Minnesota School District Administrators:

I know this year has been stressful for you, your staff, and students, to say the least; however, I hope this message finds you well.  Earlier this year, the Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs requested additional funding from the Minnesota State Legislature to provide direct financial assistance to Minnesota Veterans and their families that have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. We were granted an additional $6.2 million in funding and have since implemented three new programs for MN Veterans and their families.  The program most relevant to your area is our COVID-19 K-12 Distance Learning Support Grant (DLSG) (PDF). The purpose of the COVID-19 K-12 Distance Learning Support Grant is to mitigate the negative financial impact a family experiences by implementing their school district's distance learning or hybrid learning plans by providing a one-time grant in the amount of $3,000.

If Veterans and their families wish to inquire about eligibility for any of our programs or apply, please contact their County Veterans Service Officer (CVSO) or our LinkVet call center at 1-888-Link-Vet (546-5838). They can look up information for contacting their CVSO by clicking this link: County Veterans Service Officer.
 

I ask that you please help disseminate this information to your staff and families in your school districts that may be Veterans or know Veterans as we have many other programs that could possibly benefit them.  For more information about our three COVID-19 Programs or the COVID-19 K-12 Distance Learning Support Grant (DLSG), please click on the links below:

• COVID-19 programs overview (PDF)
• COVID-19 K-12 Distance Learning Support Grant overview (PDF)

Thank you for the tremendous sacrifice you and your staff have been making to continue educating our children in these chaotic times.

Respectfully,
Eric Meline
Veterans Benefits Division Supervisor
Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs