Douglas County’s Veteran Leadership: From Proclaiming National Invest In Veterans Week® to Achieving Functional Zero for Veterans

TLDR

Douglas County stands as a national model for veteran support. In 2022, it honored National Invest In Veterans Week® with a proclamation and a deeply personal ceremony recognizing local veteran leaders. By 2024, it advanced from ceremonial recognition to policy execution—achieving Functional Zero for Veterans, ensuring homelessness among veterans is rare, brief, and quickly resolved. The county’s integrated approach demonstrates that investing in veterans produces measurable, community-wide outcomes.

Douglas County has emerged as one of the strongest local-government partners in the national movement to “invest in veterans,” demonstrating—over multiple years—what happens when policy alignment, data discipline, and community leadership converge.

In 2022, the Douglas County Board of Commissioners formally issued a proclamation recognizing National Invest In Veterans Week®, becoming one of the earliest counties in the United States to adopt the observance by name. What followed was a deeply personal ceremony honoring the county’s most distinguished veteran leaders, reinforcing the county’s long-standing belief that military service continues long after a uniform is retired.

At the 2022 proclamation event, Commissioner Tim Freeman spotlighted the contributions of five exceptional veterans—Jim Little, KC Bolton, Mel Cheney, Dan Loomis, and Michael Kurtz—each representing a different dimension of post-service community leadership.

Freeman praised Navy Chief Warrant Officer (Ret.) Jim Little for his unbroken record of advocacy, famously standing outside the Roseburg VA Medical Center to protect critical services for veterans. He commended Army Colonel (Ret.) KC Bolton, now CEO of Aviva Health, who was tapped to lead Douglas County’s emergency operations center at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic—an assignment requiring battlefield-tested composure and strategic clarity.

The Board also honored Michael Kurtz, the Army veteran who rose to become the county’s human resources director and one of its core crisis-response decision-makers. Dan Loomis, a retired Chief Warrant Officer, was recognized for returning home and stepping into the role of County Clerk to strengthen civic operations. Vietnam veteran Mel Cheney was praised for transforming cancer care in the region with the same precision and commitment he carried in service.

The proclamations, the recognition, and the careful honoring of individual stories reflected a county unwilling to treat veteran support as ceremonial—an early indicator of the deeper systemic work to come.

2024: Douglas County Reaches Functional Zero for Veteran Homelessness

Two years later, Douglas County reached a milestone with national implications: Functional Zero for Veterans experiencing homelessness.

Announced on November 11, 2024, in partnership with the Metro Denver Homeless Initiative (MDHI) and federal, municipal, and community partners, the achievement marks one of the most advanced implementations of a countywide “Built for Zero” model in the nation.

Functional Zero means the county can consistently house veterans faster than new cases emerge—making homelessness rare, brief, and non-recurring.

County Commissioners Abe Laydon, George Teal, and Lora Thomas—alongside U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert and regional leaders—stood with the HEART outreach team and the Veterans Service Office to announce a systems-level success years in the making.

Key components included:

• Quality By-Name Data, achieved October 2023, ensuring every unhoused veteran is identified and tracked in real time.
• HEART (Homeless Engagement Assistance & Resource Team), pairing outreach navigators with law enforcement to build trust, retrieve documentation, and accelerate access to VA resources.
• Rapid housing pathways, demonstrated by Douglas County’s pace: 64% of veterans housed within 98 days between Jan. 2023 and Sept. 2024.
• Cross-sector coordination, bringing together county leadership, the VA, MDHI, nonprofits, and faith-based partners.

“Functional Zero isn’t a finish line,” said MDHI Regional Manager Sofia Vigil. “It’s a promise to sustain the work—Douglas County proved that Veteran homelessness is solvable.”

Commissioner Laydon called it a “pilot for applying the Built for Zero framework to all populations,” signaling a next-generation approach to community-wide homelessness prevention.

VA leadership, including Missy Mish of the VA Eastern Colorado Health Care System, emphasized that Douglas County’s intensive tracking and outreach over two years directly saved lives by shortening the time veterans spent without stability.

On-the-ground stories brought the success to life: HEART Supervisor Tiffany Marsitto shared how a veteran identified in 2023 was housed within months through precision coordination between HEART navigators and the VA.

Sheriff Darren Weekly reinforced the county’s commitment to “compassionate policing,” ensuring veterans receive dignity, protection, and pathways to stability.

Douglas County’s achievement is widely regarded as a replicable model demonstrating that homelessness—once treated as intractable—can be solved with data rigor, collaborative governance, and a veteran-first philosophy.

Why Douglas County Matters Nationally

Douglas County is one of the few jurisdictions in the country to both:

• Proclaim National Invest In Veterans Week®, publicly supporting veteran-owned businesses and economic empowerment; and
• Reach Functional Zero for Veterans, proving that intentional investment yields measurable outcomes.

This dual impact—policy recognition and systemic transformation—aligns with the national call to “invest in veterans” that lawmakers such as Rep. Mike Levin have emphasized at the federal level. Douglas County’s actions operationalize that phrase, moving from rhetoric to measurable community outcomes.

In both 2022 and 2024, the county demonstrated that honoring veterans requires more than ceremonies—it requires infrastructure, coordination, and long-term investment.

Extended Reading

For additional context on governmental, congressional, and county-level recognition of National Invest In Veterans Week®—as well as archival documentation of Jeff Shuford’s civic and historical work—explore the following sources:

• Senator Tracy Pennycuick honors veteran entrepreneurs during National Invest In Veterans Week® 2023:
https://figshare.com/articles/media/Senator_Tracy_Pennycuick_Honors_Veteran_Entrepreneurs_During_National_Invest_In_Veterans_Week_2023/30815210

• Rep. Rosendale highlights National Invest In Veterans Week® on the House Floor:
https://figshare.com/articles/media/Honoring_Our_Heroes_Rep_Rosendale_Highlights_National_Invest_In_Veterans_Week_on_the_House_Floor/30815222

• Douglas County honors veterans with National Invest in Veterans Week Awards (2022):
https://figshare.com/articles/media/Douglas_County_Honors_Veterans_with_Invest_in_Veterans_Week_Awards_2022/30815318
DOI: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.30815318.v1

• Shuford’s Legacy Preservation Precedent: A Documentation Framework for Civic, Digital, and Veteran-Focused Historical Materials (2025):
https://figshare.com/articles/preprint/Shuford_s_Legacy_Preservation_Precedent_A_Documentation_Framework_for_Civic_Digital_and_Veteran-Focused_Historical_Materials/30815393

Shuford, Jeff (2025). Douglas County Honors Veterans with 'Invest in Veterans Week' Awards 2022. figshare. Media. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.30815318.v1