(3) Improve federal civil rights protections for the AAPI community Activity 1: Rigorously enforce civil rights statutes/laws that require equal access and non-discrimination in federal programs that involve grants, loans, contracts, financial aid and other benefits. Continue current efforts to enforce civil rights statutes/laws. The VA enforces Federal civil rights protections through the EEO complaint process and promotes resolution through the ADR process. 1. VHA distributed and held training session with Veteran Integrated Service Network (VISN) Lead EEO Managers to ensure adheres to VA Directive 5975 “Diversity and Inclusion” and The Secretary’s EEO, Diversity, and No FEAR Policy Statement. VA Directive 5975 establishes the Department of Veterans Affairs’ policy, program requirements, and coordinated responsibilities for workforce diversity and inclusion in accordance with: • Executive Order (EO) 13583, “Establishing a Coordinated Government-wide Initiative to Promote Diversity and Inclusion in the Federal Workforce”; o Government-wide Diversity and Inclusion Strategic Plan; • VA Diversity and Inclusion Strategic Plan; • Applicable equal employment opportunity (EEO) laws, regulations, and directives; • EEO, Diversity, and No FEAR Policy Statement provide a summary of VA’s workplace policies; • VHA ODI, the D&I Subcommittee, and the Equal Employment Opportunity\Affirmative Employment Office coordinated on the VA Directive 5975 revision; • VHA ODI discussed the VA Directive 5975 and the EEO, Diversity, and No FEAR Policy Statement on the VHA VISN Lead EEO Manager’s call during this quarter; and, • VHA EEO/AEO completed the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) Management Directive (MD) 715.
Activity 2: Continue to work with Department of Defense and veterans groups to address compensation of Filipino veterans of World War II. Meeting conducted with DoD and Veterans groups. VA's CMV continued posting the Filipino WWII Veterans Equity data received from VBA on a monthly basis on the CMV website. CMV maintained continuous dialogue with the White House Initiative on Asian American and Pacific Islanders staff. The CMV was the lead and the coordinator for the first AAPI Round Table in January 2012 and continues to dialogue with many of the AAPI community participants from the 2012 meeting on an adhoc basis. CMV host meetings with the White House representatives on the AAPI to follow up on Actions from 2013 meeting with the SECVA's AAPI Advisory Commission. 1. VA's AAPI Veterans Liaison in the CMV regularly maintains contact with Filipino community leaders and, Filipino WWII Veterans. 2. VA's VBA’s Minority Veterans Program Coordinators (MVPC) provides status of claims updates to Filipino WWII Veterans and their family members. Updates are also provided to the Filipino Veterans Equity Compensation (FVEC) Data via the VA's website. Language Access Increase access to VA programs by providing culturally and linguistically appropriate services. Activity 1: Confer with Department of Justice to evaluate status of agency plan related to Executive Order 13166. Meeting conducted with DOJ. VA submitted its updated Limited English Proficiency (LEP) plan to the Department of Justice (DOJ) in January 2012. DOJ conducted a primary and secondary review of the plan. Follow-up communication with DOJ on April 10 and September 19, 2013 confirm that final review of VA’s LEP is still pending. When the final review is complete, DOJ will contact VA to discuss the results. Activity 2: Identify agency materials that reach an AAPI audience and monitor to ensure that materials are culturally and linguistically appropriate. Agency materials identified for cultural and linguistic appropriateness. 1. NCA has hired its first bi-lingual (English-Spanish speaking) employee at the NCA Scheduling Office in St. Louis, MO. In FY 2013, NCA sent out announcements for three additional bi-lingual positions, which were marketed in targeted group regional areas, including areas with large concentrations of AAPI populations. NCA continues to employ the implementation plan (Directive 5979) to institute LEP at NCA. This policy
The TCF program is a 2-year program, so the data reflect hires brought on beginning in summer 2011 and summer 2012 and who were active in the program during FY 2013. This data does not include TCF hires entering the program during 4th Quarter FY 2013 because their class will continue through 1st Quarter FY 2014. HCLDP is a 1-year program, but the data are for the 2012 class, which did not graduate until June 2013 due to delays in securing approval to conduct the final training class. There was no new HCLDP class initiated in FY 2013. The HCEF participants entered the program in July 2012 and graduated in August 2013. The next class of HCEF fellows will not start until FY 2014. • The following data contains the total number of participants in each program for FY 2013 and the percentage who identified themselves as AAPI participants*: Program/Total # of Participants in FY 2013/ Percent AAPI Facility LEAD / 1,100 / 4.55 percent VISN LEAD / 391 / 6.14 percent HCLDP / 56 / 8.92 percent HCEF / 6 / 0.00 percent GHATP / 45 / 11.11 percent TCF / 547 / 6.76 percent *Note: The TCF program is a 2-year program; data reflects hires from summers 2011/2012 that were active during FY 2013. *Note: TCF hires for 4th Qtr. of FY 2013, are excluded from the calculations as hiring efforts continue through
Activity 3: Improve the quality, access, and value of mental health care provided to AAPI Veterans. Target 1 - Percent of New Mental Health Appointments Completed within 14 days of the Create Date for the Appointment and Percent of Established Mental Health Patients with a Scheduled Appointment within 14 days of the Desired Date for the Appointment. Target 2 - 97% of eligible patients will be screened at required intervals for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Target 3 - 97% of all eligible patients will be screened at required intervals for alcohol misuse. Target 4 - 96% of all eligible patients will be screened for depression. As per national policy, achieve a minimum of 95 percent implementation of all required services at all VHA medical facilities and Health Care Systems Target 1- • Based on the most current data available, as of June 30, 2013, 66.4 percent of Veterans new to a mental service had completed their appointment within 14 days of the created appointment date. • Based on the most current data available, as of June 30, 2013, VHA screened 95.6 percent of established Veterans in a mental health services for follow-up appointments within 14 days of the desired date. Target 2- • Based on the most current data, as of June 30, 2013, VHA screened 98.4 percent of eligible patients at required intervals for post-traumatic stress disorder. Target 3- • Based on the most current data available, as of June 30, 2013, VHA screened 96.8 percent of eligible patients at required intervals for alcohol misuse. While VHA is still measuring, these are no longer performance metrics for VHA as of FY 2010. We continue to monitor and support facilities/ VISNs to develop action plans if the screening numbers fall off substantially. To date, performance remains high. Target 4- • Based on the most current data available, as of June 30, 2013, VHA screened 96 percent of eligible patients at required intervals for depression.