by Kristen L. Rouse

Dear Friends, Colleagues, and Fellow Veterans,

I am writing to announce the start of a new organization: the NYC Veterans Alliance. Since September 2014, I have been meeting with veterans, advocates, and service providers within the veterans community in the NYC Metro area to discuss a new approach to meeting the needs of our veterans. We believe that our City’s vast and incredibly diverse population of veterans, combined with the many other qualities that make NYC the greatest City in the world, provide us a unique opportunity to bring our community together to do great things that will empower even the most underserved and disadvantaged among us. With this in mind, our working group has agreed upon an ambitious mission statement:

The mission of the NYC Veterans Alliance is to achieve a sustainable state of wellness, community, and access to services for all veterans in the New York City Metro area, regardless of service era or discharge status, by engaging in advocacy and facilitating implementation of education and empowerment initiatives among members and member organizations.

We are spreading the word to let you know that we’ll be working over the next few months, with a tentative completion date of June 1, 2015, to formalize bylaws and an organizational structure for this new organization. The focus of the working group is to create an organization that will be member-driven and fully accountable to its membership. All veterans, family members, service providers, and civilian supporters will be welcome to take part in the organization’s mission. To accomplish our mission, we envision that the NYC Veterans Alliance will become known for taking concrete actions to:

Connect members of the NYC veterans community by inviting all veterans, family members, advocates, organizations, and service providers to collaborate in a member-driven alliance.

Advocate for policies at the city, state, and national level to improve the lives of veterans and their families, with focus on the quality of services available.

Inform the public and members of the NYC Metro area veterans community of relevant news, studies, events, activities, opportunities, services, legislative affairs, and other information related to veterans through an online platform as well as in-person meetings and activities.

Empower veterans as active participants and leaders by providing opportunities for them to speak, write, connect, and communicate as Alliance members.

We are excited to share this news with you, and we invite you to:

• Join our email list to receive updates by clicking the "follow" button on this page's sidebar.
• Spread the word to friends, colleagues, and fellow veterans to let them know about the NYC Veterans Alliance.
• Look for meeting announcements and our upcoming Forum on NYC veterans policy in the upcoming weeks and months.

Wishing you all the best in 2015.

Kristen L. Rouse

U.S. Army Veteran

Interim Director, NYC Veterans Alliance