garden areas.

Earlier this year we acquired a 4 acres parcel adjacent to the home anticipating the possibly of future expansion. We are currently working with the City of Lebanon on an application for annexation of this property into the urban growth boundary, amending the current comprehensive plan and a change to the zoning to allow development of the property. We anticipate approval of our application by midOctober. The plan is to first constructing 120 space parking lot with future development to be determined as needs are identified. The need for additional parking has been an issue for some time.

The 1% for art project is continuing to move forward. Lee Imonen, a Eugene based artist and educator, who is working on memorial space, estimates construction to begin by the end of August. April Waters a well know and accomplished Salem artist has been given approval by the committee to move forward on the portrait of Edward C. Allworth. Both projects should be completed by late December.

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INFORMATION DEPARTMENT Nicole Hoeft, Manager

As the agency’s engagement and information strategic plans begin to take shape into more actionable tasks, communications and information efforts have followed suit. 17-19 budget planning and the development of project initiatives for the coming biennium has wrapped up. The statuses of some of the more high level projects that are currently in process include:

Communications •

•

•

New Communication staff and events: o In June, Tyler Francke joined the Communications team as the new Community and Media Relations Coordinator. Tyler had been instrumental planning in key agency events including the recent civil war veteran cremains ceremony at the Oregon State Hospital.

Currently he is coordinating the 2016 Veteran Benefit Expo, being held at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum on Sept. 8.

State website and blog overhaul project: Progressing o ODVA’s News blog (www.oregondva.com) has been completed and is currently live. This fall once the testing phase has been completed, the agency will promote the refreshed blog and content features which include: Featured ODVA stories, local veteran community news, federal and state benefit updates, guest contributions, ODVA staff contributions, event calendar and a social media wall. All content is categorized by issue, benefit and geography to make searching for relevant information easy and appealing.

DoD Data Sharing: Complete o DoD initiated a data sharing imitative with all 50 DVA offices across the nation to replace the current manual process of sharing hard copy DD214’s with that states upon a service members discharge from active duty. The project was first implemented between the federal VA and DoD to share electronic data in place of hard copy original documents. ODVA began receiving electronic veteran discharge data in August.

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INFORMATION DEPARTMENT Nicole Hoeft, Manager

Information Services •

•

• • •

Desktop lifecycle replacements o Testing a new, modern workstation platform and development of Microsoft Windows 10 desktop image Roll-out of Ricoh Multi-Function Products o Introduced new printer, copier, scanner and facsimile availability and leveraged state contract to reduce cost.

Records Information Management System o Developed statement of work for upgrade and gathered system requirements and costs OSCIO engagement through the enterprise Project Portfolio Management Tool Application development o Implementing new IRS reporting changes o New property tax functionality o Deployed a new version of the existing loan servicing system

Records and Information Management Services •

Statewide Records Management o The department is ensuring implementation and compliance with a recent Governor Executive Order and statewide policy addressing records management, and accessibility and government transparency. o The agency will be upgrading our records management software, hardware and servers in September 2016.

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