Accomplishments

Accessibility
“The accessibility team has worked on over 80 documents for different departments within the Dept of Veterans Affairs to remediate them and make them compliant with Section 508 standards. Some of the biggest accomplishments have been: remediating 6 Collective Bargaining Agreement documents over winter break for the Office of Labor Management Relations of the Dept of Veterans Affairs, and more recently 13 documents for the VA Caregiver Support team.” –Danielle Bates, Accessibility Department Head.

A Veteran’s Story

“This year [(2018-2019)] , the major accomplishment for the A Veteran’s Story project was piloting and setting direction for the project. This was a project created mid-year to allow interns to expand their work and take on projects that allowed them to do more in-depth storytelling. We currently have a team of about 30 interns from each role working on this project. As of March, about 12 stories celebrating Veterans who broke social barriers, had their stories featured in films, or did outstanding deeds during or after their service have been published.” – Leah Comins, Department Head and Intern Editor-In-Chief of A Veteran’s Story Project.

Fact Checking

“[The 2018-2019 Fact Checking Team] achieved an important goal by establishing the first official fact-checking team. While it may not sound like a big deal, this was a massive milestone for our program. Fact checking is an essential part of public affairs, and the creation of this team is a significant factor in this year’s success. Being a new team, we faced several obstacles at the start of the year. There was little structure or training material for new interns. We also had to make do with a small number of interns. Most of this team were volunteers from other groups. Despite all the challenges, our small team made this year a success. We were able to improve our training resources and workflow productivity. So far, our team helped publish over 350 stories and corrected over 110 mistakes – a vast improvement from last year.” –Seng Hla, Fact Checking Department Head.

Graphic Design

“The graphic design team has created an average of 96 graphics a month that have been posted across the VA’s social media platforms. These graphics include features for Veterans of the Day, special projects like Operation Song and A Veteran’s Story, and running features on Instagram. Our team has created new templates and updated old ones in order to keep the visual appeal of our content fresh and engaging. The graphics produced by members of our team have been recognized by Veterans and acknowledged for their creativity and skill.” – Katherine Wiedeman, Graphic Design Department Head

Operation Song

“With under six months since conception, Operation Song has been able to interview half a dozen Operation Song artists and publish their stories on the VAntage Point website for thousands to see. Many more interviews and posts are in the works as this is a project in its beginnings.” –Ifeoma Ikedionwu, Operation Song Division Officer and Turnover Department Head.

Podcast

“[The Podcast team has] also helped compile lists of VSO’s, the podcast guest demographics, and veteran-owned businesses near a given area which were to help find potential podcast guests. Interns on the podcast team have [taken] the opportunity to host their own podcast episode.” – Emily Yedinak, Podcast Department Head.

Social Media

“The social content team has continued its mission of curating content from news outlet as well as various VA medical centers across the country. The team has significantly increased output of tweets curation by 200% and Instagram posts by 500%. As the team is in charge of moderation of comments across the social media platforms, we have referred more than five Veterans to the Veterans Crisis Line from concerning comments on Facebook and Instagram. Furthermore, in 2018-2019, the Instagram platform also exceeded 100k followers. In light of the popularity of the VA’s social media platforms, we have also created specialized material like the silhouette series and continued #ThisDayInHistory. These popular series continue to lead the agency’s social media platforms in a positive direction, and has brought endless great feedback from Veterans, family, and friends in the United States and abroad.” –Emily Ma, Head of Instagram and Social Media Departments

Writing

“The 2018-2019 [Writing] team is very talented and has many achievements for a relatively short amount of time. They have pulled together to write high-profile pieces of veterans, including President George H.W. Bush, Jackie Robinson, and John McCain. The team has written captivating content for A Veteran’s Story, including the story about two veterans who helped prevent a terrorist attack on a train in Spain. They have written pieces in collaboration with other veteran organizations, including Operation Song. The writers have also written about special events and memorials to honor veterans. Veteran of the Day articles up to March 2019 total 243 with total views at 74,600.” –Jessica Jeffrey and Elizabeth Pianucci, Co-Department Heads for Writing and Operation Song.