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VA National Small Business Conference and Expo

By Editor on July 31, 2011 in

WASHINGTON – The upcoming National Veterans Small Business Conference and Expo, Aug.15-18 in New Orleans is taking shape.  Hosted by VA for the first time, it will be the largest nationwide conference of its kind focused on helping Veteran-owned and service-disabled Veteran-owned businesses succeed in winning federal contracts and expanding their businesses.

“This conference offers a new approach to providing Veteran-owned businesses and service-disabled Veteran-owned businesses the access and tools they need to thrive in the Federal marketplace,” said Eric K. Shinseki, Secretary of Veterans Affairs. “Our primary goal is to help more Veterans start and grow their own businesses.”

In addition to Secretary Shinseki and other senior VA leaders, conference speakers will also include Jane Lute, Deputy Secretary for the Department of Homeland Security, and Frank Kendall, Principal Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology. 

The conference will offer valuable insight to assist both new and seasoned Veteran-owned and service-disabled Veteran-owned small businesses to succeed.  More than 100 sessions will address a range of topics, including branding, marketing, management, financing and business opportunities within the federal government as well as how to secure loans through the Small Business Administration (SBA) and its new Express & Pilot Programs, which offer streamlined and expedited loan procedures for certain borrowers such as Veterans.

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VA Funds Solar Energy Projects at 5 Hospitals

By Editor on July 31, 2011 in

WASHINGTON – The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has awarded $56.7 million in contracts to build solar photovoltaic (PV) systems in support of ongoing energy efficiency and renewable energy initiatives.

“With these investments in clean energy and other renewable energy projects, we are marching forward with the President’s initiative to expand innovation in the federal government and create new jobs,” said VA Secretary Eric K. Shinseki. “The benefits of using solar power are profound, from reducing greenhouse gas emissions to improving the quality of the air we breathe. This initiative is good for Veterans and good for our environment.”

By summer 2012, VA will install the solar PV systems at five VA medical centers in sunny locations, from Texas to California. VA selected the sites based on feasibility studies that determined the most ideal locations to invest in on-site renewable energy projects.

Solar PV installations are slated for Oklahoma City; Temple, Texas; Amarillo, Texas; Loma Linda, Calif. and West Los Angeles.

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The American Veteran – July 2011

By Editor on July 22, 2011 in ,

(via The Pentagon Channel)

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Secretary Shinseki Announces $41.9 Million to Help the Homeless

By Editor on October 2, 2010 in

WASHINGTON – Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki has announced that 40 states will share more than $41.9 million in grants to community groups to provide 2,568 beds for homeless Veterans this year.

“These grants wouldn’t have happened without the extraordinary partnerships forged with community organizers,” said VA Secretary Eric K. Shinseki. “These investments will provide transitional beds to Veterans who have served honorably, but for various reasons now find themselves in a downward spiral toward despair and homelessness.”

The Homeless Providers Grant and Per Diem Program provides grants and per diem payments to help public and nonprofit organizations establish and operate new supportive housing and service centers for homeless Veterans.

The $41.9 million is broken into two categories. About $26.9 million will help renovate, rehabilitate or acquire space for 1,352 transitional housing beds. A second group of awards, valued at $15 million, will immediately fund 1,216 beds at existing transitional housing for homeless Veterans this year. The awards will cover daily living costs
based upon the number of homeless Veterans being served in transitional housing.

VA Press Releases

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VA News – Week of September 13, 2010

By Editor on September 17, 2010 in ,

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Boise Veterans Helping Police in Search for Flag Burners

By Editor on September 17, 2010 in ,

BOISE — In the last week, vandals have spray-painted graffiti and left burned flags outside several Meridian School District schools located in west Boise. Overnight Wednesday, one of the schools, Pioneer Elementary, was vandalized again.

Now, local American Legion posts are collecting money to offer a reward for help finding the people responsible.

District officials say vandalism of this nature is uncommon, especially the flag burnings.

“None of it is particularly common, but I don’t remember incidents like this really very often in my ten years with the district,” School District Spokesman Eric Exline said.

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VA Earns ‘A’ in Annual Small Business Scorecard

By Editor on September 17, 2010 in

WASHINGTON (September 17, 2010) — VA has been recognized by the Small Business Administration with a rating of “A” on its Small Business Scorecard for its success in contracting with small businesses. VA’s Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization (OSDBU) collaborated with other VA acquisition professionals to achieve the high rating.

“Through hard work and commitment, VA excels in its procurements with small business,” said Secretary Eric K. Shinseki. “VA is committed to improving Veteran-owned small business contracting and promoting the many rewards of that community’s entrepreneurial spirit.”

VA led the federal government in procurements with service-disabled Veteran-owned small businesses. While the government-wide statutory goal for contract awards in this category was 3 percent of all agency procurements, VA awarded nearly 17 percent of its acquisition dollars to service-disabled Veteran-owned small businesses.

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Presidential Proclamation–National POW/MIA Recognition Day

By Editor on September 17, 2010 in

“Until every story ends” is a solemn promise to those who wear the uniform of the United States that they will never be left behind or forgotten. On National POW/MIA Recognition Day, we pay tribute to the American men and women who never returned home from combat, to those who faced unthinkable suffering as prisoners of war in distant lands, and to all servicemembers who have defended American lives and liberties with unwavering devotion. As a grateful Nation, we can never repay the profound debt to our heroes, and we will not rest until we have accounted for the missing members of our Armed Forces.

We demonstrate our deep gratitude and admiration for our brave patriots not in words alone, but in our actions to bring them home. Each year, specialists in our Department of Defense scour foreign battlefields and burial sites, interview witnesses, and search national and international archives for information about those missing from the Vietnam War, Korean War, Cold War, World War II, and other conflicts. Their work will not be complete, nor our commitment fulfilled, until the families of those taken or missing in action can rest knowing the fate of their loved ones.

On September 17, 2010, the stark black and white flag honoring America’s prisoners of war and those missing in action will be flown over the White House; the United States Capitol; the Departments of State, Defense, and Veterans Affairs; the Selective Service System Headquarters; the World War II Memorial; the Korean War Veterans Memorial; the Vietnam Veterans Memorial; United States post offices; national cemeteries; and other locations across our country. It is a powerful reminder that our Nation will never cease in our task to recover, remember, and honor the courageous men and women who have served and sacrificed so much for each of us.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim September 17, 2010, as National POW/MIA Recognition Day. I urge all Americans to observe this day of honor and remembrance with appropriate ceremonies and activities.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this sixteenth day of September, in the year of our Lord two thousand ten, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-fifth.

BARACK OBAMA

Via Whitehouse.gov

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VA: Science can’t prove Lejeune case

By Editor on September 17, 2010 in

WASHINGTON — In the decades that poisonous chemicals tainted the drinking water at Camp Lejeune, hundreds of thousands of Marines filed through the base. But just 200 veterans have asked the Department of Veterans Affairs to link their illnesses to the poisons they once drank.

Of those, just 20 have been told “yes.”

A Veterans Affairs official told Congress on Thursday that despite evidence of widespread contamination of drinking water at Camp Lejeune, the agency does not think the science exists to link exposure to the toxic water to a host of cancers and other diseases that former base residents have.

“Establishing presumptive diseases at this point would be premature,” said Thomas J. Pamperin, associate deputy undersecretary for policy and program management at Veterans Affairs. Instead, the VA has awarded benefits on a case-by-case, and isolated, basis.

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Bill would help troops sickened at Qarmat Ali

By Editor on September 17, 2010 in

A key Republican lawmaker wants Iraq war veterans who served in the Qarmat Ali region to receive extended veterans health care benefits because of the possibility they were exposed to toxic chemicals while guarding a water treatment plant early in the war.

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