I 
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 418 
To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish a pilot program 
to improve access to supportive services and community coordination 
for families of disabled veterans. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 10, 2017 
Mrs. LAWRENCE introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 
A BILL 
To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish a 
pilot program to improve access to supportive services 
and community coordination for families of disabled vet-
erans. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Early Intervention for 
Veterans and their Families Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. PILOT PROGRAM FOR GREATER DIRECT ACCESS TO 
SUPPORTIVE SERVICES AND COMMUNITY CO-
ORDINATION FOR DISABLED VETERANS FAM-
ILIES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Commencing not later than 180 
days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec-
retary of Veterans Affairs shall carry out a three-year pilot 
program with community partners to provide intensive 
community care coordination and supportive services to 
disabled veteran families who lack access to direct wellness 
services provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs 
or other entities. 
(b) AGREEMENTS WITH COMMUNITY PARTNERS.— 
In carrying out the pilot program under subsection (a), 
the Secretary shall enter into partnership agreements with 
community partners using a competitive and merit-based 
award process for individual grants and for multi-service 
site grants to test service delivery efficiencies and generate 
best practices. 
(c) COMMUNITY CARE COORDINATION
AND SUP-
PORTIVE SERVICES.—The community care coordination 
and supportive services referred to in subsection (a) are 
the following: 
(1) Services provided by a community partner 
to improve the well-being and address the needs of 
disabled veteran families who otherwise lack access 
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to adequate direct wellness services provided by the 
Department of Veterans Affairs or other entities. 
Such assistance and services may include the fol-
lowing: 
(A) Care coordination and case manage-
ment services. 
(B) Outreach services. 
(C) Assistance in obtaining any benefits 
from the Department which the veteran may be 
eligible to receive, including vocational and re-
habilitation counseling, employment and train-
ing service, educational assistance, and health 
care services. 
(D) Assistance in obtaining and coordi-
nating the provision of other public benefits 
provided by department or agencies of the Fed-
eral Government or a State or local government 
or by community partners, including with re-
spect to— 
(i) marriage counseling; 
(ii) services for children; 
(iii) suicide prevention; 
(iv) substance abuse awareness and 
treatment; 
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(v) mental health awareness and 
treatment; 
(vi) financial counseling; 
(vii) anger management counseling; 
(viii) domestic violence awareness and 
prevention; 
(ix) employment assistance; 
(x) transportation services; 
(xi) child care; 
(xii) housing counseling; 
(xiii) preparing and updating family 
care plans; 
(xiv) development of strategies for liv-
ing with a veteran with post-traumatic 
stress disorder or traumatic brain injury; 
(xv) accessing emergency financial as-
sistance through philanthropic efforts; and 
(xvi) other services that are deter-
mined by the Secretary to be appropriate 
to improve the well-being and address the 
unique needs of disabled veteran families 
who lack access to such direct wellness 
services. 
(2) Providing the direct services specified in 
paragraph (1)(D) that are necessary to improve the 
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well-being and address the needs of the disabled vet-
eran families but are otherwise unavailable through 
existing public or private programs. 
(d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
(1) The term ‘‘community partner’’ means a 
private nonprofit organization. 
(2) The term ‘‘disabled veteran’’ means a 
United States citizen or United States national 
who— 
(A) was honorably discharged from the 
Armed Forces; and 
(B) is entitled to disability compensation 
(or who but for the receipt of military retired 
pay would be entitled to disability compensa-
tion) under laws administered by the Secretary 
of Veterans Affairs or was discharged or re-
leased from active duty in the Armed Forces 
because of a service-connected disability under 
chapter 61 of title 10, United States Code. 
(3) The term ‘‘disabled veterans family’’ means 
the dependents of a disabled veteran. 
(e) AUTHORIZATION
OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 
are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of Vet-
erans Affairs $2,000,000 to carry out the pilot program 
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under subsection (a) for each fiscal year in which the Sec-
retary carries out such pilot program. 
(f) REPORT.—Not later than 180 days before the 
completion of the pilot program under subsection (a), the 
Secretary shall submit to the Committee on Veterans’ Af-
fairs of the Senate and the Committee on Veterans’ Af-
fairs of the House of Representatives a report on the re-
sults of the pilot program, including the number of dis-
abled veteran families served and service linkages or refer-
rals and a description and assessment of the effectiveness 
and achievements of the pilot program with respect to 
services and treatments and mitigation of risks, including 
homelessness, unemployment and suicide as well as rec-
ommended best practices for improving access to sup-
portive services and coordination of care for disabled vet-
eran families. 
Æ 
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