Partnership Opportunities
Veteran and Family Needs Issues
The IVMF partners with policy leaders to examine issues of importance to veteran and family issue stakeholders, including legislators and aides, and executive branch government employees or elected officials. The IVMF’s partnership with the Burton Blatt Institute (BBI) provides advice and consultation, engages in research to assist in answering policy questions, hosts roundtable discussions, conferences, and educational events, and hosts community events.
Bipartisan Engagement with Policy Makers
In 2012, IVMF hosted the Conference on Engaging Community Support for Veterans in cooperation with N.Y. Congresswoman Buerkle, along with Fla. Congressman Miller, Syracuse community members, experts in community engagement and National Guard representatives to discuss the power of community in supporting our nation’s veterans and their families.
The IVMF hosted N.Y. Senators Gillibrand and Schumer as they announced bipartisan bills focused on veterans, including modernizing the Transition Assistance Program and veteran skill licensure and certification laws with the Veteran Skills to Jobs Act. These promote the ability of veterans and family members to have transportability of licensed and certified job skills from one state to another or from military to civilian status.
IVMF executive director and founder, Mike Haynie, advises Governor Cuomo’s New York State Council on Returning Veterans and Their Families on certification and licensure, and was nominated by U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis to be a member of the Department of Labor’s Advisory Committee on Veterans’ Employment, Training and Employer Outreach (ACVETEO).
Advocacy Collaboration
The IVMF regularly collaborates with state workforce development agencies, the Small Business Administration (SBA), the New York state and U.S. Departments of Labor (DoL), the Division of Veterans Affairs in New York state and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), with local and state leaders, and with advocacy organizations.