WASHINGTON – Today, Senator Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), a Marine Corps combat veteran and member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, joined his Arizona colleagues in sending a letter to Secretary of Veterans Affairs Denis McDonough to advocate for continued support of the Arizona Be Connected Program, which is administered by the Arizona Coalition for Military Families. Rep. Juan Ciscomani (AZ-06) led the letter and was also joined by Reps. Greg Stanton (AZ-04), Abe Hamadeh (AZ-08), Andy Biggs (AZ-05), Yassamin Ansari (AZ-03), Raul Grijalva (AZ-07), and Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ).
Be Connected was created in 2017 in direct response to the elevated suicide rates in Arizona’s veteran population and focused on how the Department of Veterans’ Affairs (VA) could better partner with the community to prevent veteran suicide by providing resources, care and career navigation, connection coaching, financial assistance, and more. This public-private partnership has been nationally recognized for its exceptional cross-sector collaboration and partnership to address the complex issue of suicide prevention.
This program – in strong coordination with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the Arizona Governor’s Office, and the Arizona Department of Veterans’ Services – is a universal open door for Arizona’s 500,000+ service members, veterans, and their families.
“The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and Phoenix VA have worked hard to reduce veteran suicide, including through community partnerships as outlined in VA’s Suicide Prevention 2.0 initiative. We are now concerned about VA’s cut to core funding for Be Connected, one of Arizona’s suicide prevention community partnership programs—cuts that would impact Arizona veterans, their relationship to VA, and VA’s ability to reduce veteran suicide,” the lawmakers stated in the letter.
“Veteran suicide is not a new problem, but its persistence underscores the challenges to reach and respond at the right time in the right way,” said Director of the Arizona Coalition for Military Families, Thomas Winkel. “Nearly every veteran has heard, in some form, that “help is available,” yet the grim statistics tell us this message is not landing where it matters most. Trust in governmental institutions and bureaucratic systems is fractured, and we aim to heal those fractures and build a bridge between our governmental partners and the community.”
More information about Be Connected can be found here.
The full letter can be found here.
1/17/25