As New Jersey moves past Election Day and welcomes the end of 2020, this year’s Veterans Day celebrations not only should, but must be engaged with greater consideration. Now is an occasion to note that our Garden State is home to a sizable population of proven, mission-oriented team players ready and willing to engage the complex challenges confronting us all.

Prior military experience is not a dead past, relevant only as the object of civic praise. It is rather best understood as a vetting process, one which prepared those who led while in uniform to continue to lead within our communities. Veterans Day is an opportunity to begin enacting laws and policies which uplift the ongoing contributions of veterans in the present, helping position them for success in the future.

Credible, substantive models and targets exist to help communities equip veterans for such success. These targets are not simply ornamental; collectively, they constitute best practices for local governments to meaningfully improve veterans’ quality of life. Communities which meet these targets can earn designations signifying that their leaders are actively amplifying the ways veterans and military families fight on behalf of our neighbors and neighborhoods.

At municipal and county levels, governing bodies can pass the ordinances and resolutions needed to earn their communities the “Veteran-Friendly Status” conferred by the New Jersey State Veterans Chamber of Commerce. Veterans’ access to economic, and especially entrepreneurial, opportunities is improved when this status’ targets are met. Such targets include implementing procedures to notify state registered Veteran-Owned Businesses (VOB) of public bid opportunities, as well as good-faith efforts to award at least 6% of government contracts to VOB while attaining a hiring rate for veterans of at least 5%. Designation of three parking spaces for use by disabled veterans, along with a veterans discount for local licenses and fees, rounds out the status’ requirements. Information is available at www.njveteranschamber.com.

Municipalities and counties can also implement the programs and services needed to earn their communities the “New Jersey Governor ‘We Value Our Veterans’ Award.” This state administered designation can be attained by enacting one’s choice of a selection of policy recommendations, so that any resulting policy framework is tailored to the needs of one’s own community. Collectively, the programs and services encouraged by this award improve veterans’ access to civic spaces and government services. Targets include hosting quarterly veterans roundtables and listening sessions, establishing a school speaker series, highlighting veterans’ businesses and volunteerism on local websites, and more. An award for private sector employers exists, too. Information is available at https://www.nj.gov/military/community/award-grant-charitable-programs/wvov/.

Lastly, substantive engagement with and investment in Veterans Service Organizations (VSO) is needed. VSO provide, and have always provided, a range of programs and services far beyond addressing solely the needs of veterans and military families. VSO connect both veterans and communities with platforms for meaningful leadership development and ongoing service.

State action is needed to help VSO adapt to current and post-pandemic contexts. Though some grant programs provided by NJEDA were available to VSO, award amounts were functionally limited due to often being based on employment figures inapplicable to all- or mostly volunteer groups. Further, related application processes were not optimized to account for VSO’s unique nonprofit natures and tax designations. Such challenges contributed to VSO underrepresentation among grant awardees. To invest in veterans’ success, especially via stronger online and mobile platforms, greater interagency and intergovernmental coordination is essential.

Local leaders must cease seeing veterans’ groups as compartmentalized, insular special interests. VSO do not serve solely veterans, any more than veterans talk to and love only our own. VSO are instead best seen as community-based organizations with credible messengers already active in a range of policy conversations. VSO host naturalization ceremonies, mentor youth, and provide neighbors with opportunities for civic engagement. Regarding mental health, women’s wellness, and homelessness response, the veterans space is rich with expertise and hard-won advocacy experience.

Appreciation for VSO’s longstanding role as leadership incubator is evident in whether and how veterans are appointed to and engaged by municipal, county, and state boards, councils, and governing bodies. Just as veterans exist within the communal contexts they helped defend, VSO exist as resources for volunteerism and community uplift. Leaders, elected and otherwise, who overlook these facts fail veterans and their own constituents.

New Jersey can benefit from innovative ideas, carried by credible hands, to surmount this year’s many challenges. Pursuit of the above policy targets by state and local governments can equip veterans to win the fight for our future. This Veterans Day, help veterans lead the way.

Dr. Troy R. Mack is a former U.S. Army Chaplain and Iraq War veteran residing in West New York, NJ. He can be reached at trmack001@gmail.com.