SLC is among the “Most Patriotic Cities,” but how many veterans are taking advantage of their benefits?

The Utah Department of Veterans and Military Affairs has supported mental health, business and recreational options for veterans

Written by Alixel Cabrera for Utah News Report

If patriotism can be measured by the amount of support veterans receive and certain forms of civic engagement, Salt Lake City ranks fifth among the nation’s most patriotic cities.

That’s what a study from Veterans United Home Loans found when it studied the veteran population, the presence of Veterans Affairs health facilities, veteran-owned businesses, Google search interest in Veterans Day and voter turnout, according to the Veterans study United Home Loans. website.

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Salt Lake City has a relatively small veteran population, the lender wrote. But the services and community support for that community are “disproportionately high.” There are more than 1,280 veteran-owned businesses in the city. That, in addition to a turnout of more than 90% in the 2020 general election, gave Utah’s capital a high rating among 99 other metropolitan areas.

But now that these local numbers have increased with voting participation, you may be wondering about the status of the 140,000 veterans living in Utah. A state agency that helps veterans access federal programs has some insight.

The Utah Department of Veterans and Military Affairs helps veterans access specific benefits, including VA health care, housing assistance, education and free admission to state parks, said Taylor Ricks, the office’s director of communications.

“It can be quite difficult to get those claims through the VA. It’s a pretty big organization, so it can be quite annoying,” Ricks says of the work his office does. ‘And we come in as a kind of intermediaries or practitioners, if you may; we help walk them through that process and help them get approved.”

Mental health care and education

In addition to the more than 500 different claims the agency helps handle each month, it also implements veteran suicide prevention initiatives with the Department of Health and Human Services, helping to course specifically for suicide prevention measures among military personnel, including tools to recognize suicidal ideation or a mental health crisis.

“We know that veterans accounted for about 12% of suicide deaths here in the state in 2023, and they make up about 5% of the population,” Ricks said. “So you can kind of see the disparity there.”

The state has also hired a Family Programs Manager for military families who may be relocating for various assignments, including helping children adjust to different educational programs.

“A lot of it is child education, and a lot of it can be therapy,” Ricks said. “They recently added some mental health therapists in the districts at Hill Air Force Base that are specific to the military children. And so that’s something that goes hand in hand with this family programs manager.

Businesses and homes

Beyond that, the Veteran Business Resource Center, which partners with Salt Lake Community College to help veterans get started with their business ventures, has supported the creation of more than 1,500 businesses, Ricks said, including food trucks, restaurants, coffee shops and videography and production companies .

On the housing front, aside from the home loans backed by the VA, the state has a start-up grant that provides about $2,500 to those who have been out of service in the past year. The $500,000 the Legislature appropriates each year is enough to fund 181 grants per year, Ricks said.

Recreation

The legislature has a account last General Session, which appropriated $200,000 to provide free admission to state parks for veterans who are Utah residents and have a current service-connected disability rating issued by the U.S. Veterans Benefits Administration. Lawmakers also created a pilot program to expand benefits to all veterans with an Interagency Military-Lifetime Pass to National Parks.

The Utah Department of Veterans and Military Affairs hopes the pilot can grow into a long-term program, Ricks said, because interest in it has been high.

“Within a few weeks of the announcement, registrations were full,” he said of the 1,600 passes offered through a newsletter and emails.

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