BTM51-HillVets and Veteran Representation on Capitol Hill

Welcome to Episode 51 of Behind the mission, a show that sparks conversation with PsychArmor trusted partners in educational experts. My name is Duane France, and each week I’ll be having conversations with podcast guests that will equip you with tools and resources to effectively engage with and support military service members, Veterans, and their families. You can find the show on all the podcast players by going to www.psycharmor.org/podcast. Thanks again for joining us on Behind The Mission, our work in mission or supported by generous partnerships and sponsors, who also believe that education changes lives. This episode is brought to you by PsychArmor is the premier education and learning ecosystem, specializing in military cultural content. PsychArmor offers an online e-learning laboratory. That’s free to individual learners as well as custom training options for organizations. And you can find more about www.psycharmor.org.

On today’s episode, we’re featuring Betty Rhodes, Executive Director of Hill Vets, a nonprofit that opens doors for Veterans, service members, and their supporters, and provides them with contacts, education, and resources to increase the representation of the military-affiliated community on Capitol Hill. Betty joined the Hill Vets Foundation in December of 2019 as the Executive Director. Betty’s husband, Jason, was one of the original class of Hill Vets Fellows. He worked with Congresswoman Ann Kirkpatrick's office and then moved on to achieve success in federal government consulting and private legal practice. Betty earned her doctor of jurisprudence from the University of Tennessee College of Law in 2005, with a concentration in business transactions. She's been serving the Military and Veteran community for more than 15 years. During which time she has published numerous articles and presented at a variety of conventions and events. You can find out more about Betty by checking out her bio in our show notes. Let's get into my conversation with her and come back afterward to talk about some of the key points.

DUANE: So you've come from a background of supporting the military-affiliated community for a number of years. I'm curious to hear how you ended up working to improve the representation of Veterans in the halls of Congress.

BETTY: So it's really a very short answer. It’s mostly a fluke. I went to law school and learned too late that I didn't actually want to be a lawyer. And public service really was calling me. That is what I felt like I needed to be doing with my professional life. And I went to DC with the presidential management fellowship program. And that program really allows folks with graduate and professional degrees to get their start in the federal government. And when you get this fellowship, they have a job fair where you get to go up and talk to a million different federal agencies who are trying to hire you. And I never, in a million years thought that VA would be the agency that I would wind up with. I specialized in tax and securities law. So for sure, I thought IRS or SCC or BUST. But the home loan guarantee service at the VA really approached me pretty aggressively because they wanted exactly what I was trying to do. They wanted a lawyer who didn't want to be a lawyer. So someone with that kind of brain who could work on policy congressional work, all that good stuff, regulatory work, but who didn't want to get up and leave and go be general counsel someday. So that's how I found my way to VA. I worked in VBA, mostly in the loan guarantee service. I was with VA for 12 years, total. And most of that was housing, primarily specially adapted housing. So adapted homes for severely wounded Veterans. That really was where I spent the majority of my time at VA. And when I was ready to leave government, after 12 years, the nonprofit sector really seemed like the best jump. I continued to want to serve others. And you certainly don't get rich being a GS government employee, although it is a nice living, you're not going to get rich there. So the jump to the nonprofit arena where you also don't get rich was not a shock to my system. And I first went to a nonprofit that focused on that housing arena. So I worked at Jared Alan's homes for wounded warriors, where we built adapted custom homes for combat-wounded Vets. But then after a few years, I really just wanted to leave that housing behind and do something different. And it just so happened that at that time Justin Brown, who's the founder of Hill Vets, had reached out to me and said, are you interested in, taking over as Executive Director? He, the founder, had been the only executive director of the organization had, and it had reached a point of growth where that was just no longer sustainable. He needed somebody full-time. I was honored to be considered to do that. Of course, very honored to be chosen specifically because my husband, who was an air force Veteran was in the first class of Hill Vets fellows. So we knew very deeply and personally how important the organization was. So it was a dream come true to be asked to lead it into its next phase of growth.

DUANE: So it's very interesting in that your work with the VA was working from a federal agency in partnership with Congress. Right. So you saw what was happening from the agency side, interacting with policymakers on Capitol Hill.

BETTY: Absolutely. I did policy work on the Executive Branch side, which is obviously very different, but we engage with The Hill all the time. Now it's not always a free back and forth because obviously there are some competing political priorities that, that even the nonpolitical, career civil service employees have to keep in mind. But yeah, we saw how an Executive Branch agency policymaking sort of priority process, how that worked, and then how it interacted with what was happening in the halls of Congress. It's really a fascinating process of how policy gets made. And I don't think people always realize that there is policy-making on the Executive Branch side, but it really is a very interesting part of how our country functions. And I always wanted to work on Capitol Hill. To be honest, I never could make it happen. I tried a couple of different times and it just never worked out because of timing and other things, but definitely was familiar with the pushes and pulls of policymaking on The Hill.

DUANE: And I think that's something that, again, a lot of people think about our lawmakers, the congressmen and women, the senators and so on, but they don't realize what all goes into actually, you know, what does that, you know, how does a bill become a law, but, there's a lot more that goes into that. And you have the congressional staff, that really are almost the key drivers to a lot of this. And there is a lot of intersection between say the department of Veterans Affairs and Congress.

BETTY: Absolutely. And that's something that I preach and teach every possible place that I can. The fact that yes, the lawmakers are important. Your elected officials are important and you should be engaging with them as a citizen of this country to make sure that your needs are being met and that you feel like things are going in the right direction, but there is this whole population of folks behind the scenes, not in front of the cameras, not getting their quotes in the newspaper. And they're really just grinding it out to make things happen. And many of them are very young, but most of them are very smart, very dedicated, want to do the right thing, want to get out there and make positive change they're public servants. And they really do a lot of heavy lifting in terms of what makes this country work on a day-to-day basis.

DUANE: Yeah and I think a lot of people in, perhaps even those listening, don't realize that behind the scenes kind of thing. In the years, since I retired from the army among other things that I've done, I have been involved in legislative advocacy and in had the opportunity to visit Capitol hill. And it always surprises me, all of the people in all of the hallways. And yet, so few congressional staffers are actually those who have served the country. And that's something that Hill Vets is trying to make a difference is to increase the representation of Veterans on Capitol hill.

BETTY: Yes, absolutely. So Justin Brown, our founder, a Navy vet, came to DC from Utah. Pretty much sight unseen to take an unpaid internship on the House of Foreign Affairs Committee. Wanted to serve, wanted to make a difference, wanted to continue serving his country after the military. And he found DC not only to be a very difficult place to get your start. It's expensive, it can be insular and, it's challenging, but what he also found. Even working in the foreign affairs and military and Veteran arena, he was often the only person around the table who had served in the military. And that really just struck him as a problem that needed to be solved. Hill Vets was initially founded more as a casual social organization, just to bring military-connected folks in DC together so that you could have that network and that, that web of support, but it quickly turned into an organization that really is trying to move the needle about exactly what you just said. Make sure that there are more people around the table, in the room when decisions are being made who have had this lived experience. Either of serving in the military, being a family member of someone who's served, and making sure that those voices are heard. Unfortunately, Hill Vets is a small organization. We're a small organization that has a big impact and I am incredibly proud of the work that we've done. But it's unfortunate to have to report that 2019 is the last time we did super hardcore data collection on this. And at that time, fewer than 2% of Capitol Hill staff had served in the military. I did some rough numbers in the past few months, and it hasn't crossed that 2% threshold yet, even now, so still a lot of work to be done. And I'll also note that as bad as those numbers are, it's even worse. We don't even track military spouses for instance, who work on The Hill. So Hill Vets is really dedicated to continuing to just chip away at that and really just show the value that military-connected individuals bring to the public policy conversation.

DUANE: And I think it's critical because we always hear that the two largest federal agency budgets are the DOD and the Department of Veterans Affairs. Right. I mean, those were, you know, where a lot of the money in our federal government goes to. And those who served we think of different ways to serve after service, but we don't think about going into public service. And if the military affiliated voices are not at the table when those decisions are being made, those decisions are still being made.

BETTY: Exactly and listen, I'm certainly not going to sit here and say that you have to be a Veteran to be able to participate in the policy conversation surrounding Veterans. I didn't serve in the military, but it is really important that anyone who wants that opportunity can get it. And again, what Justin found was that opportunity to work in public policy really seemed like it was reserved for the very, very privileged. And you had these young affluent individuals who were being funded by their parents in a lot of situations who could go to The Hill, take these unpaid jobs for extended periods of time. And that just isn't feasible for a lot of folks from a military background, a lot of folks join the military to improve their economic opportunity. So it really was a question of, how can we provide some resources so that the door can be open for more of these folks, because we know that more of these folks would be interested in work like this if they had the resources to be able to make it work for them in their families. And so that's really when Hill Vets started hitting its stride from a programmatic standpoint was when we figured out how we could best address those issues.

DUANE: No, that's an interesting point. You're not just increasing military and Veteran representation. You're increasing diversity. You're increasing age diversity. One of the things that when I went to Capitol Hill, a friend of mine said, is one thing you don't realize is our country is run by 20 somethings. Very, as you said, they're usually very, very young. They don't have families, but if you think of even somebody who spent six or seven years in the military, they're most likely attached with family and kids. They're probably older in their thirties or something like that. And that they bring a different voice as well as their different life experience to the policy-making conference.

BETTY: Yeah, absolutely. And we see incredible diversity in our program participants and that diversity, you know, in addition to just, like you said, bringing the military and Veteran voices to the table, that diversity is critically important still in Congress in staff. The other federal agencies Executive Branch, for instance, estimates that it has about 31% Veterans in its ranks of employees, DOD and VA skew higher. Of course. Congress still has a lot of work to do in all of the areas of diversity in terms of its staff. So we're really proud to be a part of that because we think that's incredibly important work to make sure that the views of all Americans are reflected in this policy-making process.

DUANE: And so Hill Vets has a number of different programs that are designed to increase the participation of current form of service members and their families in government. What are some of the key ways that Hill Vets do that?

BETTY: So our first program, our marquee program that we started out with, I alluded to in the beginning because my husband participated in it is our Hill Vets House Fellowship. And it really just started as, Hey, we're going to help you find an office on Capitol Hill to work for a few months, get a taste of the process and then take those skills and those networks that you've built and get that full-time paid position in policy, either on The Hill or elsewhere in government. And as we grew that program, we added some additional benefits. So a financial stipend monthly that we provide to help offset some of the costs of living in DC, but really the biggest thing that we were able to start providing back in 2016 is housing. So we started out with a three-bedroom apartment in Crystal City, Virginia. So not right on Capitol hHill, but at least in the vicinity. And we were able to house a couple of folks at a time to try to take that burden off of them. But in 2019 was really when we were able to change the game in terms of providing housing, we were able to get a row house on Capitol Hill. It can house up to eight Veterans at a time while they're working on the hill, so they don't have to navigate that very expensive DC rent market, and they can walk to The Hill. They can really be a part of this neighborhood and be able to, enjoy, I'll say tongue in cheek, those late nights at the Capitol, working hard for the American people. And they can really immerse themselves in this process and decide, is this something that I want to do? Long-term so those fellowships are open to Veterans and surviving family members. And typically the whole program runs about eight months. So about a month, once you get here to on-ramp get your resume in order, get those interview skills, tie into the Hill Vets network to help get you ready to go for that fellowship. Then four to six months of actual work in a congressional office, we are completely nonpartisan house, Senate, Democrat, Republican, independent. We do not care. We just want folks to go work for people that they're aligned with, that they feel comfortable working for and with. And then about a month at the end to again, off-ramp into that full-time paid position in public policy. We're finding now that most of our folks do want to stay on The Hill immediately after their fellowships, depending on their sort of tolerance for the challenge of that work, they may not stay forever, but, we are seeing that folks want to stay and continue that work, making that positive impact in, in the country. So that is our sort of marquee program, the Hill Vets House Fellowship. We also have fellows who don't live in the house for whatever reason, whether they have families or pets, they live outside. So we have right now we have eight current Hill Vets house fellows, and they're all placed in congressional offices.

Then the second program that we created back in 2018 is called Hill Vets Lead. Really? The Hill Vets House Fellowship is kind of an entry-level program. And we started thinking, what can we do for folks who are a little further along in their career? How can we help them level up? How can we help them be more effective as advocates and how can we help them tap into this larger network that we've built at Hill Vets to really up their game. So Hill Vets Lead is about a 12-week leadership program in the evenings where we bring in speakers, we do reading, we have all kinds of discussions and we work on a capstone project, which is to put together a day-long conference. called CapCon which focuses on a theme of the cohorts choosing that's relevant to the military and Veteran community at that time. And they're responsible for putting together panels and bringing in speakers and coming up with ideas and themes and conversations again that are going to be timely and interesting and relevant in our community. So those are our two big programs. And then on top of that, we still remain an organization that's very dedicated to social interaction, networking, education, and just really supporting one another and collaborating for the greater good. So we have in normal times, of course, COVID notwithstanding. We have monthly networking socials. We have educational events throughout the year. And of course, we wouldn't be a nonprofit if we didn't have a gala somewhere in the calendar. But our gala is really special. It's the Hill Vets 100 and it recognizes each year, the 100 most impactful and influential Veteran service members, and support from that previous year. We take public nominations. There's a selection committee and it's across all industries. So not just government and Capitol hill types, but arts and business and nonprofit and all kinds of amazing people get to come together from across the country and really celebrate the incredible things that the military-connected community is doing every day.

DUANE: And I can imagine is, and you've mentioned a couple of times is the Hill Vets network. And as you said, not every fellow continues on in their work but they stay connected to Hill Vets. Perhaps they go to their congressional district and they take a larger role in the district or they move on into a different role, maybe even in a different sector but having that experience of engaging in public policy, I can imagine provides a like-minded network for new fellows.

BETTY: Exactly. And we are a pay it forward organization. Most of our programs and events are available to all and don't carry with them any financial obligation. So we really believe in making it easier for the next folks who are coming behind us and giving them those same opportunities that we were given by the folks who came before us. And that really all stems from Justin's experience when he came here and his desire to make it easier for the next folks. And what's really exciting is you're right. We do across sectors. But what's really exciting is watching them figure out after their time on The Hill or after their time in our leadership program or elsewhere in public policy, figuring out how they're going to take those skills and just absolutely make magic happen somewhere. We've got folks still on The Hill. Obviously, we've got folks all over executive branch government. We've got people at VSOs, other nonprofits, both Veterans serving and not. Really kind of exciting this year is that we have two of our program alums who are running for Congress this cycle. And we certainly do not focus on the elected piece. We are really the only organization focusing on staff exclusively, but it is very, very exciting when you see people who've gone through your programs, who've been in your community who decide that they are ready to step up in that kind of way to lead and put themselves out there. Elected politics is no joke. So they are really putting their necks out there and taking that risk. And it's just incredible to think that your programs and your organization and your network had even a small part in helping them make that monumental decision to take that on. So it's really exciting for us. We're very glad that there are other organizations that focus on the elected piece. I think you've spoken to, Rye With Honor. We love all the organizations that are out there making sure that there's representation on the elected side as well because that is another area where the numbers just don't reflect the true diversity that exists in the community.

DUANE: I absolutely agree. And being a little bit of a policy wonk myself, I am always, I did appreciate the conversation with Rye, and that was going to be one of my questions was, do you have, or do you anticipate that some of your fellows would go on to elected office. And I think that really like you said, it does speak to the impact of what Hill Vets has done and will continue to do. So people want to find out more about Hill Vets, want to support you in any way, how can they do that?

BETTY: So we are @Hill Vets across all social media platforms. So just Hill Vets. And we have really tried to grow our social media over the past few years, which turned out to be very handy since we had to withdraw a little bit from our preferred face-to-face engagement, thanks to the pandemic. So we try to be super active on social media. We like to share not only what we've got going on, but also what our program participants and alumni are doing. We love to highlight them and all of our partners. So our social media is probably the first and best way to get information about what we've got going on and get a sense of who we are. Our website is www.hillvets.org. You can sign up there for our mailing list. We typically try to be pretty judicious about our emails and just let folks know when we're doing fun, exciting things. And if you're in the DC Metro area, certainly pay attention to our social media and our email list and join us at events. You do not have to have served in the military to be a part of the Hill Vets family. We are a very big umbrella organization and the more that we can, again, just share the value of this community. Literally every aspect of our lives, the more we can do that, the better everything works for everybody. I always like to remind people, yes, we talk a lot about Veteran and military policy in our world, but military-connected folks who are serving on The Hill, who are serving in public policy they work on issues that impact every single one of us every day. So it is in all of our interests to make sure that we have the best folks possible, doing that work for us.

DUANE: Absolutely. I could not agree more. It was great to be able to talk to you on the show today.

BETTY: Likewise, thank you so much.

DUANE: Once again, we would like to thank this week’s sponsor, PsychArmor. PsychArmor is the premier education and learning ecosystem specializing in military culture content. PsychArmor offers an online elearning laboratory that is free to individual learners as well as custom training options for organizations. You can find more about PsychArmor by going to www.psycharmor.org As I mentioned in the interview, I really enjoy conversations related to policymaking. I often tell people that I enjoy politics with the little P, but I don’t enjoy politics with the big P. The process of lawmaking and policy is enjoyable to me. And it's enjoyable to others as well. More significantly, it’s important. We often don’t know the impact that lawmaking has on good or bad. I recall in graduate school, reading a case study on how a hundred years of Legislative wranglings in Louisiana in a multitude of small ways, led to the catastrophic failures of the levees during Hurricane Katrina. Over that time, those lawmakers were doing what they thought was best either for themselves or their constituents. Funding a project in this parish, rather than that parish protecting this community at the cost of another community. And all of it added up to one of the most catastrophic natural disasters in our lifetime. The optimist in me would hope that if someone could have shown those lawmakers, the ultimate consequence of their actions, then they would’ve made different decisions, but the world certainly doesn’t work like that. The point that I’m trying to make here is that as we make decisions in our daily lives, that impact those that we care about our government is set up in such a way as to have people making decisions in their daily lives that impact everyone. That’s the beauty of democracy that a guy who grew up five miles from the airport in St. Louis can grow up to visit Washington DC and meet with the chief of staff of a Senator who’s running for president to talk about policy. To talk about ways to improve the lives of Veterans. That regular people can be a part of the decisions that decide the future of our country. If they have the right drive, desire, and often support. And that's where Hill Vets comes in to provide support to those who have the drive and desire to ensure that the voices of those who served in the military are heard in the halls of Congress.

The second point that I’d like to make is related to that. Why would anyone want to do that? With the state of politics, with the big P as it is today, who in their right mind would even want to get involved? Why would someone move across the country to live in a community with a high cost of living? And you’re one of the hundreds like you all trying to do the same thing. Sure. I just described people trying to get into government, but I also described folks trying to get into Hollywood or Silicon Valley. There are millions of restaurants out there. Why open another one? Just because policymaking isn’t for you doesn’t mean that it isn’t for everyone. But legislative advocacy is another way to serve. Again, if you listen to Episode 13 with Rye Barcott and Congressman Jared golden, you heard both of them say that participatory democracy is another way to serve after your service. And you heard Betty say the same thing here. On the other hand, as you also heard Betty say, running for elected office isn’t easy, and it’s not for everyone. It’s certainly not something that I personally want to do. But being the elected official is not the only way to participate in our democracy. I’m proud of a number of things that I’ve been able to accomplish in my life with my military career and different things that I’ve done after the military. One of them is to support and in a small way, influence legislation, both at the state and federal level that improve the lives of my fellow Veterans. You’re not going to find a particular state law in Colorado that says this is here because of Duane France. And that’s not what legislative advocacy is all about. A friend and colleague of mine say that you have to have a lot of patience and a lot of humility to do this work. You’re going to work for years and years on something that’s ultimately going to have someone else’s name attached to it. But do you know what my friend and colleague is currently one of the 2% of staffers on Capitol Hill are military-affiliated, and she’s doing amazing work on behalf of those who served. So if politics, either with the big P or a little P is something that interests you, check out Betty and Hill Vets. Their a great organization doing some really great things.

But this week PsychArmor resource of the week, I’d like to share the previous podcast episode that we’ve referred to a couple of times, Episode 13 of Behind The Mission. My conversation with Rye Barcott and Main Congressman Jared Golden. In this episode, Congressman Golden and Mr. Barcott, both Marines joined the show to talk about With Honor, an organization that supports cross-partisan collaboration in federal politics and civic engagement, and public office as a way for Veterans to continue to serve after their time in the military. You can find a link to the podcast in the show notes.

So thank you for taking the time to listen to this episode. Make sure to take a look at the show notes, which you can find in your podcast player of choice as well www.psycharmor.org/podcast.