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Kenosha County veteran services outlines outreach push, benefit totals and events
Summary
The county's veteran services director reported staff capacity, outreach plans with nursing homes and employers, a dashboard summary showing increased outreach, and listed annual veteran events.
Shauna Fobazi, county veteran services officer and director of veteran services for Kenosha County, gave an overview of outreach efforts, partnerships and benefits delivery at the Human Services Committee meeting.
"I am the county veteran services service officer, the director of veteran services for Kenosha County," Fobazi said. She said the division currently has five staff members and one vacancy and that staff are working to build a direct-referral system with nursing homes, assisted-living and in-home care providers so facilities can refer veterans who may qualify for VA benefits.
Fobazi described multiple outreach goals: direct referrals from care facilities, presentations at colleges and to employers, partnership work with emergency providers and the VA case coalition, and ongoing involvement with veterans treatment court (a program run regionally with Racine). She said staff also plan targeted outreach to large local employers to reach veterans who enter the civilian workforce without engaging college services.
On benefit totals, Fobazi said, "over $123,000,000 was was received by Kenosha County veterans." The meeting record shows the speaker provided a breakdown for compensation, pension and health care, but the transcripted figures were unclear in places; the committee packet or the county's final fiscal report should be consulted for precise accounting.
Fobazi and staff described the county's active events calendar: a veterans picnic at Kenosha County Veterans Memorial Park (the first Friday after Memorial Day), a Boundless Adventures event on Sept. 19 aimed at younger veterans and families, and a Veterans Celebration resource fair and breakfast on the Saturday before Veterans Day.
The division reported increased outreach contact this year and said it had reached about 1,000 people via events and partner contact. Staff noted that phone calls were down compared with prior years, which they interpret as outreach improving awareness and reducing inbound call volume. An assistant presented a dashboard showing outreach and client categories; staff said they are refining measures such as baseline data, new-client and returning-client counts to evaluate program impact.
Supervisors suggested partnering with interfaith organizations, churches and community groups to distribute printed materials and referrals; staff said they have participated in interfaith resource events and will consider additional faith-based distribution. Supervisors also asked about outreach to the unsheltered population; staff said county and partner providers identify veterans during point-in-time counts and connect eligible veterans to housing and VA assistance (including HUD-VASH where appropriate). Staff said the county has a small discretionary veterans fund used occasionally to place veterans in temporary hotel housing while benefits and placements are arranged.
Fobazi invited the committee to consult the dashboard and follow the division's outreach work; she closed by noting the staff's continuing focus on helping veterans apply for disability compensation and other benefits.
