NYC Council Committee on Veterans Jointly with the Committee on Women and Gender Equity Oversight – Serving Women Veterans

NYHealth Senior Program Officer Derek Coy gave the following testimony on March 4, 2026 to the New York City Council Committee on Veterans, Jointly with the Committee on Women and Gender Equity
Oversight - Serving Women Veterans

(The recording of the hearing including Derek Coy's testimony is here.)

Thank you, Chairpersons Morano and Farías, and members of the Committees, for the opportunity to testify on behalf of the New York Health Foundation (NYHealth). NYHealth is a private, independent, statewide foundation dedicated to improving the health of all New Yorkers, including the approximately 120,000 veterans who call New York City home. My name is Derek Coy; I'm a Senior Program Officer at NYHealth. I am also a proud veteran, having served as a Sergeant in the United States Marine Corps.

For more than 15 years, NYHealth has worked to understand and support the health needs of New York's veterans. We do this through grantmaking, policy analysis, advocacy, research, and convenings. Our work has identified service gaps and helped develop innovative, community-based programs that meet veterans where they are. Over the years, we have had the opportunity to partner closely with City agencies and partners to ensure New York's veterans receive high-quality, culturally competent care and support.

Women have served this nation since the Revolutionary War. Yet full gender equality in military service remained out of reach for generations. Restrictions, such as the prohibition of women serving in certain combat-related jobs, were dismantled in stages and were not fully eliminated until 2015, and some are now reemerging.

Since the cap on female participation was lifted in 1973, the number of women serving has grown steadily. Today, women veterans are the fastest-growing segment of the veteran population. They are younger and more racially and ethnically diverse than their male counterparts.[1]

Despite this growth, significant gaps remain in our understanding of women veterans' health and well-being, particularly on highly consequential issues such as suicide and justice involvement. Data limitations often obscure the scale and nature of these challenges, impeding effective policy and programmatic responses.

At NYHealth, we have invested in research to help close these gaps. In 2024, we partnered with the RAND Corporation to conduct a needs assessment of recently separated veterans in New York-the first comprehensive review of veterans' health and social service needs in 14 years. Fifteen percent of veterans surveyed were women, which generally reflects their proportion among New York's recently separated women veteran population.[2] We offer the following findings as a resource to inform the Committee's work. Our body of work highlights urgent trends that warrant attention and shines a light on where currently available data are insufficient and other areas for improvement.

Barriers to Accessing Services

Research indicates that women veterans face distinct barriers to accessing care and other support. Sometimes, the first barrier occurs because women veterans often do not self-identify as veterans when they seek services, further impeding outreach efforts and limiting their connection to available services.[3] Veteran identification practices also vary widely across City agencies and community organizations. Although some New York State agencies have begun adopting more inclusive veteran identification questions, broader implementation-particularly in New York City-remains fragmented and incomplete.

Below are further examples of the types of barriers to services faced by women veterans:

• A 2020 Syracuse University survey of women in the military found that women veterans are more likely to rate their transition after military service as more difficult than male veterans are (66% compared to 51%); and that 54% of women veterans did not feel prepared to navigate resources in their community (compared to 37% of male veterans).[4]
• Research conducted in 2021 found that approximately one in three women veterans report experiencing harassment at Veterans Administration (VA) health care facilities in the last year. Experiences of harassment and discrimination, both within the VA and in traditional veterans' service organizations, can create unwelcoming environments that deter women from seeking care, benefits, and social support.[5]^,[6]
• RAND Corporation's NYHealth-commissioned needs assessment of recently separated veterans in New York State found that while men and women veterans had similar preferences for care from a community provider (59% vs 60%, respectively), a higher percentage of women veterans listed their preference as due to prior bad experience(s) with VA care (24% versus 20%).[7]
• Traditional homeless shelter systems often do not adequately accommodate single mothers, creating additional barriers to stability and safety for women veterans with children.[8]

Suicide and Justice Involvement: Incomplete Information

Tragically, veteran suicide remains a chronic problem. Mortality data underscore the disproportionate risks women veterans face. In 2022, the national suicide rate for veteran women was 92% higher than for nonveteran women (14.2 vs 7.4 per 100,000).[9]

Veterans involved in the justice system are twice as likely to die by suicide compared to veterans with no history of criminal justice involvement.[10] However, there are limited data on women veterans' involvement with the justice system.

Beyond these sobering facts, it is hard to fully grasp the complex and intersecting dynamics of suicide, justice involvement, and gender. It is known that women veterans face disproportionate behavioral health risks. Yet they can be unrepresented in data and surveys due to privacy concerns and smaller population sizes.[11] Without timely, reliable, disaggregated data, women veterans remain statistically invisible, even as disparities persist. Without better data, policymakers struggle to effectively target outreach and resources.

To better serve women veterans, we urge the City to consider the following recommendations.

Close critical data gaps. Significant data gaps persist across veteran subpopulations, particularly among women veterans, LGBTQ+ veterans, and those with intersecting identities. These limitations constrain meaningful analysis and hinder effective policymaking:

• Expand the City's disaggregated reporting on suicide and deaths of despair among veterans.
• Identify mechanisms to strengthen mortality review processes, including proposals such as establishing or enhancing a suicide mortality review committee.
• Include veteran status in research efforts to improve transparency and accountability. Recently, the City Council voted to amend New York City's suicide reporting to explicitly include veteran status, among other demographics. If signed, the amendment to Introduced Bill 0291-2026 is an important step in gaining visibility for veteran suicides, including by sex and race/ethnicity.
• Encourage and support more widespread and consistent adoption of culturally competent screening for veteran status across health and social service settings to increase the number of women veterans who self-identify.

Equip the broader health system and community providers. As the VA increasingly purchases care from private providers, New York's broader health care system must be prepared to meet the unique needs of women veterans:

• Ensure that private providers are trained to recognize military service history and understand the distinct physical and behavioral health challenges women veterans may face. For example, there are tools available for replication and scaling: NYHealth has supported efforts to improve culturally competent care for veterans, and the VA offers a Caring for Women Veterans in the Community training.[12]^,[13]
• Explore ways to expand public-private partnerships to better support coordinated, trauma-informed care and to invest in cross-sector collaboration to ensure continuity and quality of care.

Strengthen outreach and engagement. Because many women who have served do not self-identify, traditional outreach methods may miss those most in need:

• Expand proactive, community-based outreach strategies to meet women veterans where they are. For example, NYHealth has long championed the peer support model, particularly the Joseph P. Dwyer Peer Support Program, which successfully reduces isolation, connects veterans to services, and improves their wellbeing. We have also partnered with New York Cares and the New York City Department of Veterans' Services (NYC DVS) to operate Mission: VetCheck. This program uses peer-based outreach to provide veterans with wellness check-ins, suicide screenings, and referrals to critical resources. These programs have reached thousands of veterans and built a robust referral network for behavioral health, benefits counseling, and housing support.[14]^,[15] The City should explore opportunities to expand upon this program model to meet the specific needs of women veterans.
• Consider ways to not only connect women veterans to services, but also to meaningfully engage them and center their voices in shaping the policies and programs designed to serve them and build responsive, effective systems of care.

Conclusion

We appreciate and share the Council's focus on New York City's women veterans. Women veterans have long served this nation. As their numbers grow, so too must our commitment to understanding and addressing their needs. With better data, stronger coordination, and targeted outreach, New York City can lead in ensuring that women veterans are not only recognized, but fully supported.

I hope you will look to the New York Health Foundation as a partner and resource for this work. You can learn about our veterans' health work by visiting our website, www.nyhealthfoundation.org.

[1] Women Veterans Health Care. Women are the fastest growing group in the Veteran population. 2023. U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. https://www.womenshealth.va.gov/materials-and-resources/facts-and-statistics.asp, accessed February 2025.

[2] Ringel JS, Lejeune J, Phillips J, Robbins MW, Bradley MA, Wolf J, Timmer MJ. 2024. Understanding Veterans in New York. RAND Corporation. Commissioned by the New York Health Foundation. Available at: https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RRA3300/RRA3304-1/RAND_RRA3304-1.pdf.

[3] Di Leone BAL, Wang JM, Kressin N, Vogt D. 2016. Women's veteran identity and utilization of VA health services. Psychological Services. 13(1):60-68. doi: 10.1037/ser0000021.

[4] Maury RV, Linsner RK, Zoli C, Fay D. 2020. Women in the Military: Transition, Employment, and Higher Education After Service. Syracuse, NY: Institute for Veterans and Military Families, Syracuse University. Available at: https://bit.ly/4aPkd4X.

[5] MacDonald S, Judge-Golden C, Borrero S, Zhao X, Mor MK, Hausmann LRM. 2020. Experiences of Perceived Gender-based Discrimination Among Women Veterans: Data From the ECUUN Study. Medical Care. 58(5):483-490. doi: 10.1097/MLR.0000000000001304.

[6] Grogan N, Moore E, Peabody B, Seymour M, Williams K. 2020. New York State Minority Veteran Needs Assessment. Center for a New American Security. Commissioned by the New York Health Foundation. Available at: https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/files.cnas.org/documents/CNAS-Report-MVS-NY-Assessment-final.pdf.

[7] Ringel JS, Lejeune J, Phillips J, Robbins MW, Bradley MA, Wolf J, Timmer MJ. 2024. Understanding Veterans in New York. RAND Corporation. Commissioned by the New York Health Foundation. Available at: https://nyhealthfoundation.org/resource/new-york-rand-assessment-veterans-2024/.

[8] MacDonald S, Judge-Golden C, Borrero S, Zhao X, Mor MK, Hausmann LRM. 2020. Experiences of Perceived Gender-based Discrimination Among Women Veterans: Data From the ECUUN Study. Medical Care. 58(5):483-490. doi: 10.1097/MLR.0000000000001304.

[9] Ramchand R, Montoya T. 2025. Suicide Among Veterans. RAND Corporation. https://www.rand.org/pubs/perspectives/PEA1363-1-v2.html, accessed March 2026.

[10] Holliday R, Forster JE, Desai A, Miller C, Monteith LL, Schneiderman AI, Hoffmire CA 2021. Association of lifetime homelessness and justice involvement with psychiatric symptoms, suicidal ideation, and suicide attempt among post-9/11 veterans. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 144, 455-461.

[11] Villanueva R, Wan M, Gonzalez-Cabrales L. Invisible Ranks: The Untold Battle for Women Veterans' Mental Health. PsychiatricTimes. https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/invisible-ranks-the-untold-battle-for-women-veterans-mental-health, accessed March 2026.

[12] New York Health Foundation. New York Legal Assistance Group; Columbia University's Teachers College. Improving Culturally Competent Care for Veterans. 2021. https://nyhealthfoundation.org/grant-outcome/improving-culturally-competent-care-for-veterans/, accessed February 2026.

[13] U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Women Veterans Health Care. https://www.womenshealth.va.gov/, accessed February 2026.

[14] New York Health Foundation. The Mission Continues. Empowering New York City Veteran Leaders During the COVID-19 Pandemic. https://nyhealthfoundation.org/grantee/the-mission-continues/, accessed February 2026.

[15] New York City Department of Veterans. Mission: VetCheck. https://www.nyc.gov/site/veterans/initiatives/mission-vetcheck.page, accessed February 2026.