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Program Connecting Tulsa-Area Veterans to Services Marks Successful First Year

Photo by Joshua J. Seybert
/
U.S. Air Force

A program seeking to make it easier to connect local veterans with services had a successful first year.

Oklahoma Veteran Connections taps into the Community Service Council’s 211 system to help veterans easily find groups offering jobs, health care or even food. CSC launched the program in October 2017.

"We have 35 agencies that are actively involved right now. They’ve handled over 1,100 referrals to 700 veterans. And so, you can just start to imagine, really, the scope of this type of program here in Tulsa and as we look to expand it even beyond Tulsa as well," said CSC Interim CEO Vanessa Finley.

Air Force veteran Richard Albritton moved from Austin to Tulsa for a job that fell through. He got help paying his rent through the service hub and is now an electrical inspector for the City of Tulsa.

"All the veterans out there who believe that there’s not any hope, there is, and I’m living proof of it," Albritton said.

Oklahoma Veteran Connections lets service organizations use the 211 network to share information and help veterans with their specific needs immediately rather than wait for veterans to find them.

"The reality of it is, we’ve got veterans across this nation … that need some assistance. And I think this is a program that can be not only made perfect here, but we can actually be the model city for every city and every community out there," said Eagle Ops founder Johnathon Shepherd.

Matt Trotter joined KWGS as a reporter in 2013. Before coming to Public Radio Tulsa, he was the investigative producer at KJRH. His freelance work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times and on MSNBC and CNN.