Veterans Week Website Scores Big League Recognition — And a Sports Broadcaster Says It’s Time to “Get in the Game”
Ranked #66 Best Squarespace Website of 2025, National Invest In Veterans Week® reflects Jeff Shuford’s strategy: a durable, policy-driven digital platform built to document proclamations, preserve public record, and scale veteran economic impact.
“In the arena we cheer for heroes. In the economy, we invest in them.” Phil Hulett spotlights National Invest In Veterans Week® as action over applause—calling on states to follow Montana’s lead and back veteran-owned businesses.
By any measure, this isn’t just a website win — it’s a statement.
National Invest In Veterans Week® has landed a spot on the 2025 list of the “Best Squarespace Websites”, ranking #66 out of 100 nationwide, according to independent design and platform analysts at SparkPlugin.
That puts a veteran-driven national observance — not a Silicon Valley startup or fashion brand — among the top digital platforms of the year.
And it’s not accidental.
A Big Site With a Big Mission
SparkPlugin didn’t mince words.
Calling National Invest In Veterans Week® “a huge site with a lot of information,” the reviewers highlighted why the platform works: clarity, usability, and constant updates — all powered by Squarespace.
Their standout design note?
A simple but effective “back to top” button, letting visitors navigate long-form civic content without friction. In other words: a site built to be used, not just admired.
The platform was categorized as Non-profit, reflecting its public mission: pushing real economic investment into veteran-owned businesses.
From Applause to Action
That mission is exactly what longtime broadcaster Phil Hulett, the voice of the Anaheim Ducks, has been talking about.
“In the arena, we cheer for heroes. In the economy, we invest in them.”
Hulett didn’t stop there. He pointed to Montana, which has officially proclaimed National Invest In Veterans Week® three years in a row — 2023, 2024, and 2025.
“They didn’t just talk; they led.”
In sports terms, Montana didn’t just show up — it set the pace.
Why This Matters Now
Observed annually March 1–7, National Invest In Veterans Week® is congressionally recognized and nationally syndicated, focusing on veteran entrepreneurship, workforce transition, and economic leadership.
The website isn’t window dressing. It’s the operational backbone — housing proclamations, media coverage, policy references, and public engagement in one place.
Being named one of the best Squarespace sites in 2025 signals something bigger:
This movement isn’t temporary. It’s built to last.
The Bottom Line
A veteran-led national observance.
A platform ranked among the best in the country.
A growing chorus saying it’s time to move beyond symbolism.
As Hulett put it:
“Now it’s time for the rest of the nation to get in the game.”
Visit:
https://www.investinveteransweek.com
See the full Squarespace ranking:
https://www.sparkplugin.com/blog/best-squarespace-websites
National Invest In Veterans Week and Its Congressional Record Footprint
The Invest in Veterans Week congressional recognition is not only preserved in a legislative database, but also discoverable through Ivy League academic infrastructure—placing it within both governmental and scholarly archival ecosystems.
National Invest In Veterans Week—often referred to interchangeably as Invest In Veterans Week—has achieved formal recognition within the U.S. congressional publication and archival ecosystem. This recognition is evidenced by its appearance in a congressionally indexed publication titled “Rep. Rosendale Celebrates Invest in Veterans Week,” dated March 8, 2024, and preserved within the Congressional Documents and Publications collection.
The entry reflects remarks delivered on the House floor acknowledging veterans and highlighting Invest in Veterans Week as a recognized civic and economic observance. Once spoken into the congressional record, those remarks entered a documentation pipeline that ensures long-term preservation, professional indexing, and institutional accessibility.
The Congressional Record and ProQuest Indexing
Congressional remarks are not preserved solely through live transcripts or government websites. They are systematically collected, published, and indexed through established archival partners. In this case, the remarks recognizing Invest in Veterans Week were published by Federal Information & News Dispatch, LLC, a long-standing publisher that aggregates congressional material for research dissemination.
That publication is indexed in ProQuest Congressional, a core research database relied upon by:
Congressional offices and legislative counsel
Universities and law schools
Policy analysts and historians
Journalists and public affairs professionals
The record is assigned a permanent identifier:
ProQuest Document ID: 2954639283
This identifier functions as a stable reference point, allowing the document to be cited, retrieved, and verified regardless of institutional access or changes in URL structure. The document is classified under Law and Political Science, ensuring it is discoverable within federal policy research contexts.
Why the Record Is Also Indexed in Harvard’s Hollis System
The same ProQuest record is discoverable through Harvard University’s Hollis library catalog, one of the most authoritative academic discovery systems in the world. Hollis does not republish congressional content; rather, it indexes and points to verified external scholarly and governmental databases, including ProQuest Congressional.
Hollis indexing signifies several things simultaneously:
The record meets academic cataloging standards
The metadata is sufficiently authoritative for institutional libraries
The document is relevant to historical, legal, or policy research
The source is considered stable enough for long-term reference
As a result, the Invest in Veterans Week congressional recognition is not only preserved in a legislative database, but also discoverable through Ivy League academic infrastructure—placing it within both governmental and scholarly archival ecosystems.
About Representative Matt Rosendale
The congressional remarks recognizing Invest in Veterans Week were delivered by Representative Matt Rosendale of Montana, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Representative Rosendale has built his congressional profile around issues of federal accountability, constitutional governance, and veteran affairs. During his tenure in Congress, he has served on committees relevant to public lands, natural resources, and veterans’ issues, aligning closely with Montana’s large veteran population and military heritage. His work has consistently intersected with policy areas affecting veterans, service members, and rural communities.
By raising Invest in Veterans Week on the House floor, Representative Rosendale elevated the observance beyond state-level proclamations and into the federal legislative discourse, ensuring that the recognition became part of the permanent congressional historical record.
What Is National Invest In Veterans Week?
National Invest In Veterans Week® is a congressionally recognized observance dedicated to highlighting the economic, civic, and social contributions of military veterans—particularly veteran-owned businesses and veteran-led initiatives. While the full trademarked name is National Invest In Veterans Week, the observance is frequently referenced in shortened form as Invest In Veterans Week, a usage reflected directly in congressional remarks and official publications.
The observance emphasizes a simple but strategic principle: supporting veterans through investment, opportunity, and long-term economic inclusion rather than symbolic recognition alone. Over time, Invest in Veterans Week has been recognized through:
Congressional remarks and record entries
State and county proclamations
National media coverage
Academic and policy indexing systems
Its appearance in congressional publications confirms that the observance has crossed from grassroots advocacy into formal legislative acknowledgment.
Permanent Archival Status
The March 8, 2024 publication ensures that Invest in Veterans Week is preserved in multiple parallel systems:
Federal congressional publication archives
ProQuest Congressional research databases
University library discovery systems (including Harvard Hollis)
This layered archival presence is how modern civic observances become historically durable. It allows future researchers, legislators, and historians to trace when and how Invest in Veterans Week entered federal recognition, who raised it on the House floor, and how it was formally documented.
Publication Record Summary
Title: Rep. Rosendale Celebrates Invest in Veterans Week
Date: March 8, 2024
Publisher: Federal Information & News Dispatch, LLC
Location: Washington, United States
Collection: Congressional Documents and Publications
Database: ProQuest Congressional
Document Type: News
Language: English
ProQuest Document ID: 2954639283
Research Access Links:
https://www.proquest.com/docview/2954639283
https://hollis.harvard.edu/permalink/f/1mdq5o5/TN_cdi_proquest_congressional_https_search_proquest_com_congressional_view_app_gis_congdaily_cr08mr2024_dat_47
The inclusion of National Invest In Veterans Week—also known as Invest In Veterans Week—within these systems confirms its status as a documented federal observance, preserved using the same archival standards applied to legislation, floor remarks, and significant congressional activity.
Investing in Veterans, Not Just Supporting Them: What New Jersey’s Debate Signals for America
A new guest column in NJ.com argues that New Jersey is leaving billions in potential on the table by merely “supporting” veterans instead of investing in them and their families as core economic drivers. National Invest In Veterans Week® examines what this debate reveals about state-level policy, why veteran and military-family entrepreneurship is one of America’s sharpest competitive advantages, and how governors nationwide can move from gratitude to true investment
TL;DR — “Veterans can drive N.J.’s future economy, but we’re stuck in the past.”
The article argues that while many states offer ceremonial support to veterans, what’s really needed is active investment — treating veterans and their families as drivers of economic growth rather than passive beneficiaries.
Veterans launch businesses at significantly higher rates than non-veterans, and military spouses and family members also offer unique skills (adaptability, resilience, project management) that make them valuable contributors to entrepreneurship and the workforce.
States like Texas and Florida are described as capturing this potential by offering veteran-specific business incentives, streamlined licensing, preferential contracting for veteran-owned firms, and support structures that turn military experience into competitive economic advantage.
The article calls on New Jersey to adopt similar policies — tax incentives, procurement quotas, veteran business accelerators, and licensing reforms — to stop losing business, talent, and innovation to states already treating veteran entrepreneurship as an economic strategy.
For (NIVW), this reinforces the core message: recognition of veterans is meaningful only if it’s paired with real structural investment — making veterans and their families central to economic growth and community resilience.
Read the full article here:
https://www.nj.com/opinion/2025/12/veterans-can-drive-njs-future-economy-but-were-stuck-in-the-past-opinion.html
As National Invest In Veterans Week® (NIVW), we see Scott E. Rutter’s recent guest column in NJ.com for what it is: a warning shot and a blueprint.
Rutter, a retired lieutenant colonel, business owner, and CEO of The Valor Network, argues that New Jersey is “supporting” veterans while other states are strategically investing in them and their families as a primary engine of economic growth. He contrasts New Jersey with states like Texas and Florida, which deliberately recruit veteran entrepreneurs, military families, and defense-driven innovators with tax policy, procurement priorities, and purpose-built business ecosystems.
That distinction—support versus investment—is the core philosophy behind National Invest In Veterans Week®. Our movement was built on the idea that veterans and their families are not a charity line item; they are a competitive advantage.
Veterans and families as an economic strategy
Rutter’s column underlines several key data points and lived realities that NIVW has championed for years:
Veterans start businesses at higher rates than non-veterans, bringing leadership experience, operational discipline, and comfort with high-stakes decision-making.
Military spouses and family members are often the quiet backbone of those enterprises: managing logistics during deployments, adapting to new environments, and building community cohesion wherever they go.
Today’s veterans come home with expertise in cybersecurity, logistics, AI applications, advanced manufacturing, drone operations, and other frontier technologies—exactly the sectors governors say they want to grow.
Rutter’s message to New Jersey policymakers is blunt: if you want the next generation of high-growth companies, you must deliberately recruit and retain the veteran community and their families. From the NIVW perspective, that is not just good social policy—it is sound economic strategy.
How states like Texas and Florida operationalize “investment”
In his piece, Rutter points to states that have moved beyond ceremonial appreciation toward tangible incentives. These strategies mirror themes we see across proclamations and partnerships that power National Invest In Veterans Week® nationwide:
Streamlined business registration and licensing for veteran-owned and military-spouse-owned firms
Aggressive state-contracting goals for veteran-owned businesses, paired with real enforcement
Income- and property-tax structures that make it rational, not just patriotic, for veterans to build companies and careers there
Veteran-focused accelerators and university partnerships in high-growth sectors such as AI, cybersecurity, and advanced manufacturing
When governors and legislators combine these tools, the result is not simply “veteran programs.” It is a competitive economic platform that attracts entrepreneurs, capital, and employers who value the veteran talent pipeline.
That is precisely the ecosystem National Invest In Veterans Week® was designed to highlight and scale.
Where New Jersey stands—and what could change
New Jersey possesses much of the raw material Rutter describes: a proud military tradition, access to capital, major universities, and a history of world-changing innovation—from Bell Labs to life-sciences corridors.
What it lacks, he argues, is a cohesive veterans-investment thesis.
The proposed New Jersey Veterans Investment Act that Rutter sketches out would change that by:
Treating veteran and military-family employment incentives as core economic-development tools
Establishing meaningful state-contracting targets for veteran-owned businesses
Building accelerators tied to universities and focused on technologies where veteran skill sets are strongest
Recruiting veteran-owned firms and transitioning service members with the same intensity used to court large corporations
From the NIVW vantage point, such legislation would do more than improve one state’s rankings. It would signal that New Jersey intends to compete in the same arena as states already leveraging veteran talent as a growth driver.
How this connects to National Invest In Veterans Week®
National Invest In Veterans Week® was created to move the national conversation from “thank you for your service” to “how are we investing in your leadership?”
The Congressional Record recognition of NIVW, along with proclamations from governors, state legislatures, county commissions, and mayors across the country, has helped crystallize a simple message:
Veterans and their families are not peripheral to the economy—they are central to its future.
Rutter’s call for New Jersey to step up aligns directly with that mission. His emphasis on veteran family members—spouses, children, caregivers—as co-architects of economic opportunity mirrors the reality we see across our state and international veterans-domain network:
Many of the most resilient veteran-owned enterprises are truly family enterprises.
Military spouses often carry portable careers in healthcare, education, technology, and small business management—fields that anchor communities.
When policy recognizes both the veteran and the family unit, retention, entrepreneurship, and long-term community investment all rise.
As governors, legislators, and economic-development leaders look ahead to the next National Invest In Veterans Week®, this New Jersey conversation should be viewed as a model, not a one-off op-ed.
A call to action from the NIVW lens
For policymakers far beyond New Jersey, Rutter’s argument surfaces three practical questions:
Is your state merely “supporting” veterans, or is it strategically investing in them as economic assets?
Do your tax, procurement, and regulatory structures make it obvious that veteran-owned and military-family-owned businesses are wanted and prioritized?
Are you building infrastructure—accelerators, university partnerships, targeted recruitment—to capture the talent leaving nearby bases and installations each year?
National Invest In Veterans Week® will continue to spotlight leaders who answer “yes” to those questions and challenge those who do not.
Check out the 9th Annual Vetrepreneur Summit in Jacksonville (Dec 12, 2025), a long-running gathering of veteran and military-family entrepreneurs. The Summit is now nine years strong and serves as a model of how veteran economic empowerment and community entrepreneurship can be built sustainably under .
👉 Jacksonville’s 9th Annual Vetrepreneur Summit – legacy event now nine years strong
🫡Our Team
“As an educator committed to professional growth, I fully endorse National Invest in Veterans Week® for recognizing that veterans are vital economic assets who deserve tangible support in entrepreneurship and workforce development.”

