Nick was very proud to join Joan Mooney, Assistant Secretary with the US Department of Veterans Affairs, for a discussion of veterans issues this morning at Bud Clark Commons.

They were joined by Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici, Multnomah County Commissioners Deborah Kafoury and Diane McKeel, and staff from the offices of Senator Ron Wyden, Senator Jeff Merkley, and Congressman Kurt Schrader.

During the meeting, we updated Assistant Secretary Mooney on our local work with the VASH program, heard from her about Washington's new focus on veterans and what that means for cities like Portland. 

We shared feedback about what the VA and Congress can do to help us better serve veterans in our community.

Nick was also honored to join Assistant Secretary Mooney and Congressman Schrader last night for a volunteer shift with the Street Count. Every other year, the City coordinates a one-night Count to find out how many people locally are sleeping outside. The information we collect helps us better understand the challenges we face and refine our strategy to fight homelessness. It also helps us make the case for additional federal resources to strengthen our work.

We're fortunate to have very strong partnerships with our local VA, Home Forward, Multnomah County, and service providers across the City. We also enjoy the strong support of our elected representatives in Salem and in Washington.

One veteran on the street is too many, and it will take all of us working together to win this fight and make sure every veteran in our community has a place to call home.

VIPs, volunteers and staffers convene to discuss veterans issues during annual homeless count

Mike Francis in The Oregonian

Mult Co surveys number of homeless

Ashley Korslein, KGW News

Portland homeless being counted

KXL News