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Municipal Services Hampshire County veterans benefit from regional approach
A Northampton-based regional entity is making it easier for veterans in several small towns in Hampshire County to obtain benefits such as housing assistance and medical care.
In addition to Northampton and Amherst, the Central Hampshire Veteran Services district, created last July, includes four towns with populations between 900 and 2,500: Chesterfield, Cummington, Pelham and Williamsburg.
The regional approach was adopted partly as a means of dealing with the complexities of Chapter 115, the state law for administering veterans services, according to the district’s director, Steve Connor. He pointed out that the number of requests for help from veterans and their surviving spouses has risen amid the economic conditions of the past few years.
Younger veterans, Connor added, often have questions about the new GI bill, signed into law in 2008, which provides both tuition and housing stipends for veterans attending college.
While Amherst and Northampton are saving small amounts of money by providing services regionally, Connor said, the cost for the small towns may be slightly higher than when they relied on part-time veterans’ agents. One benefit for the small towns, though, is that their veterans now have full-time access to the Hampshire Veterans Services staff, rather than sharing a single agent with several other small communities.
The individual towns, Connor said, also are spared the time and expense of ensuring that their veterans agents are up to speed with the latest regulations.
“It gets kind of expensive, to keep sending [a veterans agent] off to Boston for training,” he said.
Connor, who began work as Northampton’s veterans agent in 2004, said that the regional district was modeled in part on what exists on Cape Cod and in Franklin County.
Municipal Services Hampshire County veterans benefit from regional approach
Hampshire County veterans benefit from regional approach
A Northampton-based regional entity is making it easier for veterans in several small towns in Hampshire County to obtain benefits such as housing assistance and medical care.
In addition to Northampton and Amherst, the Central Hampshire Veteran Services district, created last July, includes four towns with populations between 900 and 2,500: Chesterfield, Cummington, Pelham and Williamsburg.
The regional approach was adopted partly as a means of dealing with the complexities of Chapter 115, the state law for administering veterans services, according to the district’s director, Steve Connor. He pointed out that the number of requests for help from veterans and their surviving spouses has risen amid the economic conditions of the past few years.
Younger veterans, Connor added, often have questions about the new GI bill, signed into law in 2008, which provides both tuition and housing stipends for veterans attending college.
While Amherst and Northampton are saving small amounts of money by providing services regionally, Connor said, the cost for the small towns may be slightly higher than when they relied on part-time veterans’ agents. One benefit for the small towns, though, is that their veterans now have full-time access to the Hampshire Veterans Services staff, rather than sharing a single agent with several other small communities.
The individual towns, Connor said, also are spared the time and expense of ensuring that their veterans agents are up to speed with the latest regulations.
“It gets kind of expensive, to keep sending [a veterans agent] off to Boston for training,” he said.
Connor, who began work as Northampton’s veterans agent in 2004, said that the regional district was modeled in part on what exists on Cape Cod and in Franklin County.
Written by MMA Associate Editor Mitch Evich
