Texas Veterans Commission briefs Senate committee on statewide services, outreach and $44 million in grants

Tom Palladino, executive director of the Texas Veterans Commission, told the Senate Committee on Veteran Affairs the commission provides a range of services for veterans, their families and survivors across Texas and that those programs are authorized in the Texas Government Code. "Our mission is to advocate for and provide superior service that will significantly improve the quality of life for all Texas veterans, their families and survivors," Palladino said.

The commission presented program-level details and outreach metrics to the committee. Palladino said the agency provides accredited claims representation to veterans filing disability claims and appeals with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and that the TVC operates roughly 152 claims benefit advisors across the state, co-located in VA facilities, county offices and other sites "rent free." He described health-care advocates (24 staff), education oversight including the state Hazelwood benefit and a veteran education oversight role, employment services coordinated with the Texas Workforce Commission, a veteran entrepreneur program, a mental-health program that supports 66 veteran peer coordinators, a women veterans program and other initiatives.

Angela Wellner, director of communications and veteran outreach for the TVC, described the agency's outreach mix of traditional media, digital channels and in-person events and provided circulation and engagement figures. "We do have a robust outreach using traditional media, digital media, in person outreach, and more," Wellner said. She listed regular activities and channels: a monthly segment with KXAN, a podcast (Voice of Texas Veterans), a monthly public TVC Q&A on Zoom, paid social campaigns and partnerships with the Texas Veterans Land Board and local partners for resource fairs. Wellner said the commission's digital properties receive substantial traffic—"our newly redesigned TVC website, which usually gets about 90,000 unique sessions a month"—and that the TVC newsletter reaches more than 44,000 subscribers.

Palladino described the TVC grants program and the Fund for Veteran Assistance, saying the commission awards about $44,000,000 annually to nonprofits and local governments for direct financial assistance, home renovations for disabled and low-income veterans, mental-health grants, veteran treatment courts and related programs. He noted the commission reports program data to the Legislative Budget Board and said each appropriation has performance measures tied to outputs and outcomes.

Committee members asked about performance metrics; Palladino said the commission has performance measures tied to appropriations and that he could provide last year's and the most recent quarter's data.

The committee received the briefing; no formal action was taken on the presentation.