Veterans Outreach Project To Spend $1 Million On Facebook Ads This Year

A Veterans Affairs Department outreach campaign that spent $2 million on Facebook advertising last year plans to spend an additional $1 million this year, VA officials said on Thursday.

Make the Connection launched in 2011 and was tasked with forging stronger connections between returning veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and VA services. Program officials believe Facebook ads helped them connect significantly more veterans with services than they otherwise would have, the campaign’s project manager Koby South said.

VA has been overwhelmed at times by the crush of new veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan and has struggled to maintain services. The department has a backlog of about 800,000 un-processed disability claims, including claims for mental health services.