“…we have begun to prevail, and we’ve now planted the seeds for the inevitable if not essential partnerships that we as a nation must implement and sustain if we are to serve our service members in a fashion that both dignifies their service and meets their needs now and in the future.”

-Nancy Berglass

The First Annual Coalition for Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans (CIAV) Conference was an opportunity for over 45 military and veteran service organizations to convene and address vital issues facing active duty, veterans, and their families. For three days we conducted panels and breakout sessions covering diverse areas from the needs of military and veteran families to self- care for providers. These interactive sessions helped to foster collaboration within the Coalition to offer better and more comprehensive services.

The conference helped us to realize the vitality of assessing our individual strengths of our organizations and embarking on a long-term strategic planning process with simple goals: to ensure access to appropriate quality resources for military, veterans, families and survivors. Moving forward, we hope to capitalize on our individual strengths and work together to break down barriers between the military and civilian community to build a stronger, more effective, more efficient, more caring and more comprehensive system of care for decades to come.

For a full report on the conference, read

“Moving Forward: Strengthening Services for our Military, Veterans, Families, and Survivors”
(pdf document).