MORRIS TOWNSHIP, NJ (Morris County) – Morris County’s new federal Veteran Center Community Access Point (CAP) is scheduled to open on May 2 at the Morris County Veteran Services Office (VSO), located at 540 West Morris Avenue, in Morris Township.
Services will be provided – by appointment only — by two Veteran Affairs (VA) counselors from the federal Bloomfield Vet Center, who will be available every Thursday. To make an appointment, veterans should call the Bloomfield Vet Center at 973-748-0980, not the Morris County VSO.
“Morris County can host this new Veteran Affairs service point because we’ve recently doubled the space for our veteran services,” said Morris County Commissioner John Krickus, a lifelong county resident and U.S. Marine Corps veteran.
A CAP is a satellite location of the VA, typically established in donated spaces in conjunction with community organizations to provide readjustment counseling services to eligible veterans, service members and their families. The Morris County Board of County Commissioners agreed to provide the two rooms at the Morris County Veteran Services Office to support the federal VA satellite services in the hopes the VA will locate a full-service VA Center in Northwest New Jersey.
The new access point was announced Tuesday by the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) during a visit by the VA Under Secretary for Health Shereef Elnahal. He was joined by U.S. Rep. Mikie Sherrill, Commissioner Krickus and a host of other federal, state and local officials. Dr. Elnahal also unveiled plans for a new Vet Center Outstation in Warren County, although no location has been determined yet for that service.
“Vet Centers provide Veterans with high-quality counseling, community engagement, and referral services in nearby and comfortable environments,” said Dr. Elnahal during his Morris County visit.
Over the past two years, Morris County has expanded its VSO facility and will again increase staffing, adding a fourth veterans service officer and an intern this year. In 2022, Morris County allocated $350,000 in federal American Rescue Plan Act funds to veteran services, and last year contributed an additional $300,000 to address the growing demand for mental health, family counseling and other veteran services.
“The Morris County Commissioners not only honor our service members on Veterans Day and Memorial Day, but also support them year-round. We thank Congresswoman Sherrill for her support of our veterans, including the $5 million (federal) grant to the County College of Morris for veteran training, as well as her and Congressman (Tom) Kean’s backing of the new VA services announced today by VA Under Secretary Elnahal,” said Krickus.
U.S. Rep. Sherrill explained that the new Morris County CAP will start providing services one day per week and increase those visits as the demand for services grows among area veterans. Typically, CAP satellites are staffed from as little as one day per month to several times per week, depending on the level of demand.
“Addressing the needs of New Jersey’s veteran population is a priority for me as your Congresswoman. Over the past few years, expanding Vet Center services to meet the needs of Morris County veterans has become a top concern for the advocates I work with in the state and on my Veterans Advisory Board,” Sherrill said.
VA Centers are community-based counseling centers that offer a wide range of social and psychological services, including no-cost professional counseling for eligible veterans, service members and their families. New Jersey currently has five locations: Bloomfield, Egg Harbor Township, Ewing Township, Lakewood Township and Secaucus.
