Gotham Gazette

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Department of Veterans' Services

Department of Veterans' Services

  • Contrasting Herself with Former Boss Bill de Blasio, Loree Sutton Runs to be ‘Quality of Life’ Mayor

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    Former veterans commissioner Loree Sutton (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)


    Loree Sutton knows Mayor Bill de Blasio well, having been hired by him as commissioner of the New York City Department of Veterans’ Services, and she’s now running to succeed him on a platform of bringing a very different leadership style atop city government.

    “I saw things to continue to deteriorate in our city, the quality of life and all that we see around us in the city, I kept looking for who is the common-sense candidate, the passionate pragmatist, the person that

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  • Max & Murphy Podcast: Mayoral Candidate Loree Sutton

    Loree Sutton

    (photo: Mayor's office)


    February 5, 2020 - Max & Murphy Podcast: Mayoral Candidate Loree Sutton

    Loree Sutton, a retired brigadier general and recently-departed commissioner of the city's Department of Veterans' Services, joined the show to discuss her campaign for mayor. Sutton, running in the 2021 Democratic primary, discussed the reasons she's running, her critiques of Mayor de Blasio, and much more.

    Listen to the conversation and let us know what you think -- we're on Twitter ...

  • New Veterans Services Commissioner Lays Out Agenda at Council Oversight Hearing

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    DVS Commissioner Hendon (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)


    At a City Council oversight hearing on Tuesday, the new commissioner of the city’s Department of Veterans’ Services (DVS), James Hendon, outlined two main priorities for the next chapter of his department’s work and its efforts to help the city’s hundreds of thousands of military veterans.

    Testifying before the Council’s Committee on Veterans, Hendon, who was appointed by Mayor Bill de Blasio in October 2019, said he is focused on internal restructuring of DVS and outreach to the

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  • City Council Checks In On Department of Veterans Services, Discusses Reporting Bill

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    Veterans Services Commissioner Loree Sutton, middle (photo: Emil Cohen/City Council)


    The New York City Council’s Committee on Veterans met Monday to discuss a bill that would require the city’s Department of Veterans Services to release an annual report detailing certain information about its work to help the city’s military veterans, including the number of its employees and types services it is

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  • An End-of-Term Agenda for the City Council Veterans Committee

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    Council Member Ulrich (photo: John McCarten)


    In early 2014, City Council Member Eric Ulrich was appointed chair the veterans committee by Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito. At that time I wrote that no one within the veterans community knew what to expect, and as one of a few Republicans in a largely Democratic City Council, there were some who opposed Ulrich’s selection.

    Fast forward nearly four years and the majority of the veterans community agrees that without his leadership and guidance, there would not have been a renewed conversation

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  • Stakeholders Discuss Next Steps in Eliminating Homelessness Among Military Veterans

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    The panel (photo: Felipe De La Hoz/Gotham Gazette)


    A forum held Thursday night at the New York City Bar Association featured advocates and officials at the city and federal levels to discuss the insidious problem of homelessness among military veterans. The city’s newly created Department of Veterans Services estimates that New York City is home to over 210,000 veterans.

    If the city’s homelessness crisis is already complicated, former service members’ housing challenges have unique dimensions of both complexity and potential

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  • Budget Hearing Shows Veterans Department Settling into Agency Status

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    Council Member Ulrich (photo: William Alatriste)


    The City Council Committee on Veterans held a preliminary budget hearing Monday, hearing testimony from the Department of Veterans Services and advocates for military veterans in New York City.

    Council members, led by committee Chair Eric Ulrich, heard from Loree Sutton, the commissioner of the Department of Veterans Services, and others in assessing the department’s budgetary needs for the upcoming 2018 fiscal year, which begins July 1.

    Formerly the Mayor’s Office of Veteran’s Affairs, DVS was

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  • Long-Awaited, City's New Approach to Veterans Services Moves Ahead

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    Commissioner Sutton, left, at a City Hall ceremony (photo: @RichardBuery)


    With Veterans Day approaching, veterans advocates in New York say they want to see the long-term vision of the newly created city Department of Veterans’ Services and how its Commissioner plans to tackle the most significant, persistent issues affecting the city’s military veterans.

    More than 210,000 veterans live in New York City, making it one of the largest veteran populations in the nation, more so than some entire states. The administration of

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  • Council to Hold First Budget Hearing for New Veterans' Services Department

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    Mayor de Blasio with Commissioner Sutton (in blue) (photo: Ed Reed/Mayor's Office)


    On Friday, the New York City Council will hold the first-ever budget hearing for the newly created Department of Veterans’ Services.

    The Mayor’s Office of Veterans Affairs is transitioning into the Department of Veterans’ Services, a standalone department with a distinct agency budget and providing expanded services for the city’s 225,000 military veterans. The department became official in April and will now proceed to rollout over the next year, increasing staff

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