The Spokane County Veterans Services Center continues to grow — in veterans served and the benefits it brings in for those former service members.
In 2024, the office saw countywide claim awards more than double, growing from $9 million in 2023 to more than $20 million year-over-year, according to a release from Spokane County.
“As a veteran, I am truly grateful for the unfailing commitment of this team to go above-and-beyond in serving thousands of veterans throughout Spokane County,” said County Commissioner Al French, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran.
More than 8,300 veterans accessed the joint county-state service center last year, up from 1,700 in 2017, the year Cat Nichols began overhauling the department as the county’s community affairs director.
Nichols said the monetary increase is a result of the hard work and dedication the center’s six accredited veterans services officers bring to each individual they serve. Free of charge, the team works with veterans and their families across Eastern Washington, as well as in North Idaho and parts of Montana, to access the benefits and claims they earned through their time in the military.
“I’m so proud of our team,” Nichols said. “They’re very hardworking, and they are dedicated to serving our veterans.”
The service center takes great pride in helping Spokane County veterans, whether it’s with those state or federal benefits, assistance with employment opportunities and career readiness, or accessing physical and mental health care or food and housing resources, Nichols said.
She encouraged those yet to access the center to stop by their Spokane Valley office, 1117 N. Evergreen Road, or to reach out by phone or email, to see just how they might benefit from its services.
She does not believe there should be concern over how the Trump administration’s ongoing efforts to curb federal spending and staffing may affect some of the services the center helps locals access.
Nichols said the administration is targeting “waste, fraud and abuse,” within the system, and that staffing cuts within Veterans Affairs, forecast to be around 80,000 employees, according to an internal federal memo, will not affect the agency’s mission or services.
“The cuts they are making at the VA are superfluous amounts of administration that is not critical for the VA’s mission and the work they do,” Nichols said.
The VA employs roughly 482,000 people, the vast majority of whom work in the Veterans Health Administration’s nearly 1,400 clinics and hospitals. The target amount of cuts would mean a total nationwide staff reduction of about 17%, which could be detrimental to veteran care, elected officials and veteran advocates told The Spokesman-Review earlier this month.
Jake Pannell, a disabled Army veteran from Idaho and federal employee union national business representative, said the proposed cuts are “a direct threat to the quality of care our veterans depend on” that comes at a time when the need for veteran care is only growing.
“Slashing 15% of the workforce will make it nearly impossible to keep our promise to those who served,” Pannell said. “There are plenty of ways to cut fraud, waste, and abuse without gutting the staff that keeps the VA running. Our nation’s most valuable resource are the people who show up every day to serve our veterans. Removing them will not fix the problem, only compound it.”
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