You should not have to chase us down to get involved. Leave your name and we will reach out to you personally with the meeting details, what we are working on, and where you fit.
This coalition is built and led by people who served. That is deliberate. The credibility of a veteran voice on veterans policy and on the oath we took is the thing that opens doors, and we are not going to blur it.
And the military community is bigger than the people who wore the uniform. Military families carried this too. Spouses, parents, and kids served in their own way. The people who stand with this community have a place here as well.
So: veterans and currently serving members lead. Military families and allies are genuinely welcome. Everybody in the room understands which voice this coalition is built to carry.
One in person a month, accessible online at the same time, and one online-only meeting a month. An hour to two hours. You do not need to prepare anything or know anybody. Put your name in below and we will send you the details.
Share this with the veterans, military families, and advocates in your network. Most of the people who belong in this room do not know it exists yet.
Skills, connections, platforms, stories. We map that on purpose, because a coalition works when people contribute the thing they are actually good at. Just showing up counts too.
No mailing list to hunt down. No form letter. We reach out to you personally with the next meeting, what we are working on, and where you fit.
You do not have to sign up to reach us. If you have any questions at all, or just want to talk it through before you commit, email the organizer directly at peter.dean.7300@gmail.com. A real person answers, and no question is too small.
The Veterans Crisis Line is available 24/7. Dial 988, then press 1, or text 838255. You do not need to be enrolled in VA care to use it.
No. The coalition is veteran-led, and that stays true. But military families and allies who stand with this community are welcome and needed. If you are asking because you are worried you would be intruding: you would not be.
Because we are not building another one. We are building the table they sit at.
Minnesota has veteran organizations, posts, chapters, and caucuses doing real work, and we have a lot of respect for them. Plenty of us are members. We are not here to compete with any of them, replace them, or absorb them.
A coalition is a different animal than an organization. It is where separate groups come together while staying exactly what they are. What has been missing in this state was never more groups. It was the connective tissue: one place where progressive veteran voices work from shared research, on a regular schedule, and produce something together that none of them could produce alone.
If you are already in a group doing this work, bring it with you. That is not a conflict. That is the entire idea.
We hold progressive values and we are open about that. We are not going to pretend otherwise or hide the ball.
We are also all Americans, and we are not in the business of telling anyone their input does not count. If you walk in with an idea, you will be heard. Being progressive means being inclusive, and that includes people who do not agree with us on everything. We will never refuse to listen to you.
What we will not do is start from a conclusion and work backward. We cite sources and we say what the evidence shows, even when it is inconvenient for us. Disagree with our conclusions all you want. Bring it to the open floor. That is what it is there for.
Two meetings a month, an hour to two hours each. One in person and hybrid, one online. Come to both, come to one, come when you can. We would rather you sustain a year of showing up sometimes than burn out in six weeks. And like everything else here, if the group decides a different length works better, we change it.
No. Our main meetings are in the Twin Cities for now because that is where most of us are, and every one of them is accessible online. The second monthly meeting is online-only. Beyond that: if there are progressive veterans doing this work outside the metro, we will come to you rather than asking you to drive to us. Distance should never be the reason somebody gets left out.
No. VA privatization is our anchor issue because it is urgent, documented, and happening in our own city. But we swore an oath to the Constitution, and this coalition takes on democratic process, due process, voting rights, and the causes the room decides matter. Everything has to clear the same evidence standard.
Our organizers have direct relationships with Common Defense, the largest progressive grassroots veteran-led organization in the country, and our anchor issue aligns with their national campaign. The formal structure of that relationship is something the coalition is still working out together.
No. A chunk of every meeting exists specifically to build shared knowledge. Nobody walks in fluent in VA appropriations. Bring your questions.
It goes to the coalition organizers so we can contact you about meetings and the work. It is never sold, shared, or published. If you want off the list, say so and you are off it.
That is the whole point. Put your name in, and we will come to you.
Join the coalition