Congratulations to Alice Hansen, who received the NOVA Pro Bono Advocate of the Year Award at NOVA’s Spring 2025 Conference! The Pro Bono Advocate award is presented to recognize achievements and a continuing pattern of excellence in providing pro bono assistance to veterans and their families.
In addition to setting up outreach clinics throughout the states of Colorado and New Mexico, as the Executive Director of the Rocky Mountain Veterans Advocacy Project, this year’s recipient has given special focus to working with the Navajo Nation. As the largest reservation of veteran Native Americans, the Navajo have endured systemic racism and marginalization both in-service and post-service and are frequently denied access to both VA healthcare and compensation.
She has helped over 50 of these veterans obtain service-connection for their disabilities, some of whom have been denied by the VA for decades.
NOVA members say, “Her pro bono work with these veterans has established hope in an otherwise bleak environment, and allowed them to trust, for the first time, an outside entity (lawyers, no less).”
And, “She truly exemplifies the pro bono spirit of assisting those in need. She has tirelessly worked to establish clinical locations in rural locations throughout Colorado and New Mexico, serving veterans who would otherwise be unable to access VA services.”
Thank you, Alice, for your tireless pro bono advocacy on behalf of our nation’s veterans!