Mayor’s Office of Veterans Affairs

The District has no state veterans department. It has the Office of Veterans Affairs, created by the Office of Veterans Affairs Establishment Act of 2001 as an office under the Mayor, and now presented as the Mayor's Office of Veterans Affairs within the Mayor's Office of Community Affairs. What the statute tells it to do. D.C. Code 49-1003 makes its "primary purpose" to "provide advocacy support ... and information services to veterans, their dependents, and their survivors concerning federal and District laws". Among its duties it is to seek recognition by VA as the District's "State organization", employ VA-accredited staff, keep an archive of DD-214s, represent veterans on appeals to the Board of Veterans' Appeals, and, in paragraph (4), "Satisfy the unmet needs of veterans ... through federal benefits insofar as practicable instead of through District government benefits". Paragraph (6A) lets it make grants, and paragraph (26) is the free ride programme described in the VetsRide entry. Who runs it. The Director is appointed by the Mayor with the advice and consent of the Council under D.C. Code 49-1002. The Council deemed the confirmation of Julian Purdy approved in Council Period 26, and the Office's page lists him as Director. What it does for you. Its District Veteran Service Officers help with VA disability compensation claims, VA health care enrollment, VA pension and VA burial claims at no charge. It takes the applications for the disabled veterans homestead deduction and certifies the disability to the Office of Tax and Revenue. It runs a grant programme for veteran service providers. Every District agency that uses the standardized assistance application must ask whether the applicant is a veteran and forward those that say yes to the Office, under D.C. Code 4-126. Where the money comes from. The Office of Veterans Affairs Fund in D.C. Code 49-1004 receives the application and display fees for the veteran, women veteran and Purple Heart licence plates. Any balance left at the end of a fiscal year goes back to the District's general fund. Contact. One Judiciary Square, 441 4th Street NW, Washington, DC 20001; (202) 724-5454; [email protected]. The Office's page gives the suite as 707 North; the Office of Tax and Revenue's page gives it as 770 N. Call before visiting. Who is a veteran for the Office. D.C. Code 49-1001(4) still defines a veteran for this chapter as a District resident with two years of honorable active service in five named branches, or a World War II Merchant Mariner. The Office's pages do not apply that test to claims help, and the federal claims it files have their own rules.