Using Community Advisory Boards to Build Partnerships and Develop Peer-Led Services for Rural Student Veterans.

Background: The Department of Veterans' Affairs (VA)/Student Partnership for Rural Veterans (VSP) built partnerships between institutional (health services researchers, VA chaplains) and community groups to develop veteran-to-veteran services on college campuses.

Objectives: Describe challenges and lessons learned in year 1 of the VSP project at six campuses in rural Arkansas.

Methods: Researchers leveraged established community advisory boards (CABs) to develop veteran-to-veteran services.

Building partnerships with rural Arkansas faith communities to promote veterans' mental health: lessons learned.

Background: The Mental Health-Clergy Partnership Program established partnerships between institutional (Department of Veterans' Affairs [VA] chaplains, mental health providers) and community (local clergy, parishioners) groups to develop programs to assist rural veterans with mental health needs.

Objectives: Describe the development, challenges, and lessons learned from the Mental Health-Clergy Partnership Program in three Arkansas towns between 2009 and 2012.

Methods: Researchers identified three rural Arkansas sites, established local advisory boards, and obtained quantitative ratings of the extent to which partnerships were participatory.