Jacksonville partners with local and state organizations for a Veteran and family needs survey

Jacksonville — Mayor Lenny Curry reaches out in partnership with Endeavors, a San Antonio based service organization along with Jacksonville’s Combined Arms Institute, and UNF’s Center for Community Initiatives to offer a needs assessment survey to Veterans and their families.

The 10-minute, anonymous survey identifies the gaps of services for Northeast Florida Veterans and their families to ultimately determine the feasibility of building a brick and mortar Veteran wellness center in Northeast Florida.

As one-third of America’s military calls Florida home, the state is said to lack the necessary data to accurately and efficiently serve the Veteran community. The first of its kind launched in Northeast Florida, the data collected by the community for the community, will underscore and identify the needs of veterans and their families.

Noting Jacksonville as a military town, Mayor Curry says he remains committed to supporting Jacksonville’s 75,000 active duty service members.

“This survey will help us determine what our veterans need and develop a plan to address it,” he said.

Bill Spann, The City’s director of military affairs, described Mayor Curry as being instrumental in leading the efforts to serve Jacksonville’s Veterans.

Ben Miranda, the director of business operations for Endeavors described their wellness model as one that integrates mental and physical health care with holistic treatments and support services to” improve the quality of life and decrease suicide among Veterans.”

“Our Wellness Model has been successful in saving lives and enhancing the quality of life for Veterans and their families,” he said.

Kelly Finnstormouer, Director of the Combined Arms Institute, highlighted the importance of the resulting assessments in providing data-driven insights about current social services landscapes for all Veterans.

Founded by veterans for veterans in Houston, TX, Combined Arms Institute delivers innovative technology solutions that improve the quality of life for veterans & military families. According to a recent press release, the Institute streamlines the connection between service members, veterans, and their families to organizations that serve them.

“Through our community resource referral system, clients find needed resources and connect quickly and directly to service providers to get assistance to thrive professionally and personally,” they said. “To date, we’ve served more than 55,000 veterans and military-connected individuals, connecting them to over 1000 social services and resources provided by our growing network of vetted Member Organizations.”

The survey will be open until 9/21, and can be accessed at www.combinedarms.us/northeastfloridavets. Jacksonville’s Military and veterans coalition will assist with the dissemination and outreach of information.

Veterans and their families will have the opportunity to learn more about the survey at a Townhall event slated for September 1, 2022.

To take the survey or for more information about the Townhall, please visit www.combinedarms.us/northeastfloridavets

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