While organizing Black veterans of the wars in Iraq & Afghanistan, the Black Veterans Project seeks to foster a community of stakeholders to draw on existing data and advance new research to amplify the unique barriers faced by Black veterans of all generations.
2X
Black veterans are twice as likely to live in poverty than their white counterparts.
33%
Black veterans account for over a third of our nation’s homeless veteran population.
2M
There are 2 million Black veterans in the United States.
Today, Black veterans face higher rates of homelessness, unemployment and incarceration and are twice as likely to live in poverty. Moreover, nearly half of all Black Veterans do not access the full breadth of their VA benefits to housing, education and healthcare.
A long history of benefit obstruction and discriminatory discharges has been a central driver of many of the disparities seen among Black veterans in the United States. The resulting economic impact on Black veterans and their families has been uniquely studied, but remains largely unknown. We bridge history with present-day research and analysis to inform conversations, collective action, and solutions to remedy these harms while ensuring they do not continue.
