Jan Donatelli, Obama advisor, on top of veterans issues

Obama Reaches Out to Women and the Art World
Posted February 5, 2008 03:20 PM (EST)

With Super Tuesday looming large, February 2nd was a day of intense activity for the Obama campaign. After hearing about a rally for women at Columbus Circle, and an outreach session in Chelsea with the arts community, I made it a point to attend both. I had to. With my commitment to women's issues and a parallel life invested in the visual arts, I was pulled...as if by a magnetic field.

I spoke with Jan Donatelli, a member of the Veterans Policy Committee for Obama, who is also the New York City Vets Team Co-Coordinator. Donatelli enumerated to me the statistics which show that there are currently more homeless women veterans than ever before in history. Presently, 6% of the military is comprised of women. The majority of those serving in Iraq have been deployed from the National Guard. Facing unique problems, such as who will take care of their children when they are overseas, these concerns have not been adequately addressed. A Navy pilot from 1986-1991, Donatelli has an acute awareness of the challenges veterans face. She informed me that Obama had "worked tirelessly" in Illinois for mental health benefits for vets that would address Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, traumatic brain injury, and homelessness. In discussing the Iraq war, she put it bluntly, "There have been a lot of casualties."
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marcia-g-yerman/
obama-reaches-out-to-wome_b_85127.html