Announced in Speaker Adams’ 2024 State of the City, first report card evaluates Department of Veterans’ Services and calls for strategic planning to revitalize agency for second decade in operation

City Hall, NY – Today, the New York City Council released the first in a series of agency report cards to evaluate how effectively city agencies serve New Yorkers and identify opportunities for improvements to operations and service delivery. This initiative stems from Speaker Adrienne Adams’ 2024 State of the City address, in which she called for enhanced oversight and accountability for city government to ensure it meets the needs of all New Yorkers. The release of this report comes a week ahead of the oversight hearing with the Committee on Veterans on implementing recommendations from the Council’s report card initiative.

This inaugural report is focused on the Department of Veterans’ Services (DVS), which plays a critical role in addressing the unique and complex challenges faced by the city’s approximately 100,000 veterans, including housing insecurity, mental health struggles, and financial stability.  The report finds that while DVS makes an effort to meet veterans where they are, there is a gap between its reported practices and the experiences described by veterans and advocates. The agency is one of the smallest in city government, with fewer than 40 full-time staff, and it is less than one percent of the City budget. The assessment draws on input from veterans’ advocates, agency staff, and independent research by the Council’s Compliance Division.

The Council’s Report Card assigns letter grades to city agencies in a variety of categories, with DVS receiving an overall grade of C. The report calls for the mayoral administration to support long-term strategic planning for the agency to develop a “DVS 2.0” plan that builds on the foundation of its first decade of operations.

Among the Council’s key recommendations are:

  • Strategic planning: DVS should develop and publicly share short- and long-term strategic plans that outline core services, measurable outcomes, and future goals to strengthen service delivery and trust with the City’s veteran community.
  • Community engagement: DVS should hold regular roundtables and surveys with veterans and stakeholders to gather feedback on the agency’s improvement processes, issues accessing and understanding benefits information, non-digital outreach methods, and quality of service.
  • Staffing and Representation: DVS should assess staffing needs to support service expansion, prioritize hiring veterans in direct service roles, and establish transparent training protocols for new and ongoing staff to enhance workforce effectiveness.

“Veterans made the ultimate sacrifice to serve our country, and it is only right that our government provide the more than 100,000 veterans across our city with the full support they deserve,” said Speaker Adrienne Adams. “We can honor their courageous service by improving DVS’ delivery of services and operations to provide what our veterans need. Through the performance evaluations and recommendations made in the Council’s agency report card, the Council aims to strengthen accountability and improve service and delivery for our veterans. As a daughter and wife of veterans, I’m proud to fulfill this commitment from my 2024 State of the City address, and will continue to hold our city agencies accountable to their duty to New Yorkers.”

The full report can be viewed here.

The Council is a co-equal branch of city government and has a City Charter mandate to conduct oversight of city agencies. While the Mayor’s Management Report (MMR) provides important data about the performance of city agencies and the outcomes they produce for New Yorkers, its metrics don’t always show the full picture. To provide further insight into agency performance, the Council has begun to conduct its own evaluations of city agencies and will issue report cards for individual agencies on their delivery of services to New Yorkers with recommended action steps to remedy underperformance.

The Report Cards evaluate city agencies through a framework centered on seven core pillars: Leadership, Strategy, and Direction, Service Delivery for New Yorkers, Relationships and Collaboration, Workforce Development, Financial and Resources Management, Digital Government, and Measurement, Analysis, and Knowledge Management.

“Our city must do more to support those who served our nation,” said Council Member Robert Holden, Chair of the Committee on Veterans. “The Department of Veterans’ Services is one of the smallest agencies in the city, which is deeply concerning—but with its limited resources, the agency must prioritize smartly. City Hall must step up to fight for the funding and support it needs to succeed.”

“The City Council is committed to providing rigorous, proactive oversight of City agencies to guarantee that City government is operating efficiently and effectively and delivering for New Yorkers, said Council Member Lincoln Restler, Chair of the Committee on Governmental Operations, State and Federal Legislation. “Our veterans deserve the very best and I am pleased the Department of Veteran Services is the first agency to be evaluated as part of Speaker Adams’ new Report Card initiative — which creates an actionable roadmap to make government work better.”

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