supportvets@stp-sf.org
In our dual role as service provider and advocate, Swords to Plowshares is uniquely positioned to impact the systems of care veterans and their families rely on. We work to strengthen these systems to better address the current needs of veterans.
Since 1974, Swords has strived to influence systems of care at local, state, and national levels. Our reputation as a nationally recognized voice for veteran issues reflects decades of direct community-based service delivery, regarding housing, VA benefits, mental and physical healthcare, and employment services. The policy and research work we conduct is informed by our daily experience, allowing us to share technical expertise and achieve the best outcomes for all veterans.
As both service provider and advocate, we know what underserved veterans face every day. We believe to achieve our mission to end homelessness and poverty among veterans, it is our responsibility to utilize and share our expertise with local, state, and federal changemakers.
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Through implementing changes to progress our own service work over the years, we know that community-based programs have the ability to respond to evolving needs and tailor services to address the diverse living conditions of veterans- including veterans struggling to access care due to injustice, identity, ability, age, and income status. We prioritize their voices. Our mission and values combined with our work has built our reputation as a thought leader and trusted source of expertise by all levels of government, foundations and philanthropists, behavioral health providers, law enforcement, and community partners.
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Swords to Plowshares advocated for the design and implementation of a three-year pilot to evaluate whether enhanced on-site services in permanent supportive housing improves housing stability, health care utilization, social connection, and quality of life for aging and high acuity veterans. We believe that additional services must be embedded in housing sites so that senior veterans with disabilities can age in place in community. We have been selected by CalVet to serve as the pilot’s Design, Technical Assistance, and Process Evaluation Consultant, providing guidance and training in staffing/services, and designing the data collection/reporting for the pilot sites throughout California:
Overview of this Reference Guide The demographics and cultural characteristics of service members, veterans and their families from all eras. The scale and scope of issues veterans may encounter. Availability and limitations of federal resources for veterans.
In order to understand the financial challenges and needs of student veterans, Swords to Plowshares conducted eleven online focus groups and three in-person research workshops with seventy-seven student veterans in California from forty colleges and universities in 2019 and early 2020.
Research suggests there is high value in including peer support specialists in mental health care...
The Exchange brought together organizations in the UK and United States to explore co-production, coordinated approaches, arts, veterans’ services, and homelessness prevention.
The Congressional Commission on Care was charged with examining the VA Healthcare System. Swords to Plowshares’ own executive director served on the Commission and we conducted our own examination of VA healthcare compared to private healthcare.
This fact sheet highlights avenues for human resource professionals and hiring managers to hire, retain, and support veterans in the civilian workplace.
Research-based recommendations from veterans to improve services and education outcomes of student veterans.
This self-assessment is a tool for institutions of higher learning to examine how well-prepared they are for today’s military-connected students.
This report summarizes the Mental Health Summit, jointly hosted by Swords to Plowshares, the San Francisco VA Health Care system and other partners.
This Toolkit provides a framework of understanding traumatic brain injury (TBI) from a community behavioral health and social service perspective.
This toolkit was developed for veteran employment and training service agencies to improve their outreach tools, provide quality job training programs, and measure their impact.
A guide across all sectors to identify women veterans within their organization, better understand the issues they face, and strategies for more effective care.
This report examines issues including post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of military sexual trauma and offers policy recommendations.
Older veterans represent 66% of the veteran population and have higher rates of health conditions impacted by their military service.
This brief addresses the due process harms of the unreasonable delay on veterans while they wait for the disability benefits to which they are entitled.
A comprehensive guide for researchers, policy makers, advocates, and veterans.
Recommendations for improving health and wellness among women veterans based on our California Women Veterans Project.
Our recommendations reflect over four decades of direct community-based service delivery to veterans of all eras, regardless of discharge. Our research and policy efforts are informed by the work we do—providing transitional and permanent supportive housing, mental health support, employment and legal services—each and every day.
This fact sheet covers circumstances that could lead to a servicemember being less than honorably discharged from the military, and subsequent issues with access to care from the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Swords to Plowshares and the National Veterans Legal Service Program (“Petitioners”) submit these comments in response to the proposed rule issued by the Department of Veterans Affairs’ (“VA”) on July 10, 2020 (“Proposed Rule”).
Research-based recommendations complied by campus staff to improve services and education outcomes of student veterans.
A report published in conjunction with National Veterans Legal Services Program and the Veterans Legal Clinic at the Legal Services Center of Harvard Law School to raise awareness about the implications of excluding “bad paper” veterans from care and the VA’s authority to grant access.
Current engagement and treatment models are not reaching underserved communities effectively...
At the onset of the COVID-19, pandemic researchers warned that the pandemic would result in a substantial increase...
Before the California Assembly Select Committee on California’s Mental Health Crisis