Strategic Activity 2: Identify agency materials that reach an AAPI audience and monitor to ensure that materials are culturally and linguistically appropriate. During FY14/FY15, the Equal Employment Office (EEO/AEO) will monitor the effectiveness of VHA’s language assistance programs to ensure written documents for applicants, clients, and the public are available in regularly encountered languages as needed. VHA offices will monitor the need for written material requirements for the AAPI community to ensure our materials are culturally and linguistically appropriate. 1. VHA’s EEO/AEO is finalizing an electronic publication of a booklet entitled Translation of Frequently Asked Questions in the Emergency Department. This booklet will feature questions in 12 different languages including Chinese, Korean, Filipino, Thai, and Vietnamese. The anticipated date of completion and distribution is September 30, 2014. 2. VBA’s Manila regional office and outpatient clinic has produced outreach materials in Tagalog. These documents include FAQs on VA benefits, a Tagalog version of the Filipino Veterans Equity Compensation (FVEC) program, etc. Strategic Activity 3: Assess and address need for in-language services across programs. For FY14/FY15, the EEO/AEO will monitor VHA facilities’ use of contract medical interpreters for Veterans and their family members. This practice will VHA maintains contract interpreter services primarily at the facility level while some Veterans Integrated Services Networks (VISN) maintains contracts for the entire VISN. All VHA facilities utilize interpreter services.
5. FY14 goal statement: In partnership, Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and VA aim to reduce the number of Veterans living on the streets, experiencing homelessness, to zero (as measured by the 2016 point in time count). Strategic Activity 1: Identify locations of high populations of homeless Veterans and develop measures and tracking systems to track the status of homeless Veterans by race, ethnicity, and gender. In FY14/FY15, utilize data from the Homeless Operations Management and Evaluation System (HOMES) and other VA data systems to identify homeless Veterans by race, ethnicity, and gender. 1. VHA Homeless Program Office (HPO) March 2014 Mid-Year update: Eliminating homelessness among Veterans will advance the mission of VHA HPO, to ensure that all Veterans and their families achieve housing stability. Access to accurate and timely data is fundamental to the success of VA's continuum of homeless services and support of VA's efforts to prevent and end homelessness among all Veterans. The Homeless Operations Management and Evaluation System (HOMES) is used nationwide by VHA staff to enter and update homeless Veteran data. The system streamlines data collection processes and facilitates communication between VA homeless program staff and leadership on the local, regional, and national levels. By providing a centralized data collection system, HOMES enables VA to efficiently and effectively collect, manage, and access homeless Veteran data. According to HOMES, in FY13, the national percentage of Veterans who self-identified as Asian American, who were assessed for homelessness in VHA's homeless programs, was 0.5 percent, and for Veterans who self-identified as Hawaiian/Pacific Islander was 0.7 percent. The greatest concentration of Asian American homeless Veterans assessed were in Veterans Integrated Service Networks (VISN) 3, 21, and 22. For Veterans who identified as Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, nationally, the highest percentages assessed were in VISNs 21 and 22. These concentrations are in line with the 2011 Census Bureau statistics, that the largest concentrations of individuals who identified as AA/PI were in CA, NY, HI, TX, NJ, and IL.