As I was preparing this article, I reviewed our accomplishments for the past year and I was amazed at the quantity and quality of work the MDVA team has accomplished. Our expansion into key areas such as the addition of a Women Veterans Coordinator has shown how we are addressing the issues that have impacted the ever-changing dynamics of our nation's military.

Our outreach programs continue our service in key areas such as Veteran homelessness, Women Veterans, Gold Star families, and partnering with County Veterans Service Officers to ensure we bring our Veterans "all the way home!"

Our Veterans Homes continue to meet the highest of standards of care for our Residents. MDVA has just completed the second of three construction phases at the Minneapolis Veterans Home campus and soon construction will continue to complete the third and final phase. Minnesota's five Veterans Homes continue to perform in an outstanding manner as evidenced by industry-standard surveys and inspections. The Veterans we serve, their families, and State and Federal agencies express high satisfaction of the quality of care our Veterans are receiving.

This year is going to bring a different approach to how we address our Legislature. Many of the existing programs within the agency are stable and are providing the services for which they were designed. We are successful in reducing homelessness amongst our Veterans. Our staff has been able to identify many of the Veterans in need of housing, but homelessness is a 'revolving door.' We seek your assistance in helping identify those in need who historically "fall through the cracks." We are committed to bringing our Veterans "all the way home" and we can only do that with your support. I often use the phrase, "I need more bird dogs" which refers to having people throughout the state to help identify Veterans in need and encouraging them to work through their County Veterans Service Officers, or connecting with this agency directly, to identify and care for those Veterans who are in need.

The New Year will be dedicated to that goal, along with increasing the communications at all levels whether it be federal, state, local or family. We at MDVA are also committed to working closely with Veterans Service Organizations (VSOs) throughout the state to expand Best Practices in caring for our Veterans. We all know the phrase 'all politics is local.' I would like to change that to: 'Caring for our Veterans is local' and I commit this agency to working with our local communities to help them connect our federal, state, and community resources in caring for our Veterans.

2016 is truly going to be an interesting year! Thank you for your support!