Read the January 2024 Newsletter from the Delaware Valley Veterans Consortium to stay informed about events and issues happening in the area. Do you have news to share or upcoming events for the February 2024 newsletter and beyond? Please share! This newsletter is published monthly as part of DVVC’s efforts to connect, collaborate, and communicate in service to Veterans throughout our region.
Send your updates and questions to dvvcinfo@gmail.com.
Member Organizations: To submit articles to the newsletter please email Collie Turner, collie@heroicgardens.org by the 25th of the month with your news.
To submit news to DVVC social media sites please email Lynne Williams at Director@greatcareersphl.org with “For DVVC Social Media” in the subject line.
Let us know how we can help!
NEWS FROM THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Happy New Year everyone! I hope everyone’s holiday season went smoothly and that the arrival of 2024 is a welcome new start. As you will see in the accompanying letters recognizing the service of two exceptional members of the DVVC Executive Committee, the arrival of 2024 is bittersweet for me when it comes to leading the Consortium: Bitter because we are losing two hard-working, passionate, and extremely capable volunteers; sweet because change is good and we have two new Executive Committee members: Ryan McGoldrick and Ted Gallagher. Ryan can be considered an OG (look it up in the Urban Dictionary) since her leadership created the precursor to DVVC, the Red Cross Consortium, and now works at the Veteran’s Multiservice Center. Ted is a superstar VSO for Camden County, and has been a DVVC member and active member of the local veteran community for years. I’m thrilled they are onboard and can’t wait to work with them and continue the great work DVVC has been doing.
2024 will start out with a strategic planning for DVVC on January 19 at St Joseph’s University. I’ll elaborate at that meeting, but at the Executive Committee level we have two strategic goals: to find a way to do a landscape assessment of the veteran space in the DVVC catchment area. This will require an organization to do the work, and that will require money, both of which we will need to find. The other goal is to engage the Philadelphia City Council and see if we can make any headway in advancing veteran issues in the city. Both of these are tall orders, but they are the logical extension of the work the Consortium has been doing for the last eight years.
Finally, thank you for, and continued good luck with, all the great work you do in support of veterans and the military community in our area. All of you inspire me to continue to work hard leading DVVC and supporting you in your important, meaningful, impactful work. Here’s to a great 2024!!
Hugo Lentze
DVVC Chair
Public Sector Strategy Advisor, RallyPoint
DVVC Winter Quarterly Meeting
2024 Year-Ahead Planning
Each year we rely on our Member Organizations to help us plan for the upcoming year. Join us to contribute ideas, thoughts, recommendations, and get more involved by joining a committee!
Register Here
Friday, January 19, 2024
9:00-10:45am
St. Joseph’s University
Teletorium, Mandeville Hall
54th and City Ave., Philadelphia, PA
Nancy Isserman and Fern Billet: Thank you for your passion, dedication, and commitment to DVVC!
While I am excited for Fern Billet and her retirement from the VA and her move to being a fulltime grandmother, I am sad that she will also be leaving the Delaware Valley Veterans Consortium (DVVC) Executive Committee.
I will say that Fern has been quick to point out in the past that as an employee of the VA, she could not vote on elections, as other Executive Committee members do, but that certainly did not reduce her value and contributions to the Committee. Her role at the Michael J Crescenz VA Medical Center in Philadelphia gave DVVC a hugely important and unique asset in Fern: her knowledge of the veteran space in Philadelphia, her connections across government and non-profits, and her enthusiasm for DVVC’s work helped us continue to expand and have more impact in the veteran and military community.
Fern has been with DVVC since before it was DVVC, and she was instrumental in the creation of the organization as it exists today. Transparency has always been a goal of ours, and Fern’s professional and personal strengths helped us to maintain that transparency through our various stages of growth. Fern’s role with the VA made her somewhat cautious about her involvement with DVVC, but I do not think that I ever noticed her stepping back from or avoiding responsibility because of her official role at the VA. Such is Fern’s professionalism and dedication to completing the mission: figure out a way to support in the best way possible.
It is a running joke within the Executive Committee that Fern was our resident lawyer, which she is by training but not by profession. This was most evident in creating the bylaws for DVVC, both initially and adjusting as necessary over time. I am thrilled and honored that Fern took on the bylaws task because she provided a unique perspective that kept us focused on transparency and rule of law, or rule of bylaw, in the case of DVVC. I am forever indebted to Fern to taking on the bylaws task because I found it painful and confusing, and I knew that even if I did not fully understand the complexities of our bylaws and how they would affect how DVVC functioned, Fern did, and she did a great job of keeping me, and DVVC, in line and in accordance with our own rules.
Fern was instrumental in developing a focused marketing strategy for DVVC, and led and managed the Marketing Committee. A key outcome of that Marketing work was the trifold that heralded the benefits that DVVC would bring to veteran serving organizations and to veterans themselves. Her perspective from her work at VA was crucial in the development of how we talk about DVVC to different populations. I like simplicity, and Fern developed the key talking points that allow DVVC Executive Committee members and member organizations to talk about DVVC effectively to the veteran and military community, to non-profits, and to companies in the Philadelphia area.
To me, Fern is the quintessential warrant officer (to use military terminology): a technical expert in her field and without which the military, and DVVC, could not operate effectively.
Fern we will miss you and I hope that you will continue to stay involved in the veteran and military community in Philadelphia.
Hugo Lentze
DVVC Chair
Public Sector Strategy Advisor, RallyPoint
It is with a heavy heart that I announce the “retirement” of Nancy Isserman from the Executive Committee of the Delaware Valley Veterans Consortium (DVVC). She was involved with the Consortium before I attended my first meeting in early 2015, and has been an extremely strong advocate, a confidante, and a second-to-none Vice Chairperson.
I first met Nancy when DVVC was still a Red Cross-based organization, and I distinctly remember the setting: the conference room on some upper floor of the Red Cross building in Philadelphia. I was struck by her energy and the hat, even in indoors, that I would forever after identify with Nancy. She is a civilian, and as this was my first job with a veteran serving organization, I have to admit that I was somewhat taken aback by her knowledge of the veteran space and the issues facing the veteran community (of which I was a new member). I would discover that her knowledge around veterans was even deeper than I first thought, and her passion would be a driving force in transforming DVVC into the organization it is today.
I also distinctly remember the meeting where we decided that we needed to organize ourselves differently, and the Delaware valley Veterans Consortium was born. We decided that transparency and elections were critical to our future as a viable organization, and Nancy was right there with me, enthusiastic but also providing guidance and leveraging her experience to move us forward. That was 2016.
Nancy has been a driving force in the diversity and depth of our programming. She has kept the Programming Committee on track and focused, and then ensured we had the speakers and briefers needed to repeatedly make our quarterly meetings a success. When in 2017, the VA, America’s Warrior partnership, and Headstrong wanted to define what being a Community Veterans Engagement Board (CVEB) meant, Nancy represented us in Washington DC to provide the DVVC perspective on a way forward.
Now here we are in 2023, saying goodbye to a friend and a person who has kept DVVC going despite our ups and downs. We have made some significant changes to how DVVC operates; we have annual elections, we organize quarterly in-person meetings, and we’ve remained flexible to meet the needs of the changing world during COVID, adding virtual Town Halls to discuss timely issues like mental health during COVID and the withdrawal from Afghanistan. We have expanded our reach to other CVEBs across the country, making us a national player and leader in the CVEB space. Nancy has played a direct role in all these initiatives, both in planning and execution.
To put Nancy’s service into military terms, she has been the ultimate non-commissioned officer. NCOs are the backbone of the US military, and Nancy has been a backbone of DVVC. As an Executive Committee, we have come up with a number of innovative ideas and some hairbrained ones (what officers do), but Nancy has been the person working hard and executing these ideas not only for the benefit of DVVC, but more importantly, for the benefit of veterans and the military community in the Philadelphia region.
Nancy, we will miss you, and I hope you continue to stay involved in the veteran space in Philadelphia.
Hugo Lentze
DVVC Chair
Public Sector Strategy Advisor, RallyPoint
Winter Light: A Retreat Day for Women Veterans
Saturday, February 17, 2023, 10 AM – 3 PM at Cranaleith Spiritual Center
Join us and invite surrender of the violence that holds us and our culture in an icy grip. We will explore the theme of moral injury as we bring healing into light within our own hearts. This retreat is free of charge.
Served in World War II?
New law says you’re eligible for VA health care
If you served in the U.S. military between Dec. 7, 1941, and Dec. 31, 1946, a new law makes you eligible for VA health care benefits, but you have to apply because VA cannot automatically enroll you.
The Cleland-Dole Act was signed into law Dec. 29, 2022. Section 101 of this law expands eligibility for VA care for Veterans of World War II. If you served during World War II, now is the time to apply for VA health care, even if you applied before and were not approved due to your income level.
To learn more about eligibility click here.
L’Salle Harvey Veteran Scholarship
The University of Pennsylvania’s Veterans Upward Bound (VUB) program offers free virtual and in person college prep, access, and support services.
Veterans Upward Bound will be awarding three individual scholarships of $1,000 each for those attending college in the Fall semester of 2024. The award is made in honor of L’Salle Harvey, a former VUB participant and made possible through a generous donation from his family.
The application and full instructions can be found here.
To register for this free event, click here
YOU CAN STAY UP TO DATE
Monthly Newsletters from Dept of Military and Veterans Affairs for News, Veteran Events and Opportunities in NJ and PA
In PA see: https://maestro.pa.gov/list/k3hdw2n4/230302C/8z6u9k2ia3mw.vib?test&a0=903
In NJ see: https://dmava.org/
Now is a great time to get your flu and COVID-19 vaccines
The updated vaccines are free of charge for Veterans receiving care at VA and also for VA employees. Check with your local VA medical facility to make an appointment. Some locations offer walk-in hours, too.
Eligible Veterans can also get these and other vaccines at no cost within the community from one of nearly 65,000 in-network pharmacies or urgent care locations. Learn more from this fact sheet. Use the online VA locator to find a location nearest you.
The DVVC Newsletter serves member organizations by sharing information with the Veterans they serve. In addition to the newsletter, the DVVC shares news and upcoming events on social media. Member organizations can follow our social media platforms to receive updates and share information about your organization’s news and events. Please engage on the posts and repost or share.
- LinkedIn Company Page – click on the bell at the top right and choose All New Posts
- LinkedIn Group
- LinkedIn Hashtag – in the search bar at the top left, type #dvvcorg and click follow
- Facebook Page
Personal LinkedIn Tips
- Optimize your LinkedIn profile. Take advantage of free online workshops that are available.
- Contact and connect with other LinkedIn users. LinkedIn enables you to network with people and professional organizations in your industry to stay updated with the latest developments and share information with others in your field.
- Give and receive recommendations and endorsements.
- Join other LinkedIn groups to discuss ideas and share industry news to develop professional networks.
- Create engaging content. Just as with other social networks, you can post simple text updates, images, and links to other sites, and you can share posts from other users. You can also record or upload videos directly to LinkedIn from your device to share your insights and experiences or to boost your organization’s brand identity.
Company Page LinkedIn Tips
Boost your organization’s profile to create followers and keep them up to date with what is going on inside your organization. Here are some step-by-step instructions from one of our member organizations if you want to create a business page.
Join the adult career education topics and networking in January 2024 at the Great Careers Groups (GCG) whether you are unemployed, self-employed, or employed. Visit the EVENTS page for registration info. Connect on social media and subscribe to our weekly newsletter.
Topics include:
- Thu Jan 11 – Virtual Jobseeker Support Group
- Tue Jan 16 – Greater Philadelphia Martin Luther King Day of Service Jobs Fair
- Tue Jan 16 – Lehigh Valley Business Executives Networking Group (BENG) meeting
- Wed Jan 17 – 2024 Tips to Build Your LinkedIn Brand
- Wed Jan 17 – CareerQuest – LinkedIn Strategies
- Thu Jan 18 – Recruiter on Call with Jobs LinkedIn Audio
- Fri Jan 19 – What’s Your Shtick? Personal Branding Online & Off
- Tue Jan 23 – Career Support for Immigrant Professionals – Stand Out & Elevate Your Resume as an Immigrant Professional
- Tue Jan 23 – Business Executives Networking Group (BENG) & Guests meeting
- Wed Jan 24 – CareerQuest – Networking Strategies
- Thu Jan 25 – Career Success Group Job Seeker Accountability & Networking
- Tue Jan 30 – How to Gain Customers with a LinkedIn Company Page
- Tue Jan 30 – How to Develop Successful Job Search Strategies
- Wed Jan 31 – CareerQuest – Open Forum Career Discussion
For unemployed veterans who want to attend to free, contact Lynne Williams in advance director@greatcareersphl.org.
VA health care travels with you Are you traveling?
VA has resources across the states to provide you with easily accessible information about telehealth options, the closest VA location, and the Veterans Crisis Line.
How to Get Your Free Veteran ID Card
Your service can get you free event tickets and entry to national parks, discounts from retailers, restaurants, hotels, recreational activities and many other perks.
Learn how you can get your free official Veteran ID card and easily show your Veteran status.
