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Minority Veterans of America urges equity safeguards as Fox program is reauthorized
Summary
Minority Veterans of America told the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee that veterans from historically marginalized groups face heightened suicide risk and that program reauthorization must embed equity, culturally competent care, disaggregated data and protection of identity-specific services.
The executive director of Minority Veterans of America urged the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee to center equity in reauthorizing suicide-prevention grants and to restore policies and data practices that identify disparities for historically underserved veterans.
"When we erase identity, we erase risk," Lindsay Church testified. She said her organization serves veterans "who have been historically excluded and underserved: women, people of color, LGBTQ individuals, religious minorities, folks with disabilities, and those living in rural communities." Church told the committee that policy changes and the removal of certain directive language at VA have "deadly consequences" for marginalized veterans and described a rise in self-harm and suicide attempts among specific groups.
Church said outreach and care must be culturally competent and data must be disaggregated to identify and address disparities. She urged the committee to require equity-focused grant criteria, mandate cultural-competency training for providers, preserve data collection on race, gender and sexual orientation, and fund partnerships with trusted community-based organizations.
Church also reported troubling campus incidents and policy rollbacks: "Since October of last year, we know of at least 13 veterans who died by suicide on VA property," she told the committee, and she cited rescinded VHA directive language that she said had provided protections for transgender and intersex veterans. Minority Veterans of America asked that vulnerable veterans be explicitly counted and served in reauthorization language.
Why it matters: Committee members and witnesses agreed that community-based grants reach many veterans not engaged with VA care; Church and other witnesses argued those efforts will fail unless they are designed and funded to meet the needs of veterans who face stigma and barriers in mainstream systems.
Next steps: Minority Veterans of America recommended that reauthorization include explicit equity requirements, disaggregated data reporting and formal partnerships with community organizations that serve minority veterans.
