Capt. Maureen Pennington, commanding officer of Naval Health Clinic New England, Newport, and Arlene Chamberland, director of the Naval Station Newport Fleet and Family Support Center were two of the nearly 60 guests assembled, Jan. 25, for the Veterans Services Leadership Summit.

The event, held at the Rhode Island National Guard Armory, was chaired by Rep. Jan Malik of R.I., House Committee on Veterans Affairs; Sen. Walter Felag of R.I., Senate Committee on Special Legislation and Veterans Affairs; Brig. Gen. Christopher Callahan, the adjutant general and commanding general of the R.I. National Guard and Kim Ripoli, associate director, R.I. Division of Veterans Affairs.

The summit was an invitation-only event extended to leaders throughout the state involved in providing services to veterans from all branches of the service.

There is strong public support for R.I's veterans and their families.

This "sea of goodwill" has led to numerous programs and services for those who have served and those who support them at home.

However, there is no clear access point for veterans and military families to engage this support and the services that have sprung from it.

Without a collaborative, coordinated effort to address this challenge, too many veterans who have shouldered the burden of our nation's wars will continue to miss out on opportunities to improve their health and their economic well-being.

"When we leave here tonight, I hope we have some consolidated agreement on what the baseline of services are across the spectrum of support," Callahan said during his opening remarks.

Each attendee was provided with a Veterans Services Leadership Questionnaire asking for details on their respective organization's mission and the types of primary services their organizations deliver to veterans.

For the personnel from Naval Station Newport, those services are primarily limited to those veterans and active duty members who have access to the installation and are eligible for support.

Active duty have priority for all services offered onboard the installation but retired veterans and their family members can use many of the services offered through the Fleet and Family Support Center (FFSC) -- Transition Assistance is mandatory for retiring/separating military.

Resume writing workshops; financial management workshops; counseling services; a Veterans Affairs (VA) benefits advisor visits monthly and FFSC personnel are routinely out in the community assisting with job fairs and other veteran/active duty-related events.

"We work really hard to take care of those separating military to make sure that they are directed to the appropriate services," Pennington said.

"It's extremely important to us that we recognize the responsibility we have to take care of those who serve and those who served," she said when speaking to the group on the work conducted by Naval Health Clinic New England.

Naval Station Newport includes 50 separate Navy, Marine Corps, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Army Reserve, and joint commands and departments with over 11,000 personnel coming to the base daily to work and train.

Many of the civil servants currently employed by these commands are also veterans and eligible for veteran services outside the fence line.

The need for a central repository of information on services offered was repeated several times throughout the night.

Erik Wallin, executive director of Operation Stand-Down Rhode Island, an organization with a mission to help homeless and at-risk veterans secure stable housing as well as other assistance according to individual needs, spoke about how their group began with a mission of housing but saw a gap in services then took on training and employment missions.

"We need a coordinated crew of case managers to direct folks to the appropriate channels for help," he said.

The Navy in R.I., will continue to support these efforts through assisting the veteran support community and the R.I. Division of Veterans Affairs with a community Veterans Engagement Board.

The board is going to be modeled on the "MyVA Communities" model. This model provides a supportive framework for community leaders to coordinate locally with VA leaders to develop new community veterans engagement boards.

"The VA is appreciative of those community leaders around the country who have been so active and we look forward to strengthening our collaboration and collective impact," Wallin said.

The focus of the R.I. initiative will be on employment, workforce development and education.

Much more to follow as these efforts for more clearly identifying resources and ways to access the support needed by our veterans and their families continues.

For more information on the Leadership Summit, contact Mike Jolin at the R.I. Division of Veterans Affairs, Michael.jolin@dhs.ri.gov; and for information on Veterans Centers and benefits, go to http://www.vetcenter.va.gov/.

For more news from Naval Station Newport, visit www.navy.mil/.