Committee on Women and Gender Equity meeting
March 4, 2026, 1:00 PM
Jointly with the Committee on Veterans
The committee, meeting jointly with the Committee on Veterans, held an oversight hearing on serving women veterans. It also heard Res 0014-2026, calling on NYCHA to include a housing admission preference for women veterans, and Res 0131-2026, calling on the Department of Education to observe Veterans Day on the Friday before November 11.
What was discussed
- Chairs Morano and Farías open the joint hearing on serving women veterans In his first hearing as chair of the Committee on Veterans, Council Member Frank Morano opened this joint oversight hearing with the Committee on Women and Gender Equity and pledged an activist role. Co-chair Council Member Amanda Farías framed the topic, noting women are the fastest-growing segment
- Council Members present the two resolutions on the agenda Chair Morano introduced the two resolutions being heard: Res 0014, sponsored by Council Member Joann Ariola (absent), calling on NYCHA to add an admissions preference for veterans, and Res 0131, sponsored by Council Member Vickie Paladino, calling on the Department of Education to observe Veterans
- DVS Commissioner Mata testifies on making women veterans visible Newly appointed Department of Veterans Services Commissioner Yesenia Mata, herself an Army Reserve captain, testified that only 15,678 of the city's roughly 131,000 veterans who are women have been identified, and that self-identification is the central barrier. She described DVS as the 'sole
- Which city agencies ask whether someone served, and how will DVS close the childcare gap? Chair Morano pressed Commissioner Mata on standardizing the veteran-status question. Mata said Local Law 37 (Intro 1237, 2024) makes the voluntary survey question an agency responsibility and that full implementation is a DVS priority this year. On barriers, Mata and Deputy Chief Nicole Orlando said
- How does DVS get data on veterans transitioning home, and what is its gender-specific outreach? Chair Farías asked how DVS coordinates with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and identifies incoming veterans. Deputy Chief Orlando said DVS receives DD-214 and DD-2468 separation data and that a recent National Defense Authorization Act change now auto-opts service members into sharing their
- Are women veterans losing maternal-health access at the Brooklyn VA to federal cuts? Council Member Kayla Santosuosso said women near her district seeking OB-GYN and maternal care are opting for private hospitals over the Brooklyn VA and asked whether DVS tracks service availability and wait times. Commissioner Mata attributed understaffing to federal cuts and said DVS met with the
- What is DVS doing about the audit's data problems, and what is its budget? Council Member Vickie Paladino raised a Comptroller report finding data discrepancies and asked about corrective action, outreach capacity and funding. Commissioner Mata, two weeks into the job, said she is reviewing whether DVS's data systems work and emphasized shifting the self-identification
- Can DVS access other agencies' veteran data and reach women in the shelter system? Council Member Lynn Schulman asked about Samaritan Daytop Village, the lone women-veteran provider in her district; DVS staff described its substance-use and mental-health programs and housing referrals. Council Member Phil Wong pressed on whether DVS can access veteran data collected by NYCHA
- How is the VA's women's health care working, and is the federal government cooperating? Asked by Chair Farías about VA maternity care coordinators, Executive Director Donee Smalls — an Army retiree and the agency's women veterans liaison — shared her own experience, saying the Bronx and Harbor VA women's health teams supported her through a miscarriage and two breast-cancer scares. On
- Provider and advocate testimony on identifying and serving women veterans A panel of veteran-serving providers testified. Ashton Stewart (MJHS Health System), a Navy Gulf War veteran, described serving women veterans in hospice and distributed a clinician pocket card built with the state to prompt providers to ask about service. Ronald Reid of SAGE described an aging
- Advocates press for a NYCHA veteran preference and better data on women veterans Michael Matos, president of Five Borough Veterans, urged NYCHA to check the unused box adding a veteran admissions preference — asked four times since 2004 — and said his group would run its own 'Hope Count' of homeless veterans because DSS lacks a metric. Coco Culhane of the Veteran Advocacy
Agenda
3 items
- T2026-1265 Oversight - Serving Women Veterans. Hearing Held by Committee
- Res 0014-2026 Resolution calling upon the New York City Housing Authority to include an admission preference for public housing in its next proposed agency plan for all veterans of the U.S. military Hearing Held by Committee
- Res 0131-2026 Resolution calling on the New York City Department of Education to observe Veterans Day the Friday before November 11th if it falls on a Saturday and the Monday after the 11th if it falls on a Sunday Hearing Held by Committee