New York veterans will soon access their programs or earned benefits under one state agency with a familiar face at the helm.

The current state Division of Veterans' Services will be elevated to the Department of Veterans' Services on April 1, 2023, creating a one-stop shop for New York's service members.

"No one who served their country should have basic needs that are not met," Division of Veterans' Services Director Viviana DeCohen said.

New York is home to 800,000 veterans, but only 17% access benefits they are eligible for, which pushed lawmakers to include language in the latest state budget to create a new department to streamline programs and resources spread across multiple agencies.

Gov. Kathy Hochul will appoint a cabinet-level commissioner of Veterans' Services who must be a veteran. DeCohen, who veterans lovingly call "Mama V," is at the top of the list for the governor's pick.

"Gov. Hochul selected Director DeCohen as the best candidate to lead the division and we expect her to continue as the commissioner once we transition to a department," according to a statement from the governor's office.

DeCohen served as a corporal in the Marines in the early 1980s, completing the same boot camp training as the male recruits.

The department's name and logo must be changed on all state documents, applications and websites before next April, but DeCohen expects a smooth transition under her watch.

"We want to give peace of mind to those veterans that are already hearing that there's going to be a title change and perhaps that means there will be a different person because consistency is important for our veterans as well," she said. "They need to know the care that they have is going to continue on, that that's never going to change...That Mama V is still here, sugar."

Iraq War veteran Derek Coy, who works as a program officer for veterans' health with the New York State Health Foundation, said the new department is a great first step for veterans to navigate their differing state and federal benefits.

"I probably went at least a few years where I didn't even look for benefits because it just seemed so overwhelming," said Coy, a former U.S. Marines sergeant. "I didn't even know where to start and what the differences were between the few."

New York has the fifth-largest population of veterans in the U.S., and spends about $26 per veteran within its $220 billion budget. Other, smaller states spend hundreds of dollars per service member.

The department will also have a 13-member volunteer Veterans' Services Commission made of veterans. Half will be appointed by the governor, with the rest tapped by legislative leaders Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, D-Bronx; Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart Cousins, D-Yonkers; Assembly Minority Leader William Barclay, R-Pulaski; and Senate Minority Leader Robert Ortt. 

The governor continues to review recommendations to appoint members to the commission. She will announce her choices at a later date.

"I think if you have a very diverse group of folks that will be able to guide this new evolution of DVS and make sure it represents the diverse population of veterans in New York, I think that's going to be key," Coy said.

The department will continue to hold multiple seminars each year to advise veteran business owners, and those ages 62 and older, about their benefits.

Assembly Veterans' Affairs Committee Chair Didi Barrett, D-Hudson, has proposed elevating the department in a separate bill for several legislative sessions.

"[We want] to ensure that our veterans and their families really understand how we value their service and want them to transition back in ways that are healthy and safe, and that we care about their well-being and we can do that, you know, in one place rather than sending them to half-a-dozen different agencies to be able to access the benefits that they deserve and that they've earned," Barrett said.

The assemblywoman joined a group of other lawmakers to hold a series of roundtables last year to discuss the new department with veterans statewide.

"Veterans have strong ideas about how to help, what issues to address and how to work with the federal government," Barrett said. "We're waiting on the governor and her team to move this forward."

Lawmakers across the aisle agreed to create the new veterans' department.

State Assemblyman Jake Ashby, R-Castleton, a former captain in the U.S. Army Reserves, completed a tour in Iraq and Afghanistan as a medical officer during his service from 2006 to 2014. Ashby agrees the new department will change the lives of New York veterans and their families.

"I think this is going to have a generational impact," said Ashby. "Right now, we look at the services that are provided at the VA and then at the county level, and there are some gaps there. This is where the state has a large opportunity to capitalize on that.

"New York state is lagging behind in this," Ashby added. "This is a military state, and this is a way for us to support our veterans and our families to come back."

The department will continue to issue a report every three years with updated statistics about veteran homelessness, unemployment, suicide and sexual trauma to help drive accurate state policies. 

Establishing the Veterans Services Department marks the first new state agency to be created in more than 50 years. The last was the state Department of Environmental Conservation, created in 1970 under Gov. Nelson Rockefeller.

The state Division of Veterans' Services was founded just after the end of World War II more than 75 years ago.