Welcome to the National Symposium for the Needs of Young Veterans' official Web site.

• Download the report here: "Voices for Action: A Focus on the Changing Needs of America's Veterans"

UPDATE: Officials with AMVETS are on the move, hand-delivering the some 120 recommendations formed by the more than 500 Symposium participants to lawmakers, professionals working with and serving veterans, and other stakeholders.

Within the past week, 33 specially selected U.S. senators and 28 U.S. Congressmen received the full report.

Rep. Bob Filner, the new chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee received a personal briefing on the Symposium report Thursday.

The National Association of County Veteran Service Officers Executive Board received the report and was briefed on it Monday in Milwaukee, Wisc.

Nurses Organization of Veterans Affairs' national board of directors and officers were briefed Friday in Washington, D.C.

"Voices for Action: A Focus on the Changing Needs of America's Veterans" is the first document of its kind to address specific problems in the nation's veterans' benefits system from the perspective of veterans. It's based on input from hundreds of participants from across the country who attended the National Symposium for the Needs of Young Veterans.

Among their recommendations are providing sufficient staffing and resources to:
• eliminate the continuing backlog of disability claims
• develop an e-filing system to expedite claims processing
• expedite the processing of education payments so that students receive payments within 35 days of submitting their claims.

The report also calls for the development of a transferable skills matrix to help employers better understand how individuals with military training and related job skills can benefit their businesses.

The report , which is titled "Voices for Action: A Focus on the Changing Needs of America's Veterans," is available for download HERE.

The report is also available here broken down into the four major issue areas:
• Benefits
• Employment
• Healthcare
• Homelessness

Photographs from the Symposium are now available online at the link below:
• Photographs