Mission & Values
Our Mission
Dialogue. Story. Performance. Community.
We believe in the transformative power of story. Through dialogue, workshop, and performance, veterans, first responders, and their families gain new understanding about themselves and the world around them. Empowered, they seek integration back into the community, and at the same time the community gains new perspective and understanding about what it means to serve.
Our Values
Neutral Space for Expression
The belief that a neutral space allows our veterans to express their views and stories without fear of being judged or rejected.
Safe Space for Speaking their Truth
We offer a safe place for veterans to write their stories and a venue for them to tell their stories, to speak their truths.
Support Diverse Voices
We support their voices in all of their diversity because our veterans have something to say and they need to say it.
Our Approach
Since the inception of Returning Soldiers Speak, we have held the belief that a neutral space allows our veterans, first responders, and their families to express their views and stories without fear of being judged or rejected. If we had said, “We are a liberal organization,” then the veteran with conservative views might have turned away. If we had said, “We are a conservative organization,” then the veteran with liberal views might have fled. It does not matter to us if the veteran’s views are to the left or to the right or in the middle of the political spectrum. What has always mattered is that we offer a safe place for veterans to write their stories, and a venue for them to tell their stories, to speak their truths.
To walk a moment in their shoes is to share in their hopes and fears, perhaps even to grasp from the comforts of our homes a better understanding of life itself.