Who We Are
Our Organization
Our Organization
1. The El Paso County Colorado Progressive Veterans is an IRS vetted and approved 501(c)4 nonprofit organization, focused on the many ways that we can help our Veterans, Active Duty Military and their families. Our website has nearly 100 Veteran support groups listed, with “hot links” to the appropriate websites. These include everything from homeless solutions, FREE trained support dogs, FREE scuba diving lessons and even how to get FREE Colorado license plates. We have also included excellent information for applying for VA Healthcare and Disability Benefits.
2. We give a voice to El Paso County Colorado Veterans, Active Duty Military and their families. To do this effectively, we need to have our voice in Washington DC. For us to be heard, we need numbers ... in other words, a large number of members. For any Congressional elected official to answer the phone when we call, we need over 1000 members. Click the "Join Now" button above to learn more about membership and the benefits that membership offers. There are NO dues or meetings. Membership is strictly used for communicating with Congress, their leadership and the VA. Fundraising is a separate activity.
3. We don't stop there. We are raising money to increase our membership by running communication ads in various media. Veterans won't find us just by word of mouth. Additionally, we do have some operational expenses, such as this website. We have no paid staff and Board members are not compensated. This is what the 501(c)4 nonprofit donate button is for. A 501(c)4 can NOT donate to candidates or political parties.
Colorado Springs Veterans Day Parade CANCELLED!!!
At least for our group and our friends, the Pikes Peak Democratic Veterans
Breaking News! Amazing Attorney Greg Walta has had contact with the attorney for the parade and it appears that a negotiated solution may occur as early as today - possibly in time for getting us into the parade. Updates here as I become aware of them.
I have to admit I was stunned when the President of the Parade called me and said since our group had the word "Progressive" in it, we would not be allowed to participate. The apparent reasoning is that Democratic blood isn't "RED" enough for them.
I emailed Mayor Suthers, Governor Pollis, both of our newspapers and two TV stations and the ACLU. No one cared. Just to be clear, the Supreme Court had ruled back in 1997 that independent parades (this is one) and events can exclude blacks, women, Hispanics, Muslims, LGBTQ and Democrats, just to name a few of us. But they can include skin heads and white supremacists. Go figure.
Anyone need the 60 small American Flags that I purchased for the parade? Damn, sometimes it's hard to be a Democrat in El Paso County.