Expanding Community Arts Engagement Programs and Partnerships in the Department of Veterans Affairs
Adopted at the 92nd Annual Meeting in 2024
WHEREAS, The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) offers Veterans comprehensive creative arts therapies utilizing creative modalities and evidence-based clinical treatment interventions to promote recovery, rehabilitation and wellness, targeted towards improving cognition and sensorimotor function, emotional resilience, social and coping skills, and facilitating Veterans' engagement in their community; and
WHEREAS, participation in community arts engagement programs continues the healing benefits that Veterans experience in clinical programs by providing ongoing opportunities to improve creative expression and socio-emotional skills, as well as build positive social connections with others in their community; and
WHEREAS, effective community arts engagement programs and partnerships are aligned with and can play an important role in achieving the VHA's 2022-2025 Strategic Plan Priorities, including but not limited to, supporting Veterans' whole health, their caregivers and survivors, and progress towards preventing Veteran suicide by scaling best practices, driving innovative and equitable solutions, in particular for women, minorities, and LGBTQ+ Veterans; and
WHEREAS, community arts engagement can help make strides towards modernizing the VA infrastructure by fully leveraging national, state, and local/regional arts service organizations and program providers; and
WHEREAS, in FY2024, Congress included funding in the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations bill for $5 million for Creative Arts Therapies and $5 million for community partnerships through the VA; and
WHEREAS, the Office of Patient Centered Care and Cultural Transformation (OPCCCT) collaborated with the Office of Recreation and Creative Arts Therapy Services to successfully administer this seed funding during the pandemic, including substantially increasing the number of creative arts therapists (CATs) providing direct services to Veterans throughout the country, particularly in rural areas that did not have them, adapting the VA Arts and Humanities for Greater Health and Well-being training programs to support local VA teams' pivot to implementing local community arts programs virtually helping to reduce Veteran social isolation during the pandemic, and supporting local innovative arts-based technology interventions that provided virtual reality equipment across 65 VHA sites, which in turn provided virtual experiences for Veterans focused on the arts; and
WHEREAS, over the past eight years more than 85 VA healthcare teams have received training through the VA Arts and Humanities for Greater Health and Well-being for Veterans project, a public/private sector effort conducted by the Office of Patient-Centered Care and Cultural Transformation, the Office of Recreation and Creative Arts Therapy, the VA Center for Development & Civic Engagement (CDCE), and Americans for the Arts, in collaboration with the VA Office of Research and Development (ORD) Quality Enhancement Research Initiative (QUERI), the National Center for Healthcare Advancement and Partnerships, Office of Community Engagement and Veteran Community Partnerships; and
WHEREAS, the success of these efforts and the growing interest from local VHA facilities to participate has revealed gaps in the existing internal and external infrastructure to build the capacity to support, including maintaining long-term relationships with community arts partnerships and collaborating with partners to evaluate their impact; and
WHEREAS, in order to provide their full impact, community arts partners need support in understanding the needs of Veterans and their families, in making connections with Veterans Affairs Medical Centers (VAMCs), and assistance in developing the appropriate tools and methods to evaluate their program's effectiveness; and
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that The United States Conference of Mayors supports House Veterans Appropriations Subcommittee's Ranking Member Rep. Chellie Pingree's proposal for $25 million in the FY25 Military Construction, Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill to the Department of Veterans Affairs' Veterans Health Administration (VHA), Office of the Under Secretary for Health, to initiate and build the necessary public/private sector infrastructure and capacity that supports stronger clinic to community collaborations and advances grassroots and innovative solutions, practices and knowledge in the arts and humanities across VHA national offices, VAMCs and Vet Centers, VISNs and the local arts ecosystem; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that The United States Conference of Mayors encourages the Congress to provide funding to the Veterans Health Administration to expand the number of Creative Arts Therapists (CATs), especially for CATs of color, throughout VHA; increase support and educational training to local community arts partnerships and programs for Veterans, their families, caregivers and survivors, and connected to VHA priorities; implement a national program evaluation pilot and research agenda for both creative arts therapies and community arts partnerships in order to document and report on the efficacy of arts and humanities-based interventions, and; as needed, engage a national non-governmental organization and academic partners to provide additional operational and subject matter expertise, and related community-oriented programs and services, to execute the project.