About Arizona Department of Veteran Services
Serving Arizona's Veterans as They Have Served Us
The Arizona Department of Veterans’ Services (ADVS) provides direct services to Veterans through the administration of 19 Veterans Benefits Offices throughout the state - helping Veterans connect with their VA benefits, two skilled-nursing Veterans' Home facilities in Phoenix and Tucson provide short and long-term care, the original Arizona Veterans' Memorial Cemetery in Sierra Vista, and two new cemeteries opened in 2016 in Northern Arizona at Camp Navajo and in Southern Arizona in Marana - north of Tucson.
In addition, the Arizona Department of Veterans’ Services provides critical, state-wide coordination and technical assistance to services and organizations serving Veterans. This includes activities such as coordinating services across private and public sectors in serving targeted populations such as Veterans experiencing homelessness, and special needs for the growing population of Women Veterans - many of whom are at-risk, as well as building community capacity to address Veteran employment and higher education.
Services provided by the Arizona Department of Veterans’ Services were instrumental in connecting Arizona’s nearly 600,000 Veterans with over $2.8 million in Compensation, Pension, Educational and Medical benefits, and grants from the United States Department of Veterans Affairs in FY 2014.
Arizona law requires each state agency to post their annual budget request on the agency’s website. The FY2018 ADVS budget request document is online HERE. This document is a preliminary budget request by the Arizona Department of Veterans' Services for the upcoming fiscal year. The preliminary budget request does not necessarily reflect the contents of the Executive Budget Proposal or budget allocations determined during the legislative process.
Enriching and Honoring Arizona's Veterans and their Families
through Education, Advocacy, and Service
Arizona has provided services to Arizona Veterans since 1925, when it created the position of Veterans’ Service Officer. This position was abolished in 1951 and replaced by the Arizona Veterans’ Service Commission. In 1973, the Commission was integrated into the Department of Economic Security. Primarily at the request of various Veterans’ organizations, the Governor reestablished the Commission as a separate agency in 1982. In 1999, the Legislature separated the Commission from the agency by making the Commission an advisory body and creating a separate Department of Veterans’ Services headed by a governor-appointed director.
Is ADVS the same as the VA?
We are not the VA (U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs).
Rather, we work with the VA and other entities, both public and private, to assist our Arizona veterans in gaining access to benefits to which they are entitled. As an Arizona state agency, we assist our veterans in numerous ways, many of which are outlined within the pages of this website.
ADVS News Flash - May 2015
View the recent Phoenix PBS-8 interview with
ADVS Director, Col. Wanda Wright, USAF-Retired
