Grantee Name
Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, Inc.
Funding Area
Veterans’ Health
Publication Date
April 2014
Grant Amount
$74,985
Grant Date:
October 5, 2008 – July 18, 2011
Since 2001, more than 2.2 million American men and women have been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan.
After serving overseas, thousands of returning troops face significant challenges, including unemployment and serious mental health issues. Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, Inc., (IAVA) has worked to identify and resolve these issues on both national and local levels by building awareness, forming strategic partnerships, and providing assistance and advocacy. A major challenge for IAVA and other similar organizations, however, is finding and engaging returning veterans and their families, particularly National Guardsmen and reservists. IAVA has addressed this challenge by connecting with returning veterans and their families through online strategies, and has built a strong base of members, of which 7,000 are returning veterans.
To better understand the challenges and needs of returning veterans and their families, NYHealth awarded IAVA a grant to partner with the RAND Corporation to develop a needs assessment of veterans in New York State, which provides a local snapshot of the quality of life for veterans nationwide.