(Photo Credit: City of Jacksonville)
Endeavors has partnered with Combined Arms, the City of Jacksonville and the University of North Florida’s Center for Community Initiatives to conduct a needs assessment for Veterans and Military Families in the Northeast Florida region. The survey launched on August 10th, 2022 and will close September 21, 2022. Active duty, Guard, Reserve, Veterans, Military & Veteran Families, employers and veteran-serving organizations are encouraged to participate in the survey. The results from the assessment will allow the community to have data driven insights about the current veteran support landscape and identify opportunities for collaboration with the city, state, and other veteran-serving providers that highlight gaps in services without duplicating resources.
Florida is home to one of the largest Veteran populations in the US, but there is little to no data to accurately express the needs of Veterans residing in the sunshine state. Endeavors, is a longstanding national non-profit that provides an array of programs and services in support of children, families, Veterans and those struggling with mental illness and other disabilities, has partnered with Combined Arms to accurately assess the needs of the Veteran population in Northeast Florida. The 2022 Northeast Florida Veteran & Family Needs Assessment research is being led by The UNF Center for Community Initiatives. The Center for Community Initiatives, led by Dr. Jeff Will, is an applied Sociology research center at the University of North Florida, and part of the Department of Sociology Anthropology and Social Work. The overarching goal of this survey is to identify the needs of Veterans and families in the greater Jacksonville area and surrounding counties to create a way ahead for VSO’s serving in these underserved communities.
The data collected from the assessment will be publicly shared and will benefit the whole community to understand the gaps in services as well as the needs of the military-connected community. This ground breaking opportunity to assess the needs of such a large veteran population in Florida is in a place where this kind of research has never been done before.
The survey is being disseminated in a variety of ways: you can access it by the link below, through collaborative partners or by QR code on handouts around town. This survey is anonymous and has no identifying information.
The Survey, upcoming town hall information and the final results can be accessed at: www.combinedarms.us/northeastfloridavets
See the Fox 30 Action News JAX feature here.