Thanks to our Members, Sponsors, Community Partners for an amazing 2018 of advocacy, community-building, and making NYC a better place for veterans and families! Take a look at our highlights reel:

It took some time for us to receive proper clearance from military authorities, but we're proud to share the results of our July partnership with T-Mobile:

Thanks to T-Mobile and the dozens of volunteers who assembled care packages with us last July, soldiers deployed across seven different countries from the 101st Signal Brigade, New York National Guard, received 300+ care packages to let them know those of us back home are thinking of them as they serve our nation abroad.

Right: U.S. Army National Guard Spc. Yaileny Gonzalez of Alpha Company, 101st Signal Battalion, New York National Guard, 160th Signal Brigade, receives goodies and personal-care items, Camp Buehring, Kuwait.

We're proud to announce a new partnership with GenEquality in support of our initiatives to improve access and recognition of women veterans in VA healthcare by changing its motto and naming the Manhattan VA in honor of Margaret Corbin, the first woman combat veteran to be paid and pensioned by the U.S. Armed Forces. 

Proceeds from the sale of each special-edition "Seeing Is Believing" t-shirt will go toward these initiatives to change the way women veterans are seen within the VA healthcare system--as well as by our fellow veterans. 

GET YOUR T-SHIRT!

Adrienne Brammer, a 14-year veteran of the United States Air Force, is newly promoted into the role of Director of Community Outreach for the NYC Veterans Alliance. As the first staff member to join the newly formed NYC Veterans Alliance, Adrienne has served for nearly three years building and developing the regional community calendar and information hub, OurVeterans.NYC.

Last fall, Adrienne was honored for her innovative, steadfast service to NYC veterans and families with the 2017 "Service to Veterans" award by the United War Veterans Council, presented at the New York Stock Exchange. Building upon her tremendous service and dedication, Adrienne is now taking on further programmatic development of the Alliance's digital platforms as well as building and strengthening community partnerships more broadly across the NYC veterans community as the Director of Community Outreach.

Adrienne has served on Air Force bases across the U.S., South Korea, Iceland, and Italy, as well as serving as combat videographer in Iraq and Afghanistan, often accompanying troops on convoys and foot patrols.

The NYC Veterans Alliance encourages members of our veterans community--veterans, family members, and civilian supporters alike--to get active as civic leaders in neighborhoods across the five boroughs. Especially if you live in Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx, you have a unique opportunity this year to make democracy work better in your community by running to serve as a member of your political party's County Committee.

County Committees are the basic building block for political governance in NYC and were originally created so that New Yorkers can have a real say in their political parties. But they are only as effective as the energy and enthusiasm that we, the people, put into making them work for our communities.

Members of County Committees are elected officials--their names appear on a party's primary ballot, and County Committee members must win votes in their election district. But in too many cases these seats go vacant, or the elected County Committee member is inactive--causing the County Committee to not fully deliver on its responsibilities to its constituents. 

Are you ready to make democracy work better in your neighborhood? 

Throughout our history, the voices of our veterans and families have been essential in conversations on American democracy, governance, and the role of everyday Americans in protecting and preserving our values and systems of civil society. This is why we're proud to partner with the veterans and civilians of Aquila Theatre and The Warrior Chorus in their NYC production of Our Trojan War.

As part of our Civic Engagement program, we're organizing and leading "talk back" panels following each performance of this important and timely exploration of ancient and modern concepts of democracy, freedom, leadership, and citizenship. The play itself was crafted by veterans, and veterans are among the cast members. Our talk back conversations will be interactive with the audience on themes of the play. Please join us for these special performances and conversations with veteran artists, activists, and leaders! Ticket information is below.

We are immensely proud of our newest class of Get Ready to Run Fellows! January 6-9 was their challenge to push themselves through four days of intensive, long days and nights of training, networking, and working with their cohort members to grow and learn and develop as rising leaders getting ready to run for elected office.

The weekend of March 18-22 was the official launch of our Get Ready to Run initiative, which took four NYC veterans on a four-day trip to Washington, D.C. The program will involve follow-on support and training for these four veterans, as well as future cohorts that we select, train, and support.

Watch and listen to what our four future candidates have to say about their Get Ready to Run experience during their visit to the Newseum:

The weekend of March 18-22 was the official launch of our Get Ready to Run initiative, which took four NYC veterans on a four-day trip to Washington, D.C. The program will involve follow-on support and training for these four veterans, as well as future cohorts that we select, train, and support.

Watch and listen to what our four future candidates have to say about their Get Ready to Run experience during their visit to the Newseum:

When we served in the military, we relied on our ability to work with others to accomplish the mission. It didn't matter what anyone's politics, religion, background, or other personal attributes were--we were all in it together to serve our country and represent America's best values and leadership in the world. Now that we're home, we're still ready to serve. And as veterans, we're perfectly prepared to work with people who may be very different from us to do the very best we can for our community, our city, and our country. We're not afraid of a challenge, and we're ready and willing to lead.