VA Announces New Office to Help Native Veterans

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Twenty percent of Maine's Native Americans have served in our armed forces. Native Americans serve at a higher rate than any other group. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced the creation of the Office of Tribal Government Relations. The office will serve over 200,000 Native Veterans nationwide.

While not actually located in Maine, the office will improve service to the over 1,500 Native Veterans in Maine. From the VA Press release:

“There is a long, distinguished tradition of military service among tribal peoples,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki. “VA is committed to providing these Veterans with the full range of VA programs, as befits their service to our nation.”

Although VA has long provided benefits to Veterans in tribal lands, the new office will further strengthen and expand that relationship.

Stephanie Elaine Birdwell, an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation from Oklahoma, has been selected as the office's first director. A former social worker, she has spent nearly 15 years working on tribal issues with the Bureau of Indian Affairs and, most recently, the Bureau of Indian Education.

She will oversee a six-person office responsible for “establishing, maintaining and coordinating a nation-to-nation, federal-tribal relationship,” according to a VA briefing