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The DAV has worked hand-in-hand with the WLP on several projects. They include a computer-based job matching workshop for veterans in Washington, D.C., and hosting several press conferences and a reception on behalf of the VVLP.

The DAV has also printed several articles explaining the design and accomplishments of the WLP in its magazine. In March 1983, DAV National Commander Edward G. Galian wrote:

"The material contributions of WLP can be measured. Demon-
strably, this program has earned the support of the people
of the United States. But what is perhaps WLP's greatest
accomplishment cannot be as easily measured as job placements
or hours dedicated to volunteer activities. I'm speaking
of what WLP has done to restore pride, dignity and integrity
of those who served our nation faithfully in the Vietnam war.
WLP's focus on the positive has done much to dispell the
tendency of too many to view the men and women who served
in Southeast Asia as the victims or worse yet the villains
of the Vietnam war. This program has done more than any
other federal initiative to demonstrate that Vietnam veterans
are winners, not losers. It has shown the veterans, them-
selves, that they have earned the right to hold their heads
high, having proven their courage and their willingness to
sacrifice for their country.

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"Restoration of pride, dignity and integrity to those who
served in Vietnam and elsewhere in Southeast Asia has been
a goal of the Disabled American Veterans since the early
days of the Vietnam war the dark days during which these
men and women were being villified on America's campuses
and even in the streets of our nation's capital.

"As I've noted, WLP's achievements in the effort to restore
Vietnam veterans to the place of honor in which America has
always held its war veterans cannot be measured. But to
see the difference that a renewed pride can make in the
life of just one veteran who has been troubled in his
readjustment tells a story that makes a deep impression.
To multiply that difference by all the veterans who have
been helped by other Vietnam veterans through WVLP is the
only way to see the true value of this program.

"The DAV will continue to support WVLP, cooperating in any
way possible, to assist this vital program in bringing the
positive force of Vietnam veterans to the fore."

Additionally, each year the national officers of the VVLP have been invited to attend The national convention of the Veterans Service Organizations as participants.

In February 1983, American Legion National Commander Al Keller, Jr. wrote:

"As National Commander of this nation's largest
veterans' organization, I know your Vietnam Leadership
Program shares our deep concern over the pressing
problems of Vietnam veterans. In just a short period
of time the Leadership Program has restored to many
veterans a sense of worth and self-dignity."

The WLP staff has drafted legislation to expand the Veterans Readjustment Act (VRA) and presented the draft to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). The Director of the OPM then, with few adjustments, requested that the draft be introduced into legislation as the administration's policy on the extension and expansion of the VRA.

Introduced as H.R. 5398, the bill passed the full house on August 4, 1984. The Bill contains the following points: Extend the VRA until September 30, 1987; increase the grade level at which a Vietnam or disabled Veteran may be appointed from GS-7 to GS-11; H.R. 5398 will also eliminate the provision that restricts veterans with more than 60 college credit hours from VRA appointments. To date the bill has not been introduced in the Senate.

The WLP's national staff has also worked with a number of federal agencies to implement the Job Training Partnership Act and the Emergency Veterans Jobs Training Act. It has testified on the implementation of the EVJTA before the House Veterans Affairs Committee.

The WLP has worked in cooperation with the full array of agencies such as the Veterans Administration to refer veterans to appropriate offices regarding veterans benefits and services. The WLP, not being a direct service provider, has offered instead a valuable service in providing information, and in counselling and referring veterans in non-medical and non-therapeutic matters.

In general, WLP's task in this field has been to increase veterans' acceptance and understanding of these traditional benefit and service providers and, as appropriate, play a positive role in the coordination of those benefits and services. From the beginning, the VVLP has been a bridge between the public and private sectors, has been seen as an important means of effecting coordination between all the various entities involved in veterans benefits and services. This is an absolutely necessary task, one which VVLP has pursued vigorously.

Oftentimes, the general public and the veteran alike have the mistaken impression that the Veterans Administration provides all benefits and services for veterans. In reality, veterans benefits and services are arrayed across a patchwork quilt of public and private entities and within separate departments of large organizations such as the Veterans Administration and the Department of Labor.

The WLP's project directors have had to learn their way around this maze in order to provide effective referrals for individual veterans who request assistance. In the aggregate, the WLP network has counselled over 24,000 veterans in the past 36 months and referred more than 11,000 mostly on employment matters. In most cases, the referrals are made to the local job service (which is often called the employment security office, employment office, or human resources department, or even the unemployment office). In other cases, the appropriate referral has been to the Veteran Administration's vocational rehabilitation office or to a service officer with a Veterans' Service Organization.

For example, Delaware VVLP played a key role in the development of an annual event called "Vet Info." Bringing together the WLP, Veterans Administration, Small Business Administration, Social Security Administration, Internal Revenue Service, Department of Labor, Dover Air Force Base, New Castle County, Delaware Office of Personnel, several large private-sector employers such as DuPont, educational institutions and others, the two-day event focused on the many benefits and services available on the individual veterans who attended, and how to gain access to them.

Mare needs to be done to improve acceptance among veterans of those who provide services to the veteran, and to encourage these service providers to step across boundaries to make their services more effective. In the meantime, the VVLP has been one of the organizations that have made the effort, and has done so successfully.

The issue of coordination and collaboration is very important to Vietnam veterans. They constitute a part of a broader social system and interact with it. The current population The current population of the United States for example, includes 28.1 million veterans. Same 22.97 million of them served during war time. This figure-nearly 23 millionrepresents 59 per cent of all Americans who ever served in war during the country's two-century history. Of the total population of 22.97 million living war veterans, approximately 9.0 million served during the Vietnam war era, including approximately 3.0 million who served in and around Vietnam in the war zone. Same 68 organizations are recognized by the Veterans Administration as providing aid, assistance or services to these veterans. Seventeen of these organizations are chartered by Congress and are "recognized or approved"

by the administrator of the Veterans Administration for purposes of assisting veterans obtain benefits under the law. When the number of veterans to be served by more than 68 organizations is taken into account, the need for coordination can be seen very clearly.

With the determination that funding through ACTION would terminate three years from the start of the program, the continuation of programs beyond September 30, 1984 requires that WLPs individually seek other sources of support. Thus far most of the success in this area has been achieved through the acquisition of Jobs Training Partnership Act (JTPA) Title IV-C funds. A few programs have utilized their volunteer resources in conducting fundraising activities in mutually beneficial projects within the local community. Many programs are also soliciting funding from corporations and foundations.

ACTION's role until September 30, 1984 has been to:

Continue programmatic support with emphasis on projects
enhancing the stature of the network and its ability to
obtain necessary financial resources.

Participate with the programs in assisting the national
network as it takes on the full responsibilities for
representation of WLP.

Facilitate grant close-out procedures.

Prepare a final report on the establishment and per-
formance of the VVLP network.

Several actions were taken and commitments made to perpetuate WLP at the last national conference held in Washington, D.C. on February 29 through March 3, 1984. A strategy session was held at that time by program chairmen and other volunteers. The meeting was chaired by Kenneth Moorefield, National WLP Director at ACTION, and Mark Treanor, Chairman of the Maryland WLP. The following key points were agreed upon by the participants, as was stated in the conference planning document that was mailed out prior to the Future Planning Conference that was held in June 1984 in Chicago:

"The initial purpose of organizing WVLP was to help our
fellow Vietnam veterans. One of the most effective ways to
accomplish this was to create a network. Influence through-
out our country is achieved through effective networking."

"The challenge before us now is to determine how to use the
network we have created to respond to the leadership issues of
the future. It is our responsibility to ensure that those who
served in the Vietnam war provide to society the benefit of their
experience and their sense of service. Guaranteeing the
perpetuation and strengthening of our network enables us to more
effectively define the opportunities for service and provide the
leadership required.

"There is tremendous strength in the WLP represented by the
fifty individual programs working together to achieve common
goals. In order to coordinate the strategy and share informa-
tion or represent the collective interest of VVLP, a national
office is necessary. This entity could be used to obtain finan-
cial resources on behalf of the entire network; act as the
organization's eyes and ears on a national basis and organize
conferences and present position papers on issues of concern to
the network."

The assembled veterans unanimously passed the following motions:
To keep the network together.

To continue with the establishment of a national non-profit
corporation as a vehicle for achieving this. Mark Treanor
was designated the interim Chairman of the new corporation.
To adopt a broad leadership focus for the network and work
to place vietnam veterans in leadership positions at all
levels of society. Information should specifically be
shared to help each other with job and business oppor-
tunities.

To hold another national conference in a centrally located
state as soon as possible for the purpose of bringing the
above mentioned into reality.

The overwhelming sentiment at the conference in March 1984 was to continue efforts to help veterans, and also to broaden the role of the leadership network in American society. The atmosphere was alive with promise, almost as though a suppressed idealism from the 1960s was surfacing again, although in a tempered and tested form. This urge to serve is the basic element-the fundamental building block-in every healthy community in a democratic sociePatrick Gilstrap, National Small Business Development Director, who served as a marine in Vietnam, said: