Our Mission: The Together With Veterans Program (TWV) enlists rural Veterans and their local partners to join forces to reduce Veteran suicide in their community.
Veterans Off-Grid has partnered with Western Interstate Commission on Higher Education (WICHE) and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to implement the Together With Veterans: Rural Veteran Suicide Prevention Program in Taos County.
The goal is to create a veteran-majority team in collaboration with the community to reduce veteran suicide. Objectives include coordinating services to better support veterans; providing suicide prevention training for community members, veterans, and primary care providers; and community development of effective suicide prevention strategies for veterans.
NM Together With Veterans Taos is a community initiative of local nonprofits, veterans, community members and elected officials working together to address veteran suicide and veteran issues in Taos County.
If you’re interested in being involved with TWV Taos, please contact:
Valentina Livingston, TWV Taos Coordinator
valentina.l.livingston.ctr@mail.mil
Jennifer Ammann, TWV Taos Facilitator
575.770.8332 | veteransoffgrid@gmail.com
Photos by Jim O’Donnell
May 7 2023 | FIBER / Justin Amero / Intro to Knitting
Over the weekend, the Military & The Arts workshop series continued with FIBER. Justin Amero set up at the Carson Cafe and offered knitting lessons to our area’s active military and veterans.
Photos by Jim O’Donnell
May 27 | WOOD / Bobbi Heidbreder / Intro to Woodworking
On Saturday, May 27th, the third Military & The Arts workshop took place. WOOD featured a midday exploration in the creation of a three tiered wooden shelf project located at the workshop of Bobbi Heidbreder in Carson.
This FREE series offers creative learning events for our local active military and veterans of Taos County.
Special thanks to our sponsors New Mexico Arts and Taos Community Foundation
Photos courtesy of Jim O'Donnell.
June 11 | STONE / Mark Saxe / Intro to Stone Carving
The final Military & The Arts wrapped up on Sunday with Sax Stonecarving Workshops. Mark hosted local active military and veterans for the afternoon in a course in letter carving. The series of four art-based workshops were offered free to our Taos County veterans with support from The Paseo Project, Veterans Off-grid and Together with Veterans, with funding from New Mexico Arts. Thank you to Taos Community Foundation for their support and all the artisans and participants! You can learn more at www.paseoproject.org/military
Here are some photos from the recent Stone workshop.
Photos by Jim O'Donnell.
TWV Taos Accomplishments
April 2022
VOG signed into contract with Western Interstate Commission on Higher Education (WICHE) as fiscal agent and administrator to bring the VA funded Together With Veterans Rural Veteran Suicide Prevention Program to Taos County. It is the first TWV program in New Mexico. TWV Taos has developed a Steering Committee with representatives from local government, non-profits, and Building Healthy Military Communities (in Albuquerque).
October 2022
NM Together With Veterans Taos community SWOT analysis on Veterans and Community Risks in Taos County, to discuss Veteran suicide prevention.
January 2023
Community Readiness Assessment
March 11, 2023
Discussed the SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis results and began collaboration/development of a Taos County Strategic Action Plan.
May-June 2023
Taos County’s active military and veteran community were welcomed to participate in a new series of learning-based arts projects consisting of four workshops sponsored by NM Arts and the Paseo Project in partnership with Together with Veterans Taos. “METAL / FIBER / WOOD / STONE” featured four, half-day workshops, with Taos County artisans and craftspeople, providing hands-on experience in the mediums of metal, fiber, wood and stone.
