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NEW YORK, NY (March 13, 2018) – Last week, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), the largest nonprofit, nonpartisan organization representing post-9/11 veterans and their families, announced their “Big 6” 2018 advocacy priorities that are most important to them and their families. On Wednesday, IAVA members and leadership met with Representative Seth Moulton (D-MA), to discuss the effort. IAVA members attending the meeting reflect a wide range of diversity and come from across the country.
IAVA’s Big 6 are:
1. Combat Suicide Among Troops and Veterans
2. Recognize and Improve Services for Women Veterans
3. Defend Veteran and Military Education Benefits
4. Defend and Reform Government Support for Today’s Veterans
5. Initiate Support for Injuries from Burn Pits and other Toxic Exposures
6. Initiate Empowerment of Veterans Who Want to Utilize Cannabis
Details on The Big 6 can be found here.
IAVA’s Full Policy Agenda is here.
IAVA Founder and CEO, Paul Rieckhoff shared the following statement at the conclusion of the meeting:
“IAVA members are grateful to Representative Moulton for his time and focus today. The Congressman represents many of our combat veteran members and has been a strong supporter and partner for our community,” said Paul Rieckhoff, Founder and CEO of IAVA. “We were pleased to share the highlights of our ‘Big 6’ campaign with him today and look forward to working with him to ensure our members voices are heard and things get done. He appreciates that our new veterans are not a charity, they are an investment. And that this is the time for Congress to double-down on that investment.”
Storm the Hill: IAVA’s Storm the Hill (STH) is a quarterly advocacy campaign and the most powerful non-partisan policy impact program for post-9/11 vets in America. Veterans are selected from all across America in an extremely competitive process. They are diverse in terms of military rank, geography, gender, political party and ethnic background. These dedicated leaders volunteer to leave behind their families, jobs and school, to undertake an intense, once-in-a-lifetime training experience in Washington, DC focused on helping them become powerhouse veteran advocates for the rest of their life. These inspiring leaders are then unleashed on Washington in small teams for a barnstorming week of IAVA-led Congressional testimony, press conferences, panel discussions, meetings with Senators and Representatives, visits to VA, the Pentagon and the White House. Each year, Storm the Hill also introduces IAVA’s annual Policy Agenda and priority legislation.
More details, bios of the Stormers, and a schedule of events can be found at www.StormtheHill.org.
IAVA’s Annual Policy Agenda: IAVA leverages the vast data from our Annual Member Survey to shape a comprehensive, non-partisan policy agenda that is shared online and is distributed to members of Congress. The policy agenda can be found and downloaded from www.iava.org/advocacy
