Washington, D.C. — This week, nine student veterans selected as the 2018 Veterans of Foreign Wars-Student Veterans of America Legislative Fellows traveled to Washington, D.C. from around the country to make their voices heard in our nation’s capital. Now in its fourth year, the fellowship program, which coincided with VFW’s 2018 Legislative Conference, provided student veteran leaders a platform to advocate for policy proposals designed to strengthen the GI Bill, increase access to mental health care services, and streamline economic opportunity programs provided by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
“This VFW-SVA Legislative Fellowship program has become a mainstay on Capitol Hill, and one of the only fellowships in DC that can point to proposals that have made it into law,” said SVA's Vice President of Government Affairs Will Hubbard. “Each Fellow approaches policy making with a solutions-oriented attitude that has proven to be effective and appreciated by our country’s leaders.”
The VFW-SVA Legislative Fellowship class of 2018 pauses after their meeting Thursday with White House officials.
The VFW-SVA Legislative Fellowship class of 2018 included: Jennifer Hosley, University of Arkansas-Fort Smith; Hannah Joyce, Simmons College in Massachusetts; Ryan Rehberg, University of North Dakota; Joseph Sacco, Idaho State University; Francheska Salazar, Anne Arundel Community College in Maryland; Gabriel Snashall, Wesleyan University in Connecticut; Edward Tjaden, Washington University in St. Louis; Brian Walker, Northeastern University in Massachusetts; and, Brad Ward, University of Central Oklahoma.
U.S. House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Chairman Phil Roe (R-Tenn.) meets with VFW-SVA Legislative Fellows to discuss bipartisanship in the 115th Congress and the importance of hearing from student veterans in shaping policy like the Forever GI Bill.
The VFW-SVA Legislative Fellows were paired with VFW mentors and SVA staff during in-person meetings with members of Congress and their staff. Fellows also met with White House and U.S. Department of Labor leaders to promote regulatory policy proposals.
Jennifer Hosley, President of the Student Veterans Organization of University of Arkansas-Fort Smith and U.S. Army veteran, speaks with U.S. Senator John Boozman (R-Arkansas) about transition issues, including the importance of a proposal to create an Undersecretary of Economic Opportunity at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
For more information about the VFW-SVA Legislative Fellow program, visit our website.
###
|
