Markeshia Ricks Photo
U.S. Chris Murphy pointed out at a breakfast with the new undersecretary of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs that it doesn’t hurt to have a friend in a high place. And New Haven veterans have a real friend in Linda Spoonster Schwartz.
Schwartz receives a proclamation from Mayor Toni Harp.
After serving 12 years at the Connecticut Veterans Affairs commissioner, Schwartz was confirmed last September as the assistant secretary for policy and planning — the top national advisor on policy and organizational strategy. Thursday morning she announced she’s looking to her former stomping grounds in general and New Haven in particular for ideas that help the nation’s veterans.
“Connecticut is known for its innovative, energetic programs across the state,” Schwartz said. And she sees New Haven’s 18-month-old Veterans Empowering Teens Through Support, or VETTS, as a model that can be duplicated across the nation.
VETTS, a program started by the Integrated Wellness Group, matches at-risk youth with trained and honorably discharged U.S. military veterans, who become paid mentors. The program pursues the two-fold mission of helping children and helping veterans like James Roy — who was medically discharged from the U.S. Navy — find jobs.
Roy said he wanted a 20-year military career. Realizing he had to leave early because of health reasons was bewildering, especially when he couldn’t find a job. “But the VETTS program has given me the ability to pay my bills, and also do something that I’ve always been passionate about — helping people,” he said.
Schwartz said that bewildering feeling is real for many veterans who are suddenly separated from the military. She should know. She retired after 16 years in the U.S. Air Force in 1986 because she was injured in an aircraft accident while serving as a flight nurse.
“The saddest day of my life is when I had to leave the Air Force,” she said. “I didn’t know how to behave out in the real world, but I learned to go with the flow, and also to go for what you want, not just what others say you can have.” That flow eventually took her back to school for a masters in nursing and a doctorate in public health from Yale, and on to head the state’s Department of Veterans Affairs.
Senator Murphy (pictured) said that often when he talks to young veterans, they talk of the despair they feel when their service has ended. “The minute they come back that kinship disappears,” he said. “Their mission is gone.” He said programs likes VETTS give veterans an opportunity “to wake up every day with a mission. They have that brotherhood again. This program is just genius.”
Frank Galley Jr., a former U.S. Marine Corps sergeant, said VETTS isn’t a traditional nine-to-five. It’s early morning, middle of the nights and weekends.
“It’s 24 hours a day, 365 days a year,” he said. “If it’s 2 a.m. and the phone rings, a veteran is going to answer. The boys are responding well to the program because they know someone is always there.”
City Youth Services Director Jason Bartlett (pictured) said the VETTS program has been a key component in New Haven’s efforts to stop youth violence. The challenge is that the demand is great, and the program needs much more funding. He said at last count the city would like to match as many as 25 adolescents in the city with VETTS mentors, but it only has eight veterans.
Schwartz said Connecticut has been chosen as one of the states to host a pilot program that focuses on veterans’ experiences and also on how communities are helping their veterans. Participants in the pilot program would have what she said is a “direct pipeline” to the VA secretary. She said VETTS is the kind of program that could be a national model.
Current Connecticut Department of Veterans Affairs Commissioner Sean Connolly (pictured) was on hand Thursday to welcome his predecessor Schwartz, and he also gave the VETTS program a ringing endorsement. “Matching our well trained, and disciplined veterans with at-risk youth is a win-win,” he said. “Fostering this pilot in New Haven will be important in Connecticut and around the nation.”
