This year, in my role as Chairwoman of the Suffolk County Legislature’s Veterans Committee, I collaborated with female veterans from across Suffolk County to create and sponsor legislation establishing the Suffolk County Women Veterans Advisory Board
For the first time in our county’s history, female veterans will have a protected space within our government to discuss issues that pertain to them, a platform to advocate for their best interests and the ability to make recommendations to the Legislature regarding proposed legislation, policies and programming that affect them.
The Board has the real capacity to affect lives and to connect a constituency of women whose service is deserving of recognition and whose concerns are deserving of our attention. Its membership has begun to take shape, and the Legislature recently approved the nominations of five appointees to serve as members. I look forward to the Board’s first meeting, where they will elect their leadership and lay out their priorities for 2020.
Good governance happens when concerned citizens collaborate with their elected representatives to effectuate change and the Suffolk County Women Veterans Advisory Board is an example of that collaborative process. In the coming year, I look forward to working with my constituents to create more initiatives to address the pressing issues that we face.
HuntingtonNow.com invites community organizations, leaders and residents to tell us what they see for 2020 and beyond.