Manuel Gomez

Name: Manuel Gomez
City/State: Whittier, CA
Branch of Service: Navy
Dates of Service: 07/25/2005-07/01/2011
Last Rank Held: E3
Military Occupation: Legalman
Current Occupation: Executive Director
X: None
Instagram: vetphoenixinc
Facebook: None
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/manuelgomezusn/
TikTok: None

Manuel outside of the military:

I am a Navy veteran, social worker, and nonprofit founder operating supportive housing and peer-led reentry services for justice-involved veterans in Riverside County. I earned a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from California State University, Fullerton, a Master of Social Work from California State University, Long Beach, and I am currently a Doctor of Social Work candidate at California Baptist University. My scholarship examines veteran equity, sentencing discretion, and reentry as an ongoing structural condition rather than a discrete transition.
I am also formerly incarcerated. After serving a state prison sentence, I rebuilt my life through education, service, and disciplined accountability. I later rose from incarceration to serve in executive leadership within Los Angeles County government, overseeing justice-involved veteran initiatives before launching my nonprofit full time. That trajectory informs my credibility across systems.
My passion is constructing institutions that repair rather than recycle harm. I am a husband and father, and my family grounds my leadership. Fatherhood sharpened my commitment to generational change, dignity, and reform.

Manuel on joining the IAVA Cavalry:

I am joining the Cavalry to ensure federal advocacy reflects veterans who sit at the margins of traditional narratives. I work daily with veterans navigating discharge barriers, VA access limitations, court supervision, and housing instability. Policy conversations often exclude justice-involved veterans. IAVA provides a national platform to elevate implementation-informed reform grounded in lived expertise and operational data.

How the military experience affected Manuel’s personal growth:

The Navy instilled discipline, collective responsibility, and mission focus. It also exposed me to institutional dynamics that shape identity, trauma processing, and decision-making under pressure. Service taught me that leadership requires ownership and that silence within systems carries consequences. Those lessons now guide how I lead organizations, structure accountability, and advocate for discharge equity and mental health reform.

IAVA’s policy priorities that are the most pressing:

Mental health access and suicide prevention remain urgent, particularly for veterans with justice involvement or adverse discharge statuses. Transition reform and economic mobility are equally pressing; early instability after separation correlates with homelessness, substance use, and justice contact. Policy must correct structural design flaws rather than rely on individual resilience as the primary safeguard.

IAVA’s policy priorities with the strongest personal connection for Manuel:

Mental health and suicide prevention. I have witnessed untreated trauma and moral injury compound across years without early intervention. I have also seen how discharge status can sever access to care despite qualifying service. Prevention requires discharge review reform, earlier screening, community-based infrastructure, and accountability within VA systems to prevent administrative exclusion from becoming fatal.