Veterans Coalition of North Central Texas (VCNCT)

The Veterans Coalition of North Central Texas (VCNCT) was formed in August of 2011. The sponsoring agency was Mental Health America of Greater Dallas under the Operations Reunion program. The coalition was formed in conjunction with several partnering agencies: Dallas County Veterans Office, Veterans for Christ, and the Child and Family Assessment Center. Together these organizations were able to organize monthly meetings to assemble community partners to collaborate, strategize on best practices, network, and provide services to Veterans and their family members. The VCNCT has five Central Initiatives: 1) Employment: Assist Veterans and their families reintegrate back into the work force 2) Mental Health: Provide assistance to Veterans dealing with PTSD, TBI, & MST 3) Education: Assist Veterans with education resources, training & development 4) Housing: Assist Veterans with stable housing resources 5) Financial Education: Assist Veterans and their families in obtaining financial awareness, stability, and security. The Coalition is committed to providing services that have been identified by Military men and women as well as Coalition Members that work directly with Veterans and their family members. The Coalition has had the extraordinary opportunity to bring together various entities throughout North Central Texas to better serve the Veterans, their families, the community, and the State of Texas. Our organization has been governed by a Board of Directors that has had over 188 years of collective direct and indirect military service. Our board chairman voluntarily serves as the CEO of the organization. She comes from the University System where she implemented Health and Wellness Coalitions, Tobacco Cessations programs, and worked with several million in grant funding. She is also the daughter of a WWII Veteran and was an Active Duty Army spouse for 15 years. The chairman also organizes and coordinates all monthly coalition meetings. Under the Board and Chairman, the VCNCT functions with committee chairs and vice chairs. The final layers are the Veteran Service Organizations (members), community partners, and supporters. We are organized using a combined approach of governance, Adaptive Leadership. The VCNCT was formed based on identified and reported needs of Veterans, their families, and Veteran services organizations while to eliminating the “red tape” of other like programs and services in the community. While the Coalition has successfully offered programs and services on a 100% volunteer basis for three and a half years, the demand for our assistance and leadership among our peers has pushed the Coalition and its volunteers to capacity. In order to effectively and consistently continue to provide effective and relevant resource to Veterans, their families, and Veteran Service Organizations, and staff additional funding is now necessary. Upon receipt of funding, from multiple sources, we will hire full-time and part-time staff to continue and expand services thought out the Region, State, and as a National model. The board, our current sponsors, and community partners support this request 100% and are committed to being the leaders in Veterans services.