{"id":7516,"date":"2024-10-01T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-10-01T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=7516"},"modified":"2024-10-01T13:00:00","modified_gmt":"2024-10-01T13:00:00","slug":"va-proposes-new-legal-services-grant-program-to-help-veterans-upgrade-their-military-discharge-status-and-increase-access-to-earned-benefits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=7516","title":{"rendered":"VA proposes new legal services grant program to help Veterans upgrade their military discharge status and increase access to earned benefits"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"tni-source-date\"><strong>Originally published:<\/strong> 2024-10-01T13:00:00+00:00. Historical source article: benefits, rules, amounts and deadlines may have changed. Check the official source for current information.<\/p>\n<p><strong>WASHINGTON <\/strong>\u2014 Today, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs proposed establishing a first-of-its-kind grant program aimed at increasing access to VA programs and benefits. The proposed program would fund entities that provide legal support to help Veterans and former service members access VA programs, improve their military discharge status or characterization of service, and seek a review of a military record before a board of correction for military or naval records.<\/p>\n<p>The aim of this new program would be to increase access to VA programs and benefits \u2014 including compensation and pension, education, health care, loans, national cemetery matters, and VA character of discharge determinations.<\/p>\n<p>VA and the Biden-Harris Administration are committed to ensuring every Veteran gets the care, benefits, and representation they deserve \u2014 a commitment that is a key pillar in President Biden\u2019s Unity Agenda for the nation. Earlier this year, <a href=\"https:\/\/news.va.gov\/press-room\/va-rule-amending-regulations-discharge-determinations\/\">VA amended its regulations on character of discharge determinations<\/a> to ensure the department can provide services to deserving former service members \u2014 including certain individuals who faced discrimination, survived sexual assault or harassment, struggled with their mental or physical health, or faced other challenges while serving in the military. This change opened the door for former service members who had previously been found ineligible to reapply for VA care and benefits.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe encourage former service members with other than honorable discharges to apply for VA care and benefits today. Although VA cannot change your discharge status, we want to provide you with any health care or benefits we can \u2014 and we will work with you every step of the way to do exactly that,\u201d said<strong> VA Secretary Denis McDonough.<\/strong> \u201cWe also know that the process to navigate the review boards and determination process can be daunting \u2014 but access to legal support can make all the difference, and we believe this new grant program will help fill that gap.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This proposed program is a part of VA\u2019s continued efforts to support and expand access to certain former service members with other-than-honorable and bad conduct discharge statuses. VA has conducted extensive outreach to these former service members in recent years, increasing the number who applied for VA care or benefits. Over the past 10 years, VA has granted eligibility to 75% of former service members with other-than-honorable discharge status, equating to over 57,000 individuals.<\/p>\n<p>In certain circumstances, individuals with an other-than-honorable discharge status can qualify for VA programs and services if they receive a favorable outcome through a military service discharge review board, a board for correction of military or naval records, or VA\u2019s character of discharge determination. Key to this new proposed program would be providing former service members the legal assistance they need to navigate these processes.<\/p>\n<p>VA recognizes legal support can be critical to breaking down barriers to access VA services. VA\u2019s new <a href=\"https:\/\/www.va.gov\/HOMELESS\/LSv.asp\" rel=\"noopener\">Legal Services for Homeless Veterans and Veterans At-Risk for Homelessness Grant Program<\/a>, for instance, <a href=\"https:\/\/news.va.gov\/press-room\/first-of-their-kind-grants-for-legal-services-for-homeless-veterans\/\">recently awarded $11.5 million in grants<\/a> to 79 public and non-profit organizations in fiscal year 2024.<\/p>\n<p>The rulemaking can be viewed in the Federal Register under <a href=\"https:\/\/www.federalregister.gov\/public-inspection\/2024-22606\/legal-services-for-veterans-legal-assistance-for-access-to-va-programs-grant-program\" rel=\"noopener\">public inspection<\/a>, and will be published and open for comment beginning Oct. 2, 2024 (findable by searching for the rule on VA\u2019s Federal Register <a href=\"https:\/\/www.federalregister.gov\/agencies\/veterans-affairs-department\" rel=\"noopener\">webpage<\/a>). VA anticipates a notice of funding opportunity for this grant program to be published following publication of the final rule.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"tni-attribution\">Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/news.va.gov\/press-room\/va-proposes-new-legal-services-grant-program-to-help-veterans-upgrade-their-military-discharge-status-and-increase-access-to-earned-benefits\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs<\/a>. Its Veterans is an independent publication and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the U.S. government.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>VA proposed establishing a first-of-its-kind grant program aimed at increasing access to VA programs and benefits.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":67,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7516","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-u-s-veterans-benefits"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>VA proposes new legal services grant program to help Veterans upgrade their military discharge status and increase access to earned benefits - Its Veterans<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"VA proposed establishing a first-of-its-kind grant program aimed at increasing access to VA programs and benefits.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=7516\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"VA proposes new legal services grant program to help Veterans upgrade their military discharge status and increase access to earned benefits - 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