Grant will aid Veterans with transportation needs in Union County
By Shannon Weidemann (McKone) on Thursday, March 17th, 2022 in More Top Stories Northeastern Oregon News
LA GRANDE – (Release from Oregon Department of Transportation) In collaboration with its partners at the Oregon Department of Veterans’ Affairs (ODVA), Public Transportation Division (PTD) completed the first of two 2021-23 RVHT solicitations under House Bill 2139. Per OAR 732-020-0030, PTD consulted a committee of veterans and allied professionals in veterans’ services, transit, and healthcare to evaluate applications and developed an initial slate of 2021-23 project funding recommendations to present for Public Transportation Advisory Committee (PTAC) consideration at its January 3, 2022 meeting. PTAC forwarded their recommendation for the first round of Rural Veteran Healthcare Transportation (RVHT) program grants for the 2022 solicitation, amounting to $337,032, to the Oregon Transportation Commission (OTC) for approval on January 20, 2022.
In January and February 2022 the RVHT Project Scoring and Selection Committee reconvened to review 10 applications (including a statewide application) containing 11 projects for combined total requests of $637,496. At the second meeting in February, the Committee reached consensus on a recommendation of 10 projects for a total funding package of $312,968, which represents the balance of the $650,000 in available funding for the 2022 solicitation. This recommendation was presented to PTAC at their March 7, 2022 meeting, and PTAC forwarded their recommendation to the OTC for approval at their March 10, 2022 meeting.
These awards included:
Sunset Empire Transportation Service District Mobility Management $40,000
SETD will develop relationships with local transportation providers, including DAV, to help facilitate better access to local medical appointments for local disabled Veterans and travel training materials to further those relationships.
Tillamook County Transportation Service District Operations $11,500
This funding supplements a $41,500 award from the previous round of this solicitation. The project is a partnership with the local VSO office to provide veterans transportation to VA clinics and continue to connect with DAV van to expand the reach of medical rides for veterans.
Coos Area Transit Operations $25,000
Continues the “Coos Go Vets” program to reach the nearly half of veterans in the service area that live outside of urban growth boundaries and conduct further outreach using the Go Vets brand.
Gilliam County Operations $10,000
Supplements funding from the Federal Highly Rural Veterans Transportation (HRVT) program. The HRVT funding doesn’t fully fund local veterans’ transportation services and this funding help will make those services whole.
Lake County Purchased Service $10,796
This funding supplements a $10,000 award from the previous round of this solicitation to continue to offer medical rides to local veterans. Supplements an otherwise insufficient level of funding under the federal HRVT program.
Morrow County Operations/Purchased Service $55,000
This applicant had two projects approved for funding. The first project provides $45,000 in Operations funding, which will supplement a $45,000 award under the HRVT program. The local veterans’ transportation program will continue to provide veterans transportation to VA hospitals and clinics as far away as Boise, Walla Walla and Portland, which are many hours driving distance from Morrow County.
The second project provides $10,000 in funding for purchased service to offer demand responsive veterans transportation services to VA hospitals outside of Morrow County. Extensive outreach via local channels and the VSO will be conducted to promote the service.
Grant County Transportation District Operations $22,200
Supplements the service previously funded by the Federal Highly Rural Veterans program while providing veterans with an enhanced range of healthcare alternatives, services, and practitioners.
Union County Purchased Service $40,000
Provides fare free, demand responsive access to VA hospitals and clinics as far away as Boise, Walla Walla and Portland, which take hours to reach from Union County.
Public Transportation Division $98,472
This project promulgates the GoVets program, statewide, through a convenient set of modern tools. Rogue Valley Transportation District (RVTD) will provide the hands-on consulting and outreach support to communities receiving RVHT funding and engage veterans to optimize use of program resources.
OTC approved the projects listed above at the March 10, 2022 meeting. ODOT Public Transportation Division intends to deliver agreements for local signature in early April and is considering pre-award authority to January 1, 2022 for projects that are continuing services from RVHT’s pilot funding cycle.
