VA DEI Program Cuts Reduce

At least 22 women veterans in Black Mountain are among the Western North Carolina residents navigating a reduced VA support network after the Department of Veterans Affairs eliminated its diversity, equity and inclusion programs in January 2025, cutting more than $14 million in annual spending and placing nearly 60 dedicated DEI staff on paid administrative leave.

The programs that ended had provided peer support, cultural competency training, and targeted outreach that helped veterans connect with mental health resources, women's health specialists, and community partners offering wraparound services. For women veterans in Buncombe County, those access points carried particular weight: the female veteran suicide rate runs 65 percent higher than that of the general public, and many face compounding health risks from toxic military exposures, including PFAS chemical contamination found at more than 700 military sites nationwide. In Buncombe County alone, nearly 200 residents died from asbestos-related illness between 1999 and 2017, many of them veterans whose service involved exposure to the mineral at military facilities.

Charles George VA Medical Center, at 1100 Tunnel Road in Asheville, serves 49,000 veterans across 23 counties in Western North Carolina. For Black Mountain and rural Buncombe County residents, it remains the primary source of VA specialty care. Community advocates say the loss of outreach workers focused on historically underserved groups has reduced the number of veterans finding their way to women's health specialists, mental health referrals, and the community organizations that once served as informal bridges into the VA system.

Buncombe County Veterans Services Director Heath Smith oversees a county office at 40 Coxe Ave. in Asheville that provides free assistance with disability claims, health care enrollment, and benefits applications to any eligible veteran or dependent. Local organizations and advocates have stressed the need for transitional planning and increased coordination to limit service gaps, with expanded nonprofit programming, targeted grant applications, and partnership funding identified as possible solutions. None of those replacements are in place yet, and assembling them takes months, if not years.

The ABCCM Veterans Services of the Carolinas, which works with local partners to provide housing, employment, and outreach coordination, is among the nonprofits that may absorb a larger share of that outreach role going forward. How quickly any of these organizations can scale up, and whether they can replicate the culturally specific care that DEI programs were designed to provide, remains uncertain for veterans whose first contact with the VA system depended on someone reaching out to them.

Where veterans in Buncombe County can get help now: The Buncombe County Veterans Services Office at 40 Coxe Ave. in Asheville is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Services are free and cover disability compensation assistance, health care enrollment, and benefits navigation for veterans and their dependents. For general VA benefits questions or to begin an appeal, call 1-800-827-1000 or submit documentation through VA.gov. Charles George VA Medical Center on Tunnel Road in Asheville has patient advocates available on a walk-in basis during facility hours who can help resolve care concerns and connect veterans with specialists. ABCCM Veterans Services of the Carolinas provides housing, employment, and outreach support in the Asheville area. Veterans in crisis can reach the Veterans Crisis Line at any hour by dialing 988 and pressing 1.