Arizona Department of Veterans' Services

Arizona
Department of Veterans' Services

Agency overview
Formed	1925 (Cabinet rank 1999)
Preceding agency	Arizona Veterans' Commission
Jurisdiction	State of Arizona
Headquarters	3839 North 3rd Street, Suite 209 Phoenix, AZ U.S.
Agency executives	Wanda Wright, Director of Veterans' Services
Website	www.azdvs.gov

Arizona Department of Veterans' Services

History

Arizona has provided services to Arizona Veterans since 1925, when it created the position of Veterans’ Service Officer. This position was abolished in 1951 and replaced by the Arizona Veterans’ Service Commission. In 1973, the Commission was integrated into the Department of Economic Security. Primarily at the request of various Veterans’ organizations, the Governor reestablished the Commission as a separate agency in 1982. In 1999, the Legislature separated the Commission from the agency by making the Commission an advisory body and creating a separate Department of Veterans’ Services headed by a governor-appointed director.

Today's Department

The Arizona Department of Veterans’ Services provides direct services to Veterans through the administration of 19 Veterans Benefits Offices throughout the state to help Veterans connect with their VA benefits, two skilled nursing Veteran Home facilities in Phoenix and Tucson to provide short and long term care, one Veterans' Memorial Cemetery in Sierra Vista with additional cemeteries planned in Northern Arizona and Marana, and a Fiduciary to provide conservator and guardian services for incapacitated Veterans.

In addition, the Arizona Department of Veterans’ Services provides critical, statewide coordination and technical assistance to services and organizations serving Veterans. This includes activities such as coordinating services across private and public sectors in serving targeted populations such as Veterans experiencing homelessness and Women Veterans, as well as building community capacity to address Veteran employment and higher education.

Services provided by the Arizona Department of Veterans’ Services were instrumental in connecting Arizona’s nearly 600,000 Veterans with nearly $2,712,810,000 in Compensation, Pension, Educational and Medical benefits and grants from the United States Department of Veterans Affairs in FY 2012.

Leadership

Patrick Chorpenning, 1st Director of Veterans Services, (1999 - 27 March 2007); Richard Gregg Maxon, BG (USA, ret.), 2nd Director of Veterans' Services, (March 2007 - 1 July 2008); Joey Strickland, Col (USA, ret.), 3rd Director of Veterans Services, (July 2008 - April 2013); Ted Vogt, 4th Director of Veterans' Services, (1 July 2013 – 5 January 2015); Wanda Wright, Col (USAF, ret.), 5th Director of Veterans' Services, (23 March 2015 – Present).