October 12, 2022

A $2 million grant from The Heinz Endowments will help RAND identify and address critical issues that affect veterans living in Pittsburgh, throughout Pennsylvania, and across the United States. The grant from the Pittsburgh-based foundation, directed to the RAND Epstein Family Veterans Policy Research Institute, will fund research, analysis, and outreach to improve federal support for veterans.

RAND will work to identify and analyze policy priorities on key areas affecting veterans. The grant will support a comprehensive strategy to widely disseminate RAND’s findings and communicate recommendations to Congress and other policymakers—with the goal of informing decisionmaking and the creation of policies to better serve veterans.

“With this generous grant from The Heinz Endowments, RAND has an opportunity to examine and inform the federal veterans policy landscape,” said Carrie Farmer, codirector of the institute. “We are grateful for this investment in analysis that can support interventions to help military families, as well as prospective policy change to improve the lives of all our veterans.”

RAND will evaluate federal programs intended to help service members transition to civilian life, examining their effectiveness and providing decisionmakers with data to help support investment in successful programs.

“We know that the transition from military service to civilian life—in western Pennsylvania and throughout the United States—can be difficult. Providing opportunities and support to veterans during this period and throughout their lives is essential,” said Megan Andros, senior program officer for veterans at The Heinz Endowments. “We are proud to support RAND, an organization, like the Endowments, with a commitment to using evidence-based research to help individuals and communities thrive. Together, we can bring awareness to the specific needs of our diverse veteran population and find new ways to care for veterans and their families.”

Additionally, the grant will help RAND create the Veterans Policy Research Collaborative. The collaborative will bring together RAND researchers with those from other institutions, universities, and veterans-focused organizations to share research findings, build relationships, and help identify ongoing and future veterans policy research priorities.

For more information about the RAND Epstein Family Veterans Policy Research Institute, visit www.rand.org/vpri.