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By Cathy Yates, Northern Nevada Outreach Director
(Reno) The Nevada Department of Veterans Services has a new Nevada Veterans Advocate (NVA) Coordinator. Army veteran McKenzie King joined the NDVS Outreach team in December replacing Robin Mason, who has taken on a new but different role in serving Nevada’s veterans.

NDVS currently has 309 certified NVAs throughout Nevada and hopes to double that number by the end of 2018. Veteran Advocates are an essential component to our outreach efforts. NVAs can answer many questions that Nevada veterans and family members have regarding benefits and resources available in Nevada. They can also assist veterans in filling out claim paperwork and getting that paperwork to a Veteran Service Officer for signature and processing.

NVAs assisted the Outreach Team at many events over the past few months including job and resource fairs in Reno and Las Vegas, Powwows in Northern and Southern Nevada, the PRIDE festival in Las Vegas, Pumpkin Palooza in Reno/Sparks, as well as Suicide Prevention Community Walks in Carson City, Pahrump, Henderson, Winnemucca and Yerington.

Matt Taylor, Southern Nevada Community Outreach Director and Cathy Yates, Northern Nevada Community Outreach Director, have many events planned for 2018 and participation in these events is dependent on the availability of Nevada Veterans Advocates.

If you have questions about becoming an NVA, contact McKenzie at: kingm@veterans.nv.gov or 775-321-4708.

For more information on the NVA program, visit our website at: http://www.veterans.nv.gov/page/veterans-advocacy