After public outcry, Boston Mayor Wu restores $724,000 to veterans budget through $1 million partnership

Gayla Cawley, Boston Herald on May 29, 2026

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BOSTON — After public outcry, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu said the city is restoring her proposed $724,000 cut to the veterans’ services office through a new $1 million public-private partnership with Brighton Marine.

Wu announced Friday that Brighton Marine, a local nonprofit, has committed $1 million to the City of Boston to support veterans and military families. The city plans to use the funds to launch a veterans grant program this fall to provide direct financial support to nonprofit organizations based in Boston neighborhoods.

“The best possible way we can honor those who have served our country is to ensure that when they return home, they and their families have access to the services, opportunities, and community that they have helped build,” Wu said at a news conference held at the Brighton Marine Health Center.

“This partnership will help sustain critical services, strengthen long-standing community institutions, and make sure veterans continue getting the support they deserve,” Wu added.

The grant program will advance efforts to eliminate veteran homelessness, address food insecurity, and support economic stability and workforce preparedness, Wu’s office said.

Wu said City Hall also plans to open a satellite campus at the Brighton Marine Health Center to provide more community access to veterans’ services. She credited the organization for helping Boston “deliver for our veterans” during a “difficult budget year.”

“Brighton Marine will always stand with the City of Boston in supporting our veterans and their loved ones,” Brighton Marine CEO Rosye Cloud said. “This is more than a financial investment. It is a clear signal that veterans and their families here in Boston are seen and valued.”

The $1 million public-private investment comes after weeks of outcry from city councilors and veterans over the mayor’s proposed 14.6% cut to the veterans’ services office in the $4.9 billion city budget for next fiscal year.

The veterans services office budget was proposed by Wu at $4.22 million for fiscal year 2027, compared to $4.94 million for this fiscal year, representing a 14.6%, or $723,753 reduction. The city budget is growing overall by 2.1%.

Wu’s $724,000 cut to the veterans’ services office eliminated two grant programs, Bridge the Gap and Hometown Heroes. It also meant reductions to non-personnel expenses, such as city-branded clothing and other promotional items, and event supplies and rentals, her office previously said.

City Councilors Ed Flynn and Erin Murphy began raising the issue at the beginning of this month, and saw their resolution calling on the mayor to restore the cut backed, by an 11-0 vote, by the City Council.

Flynn, a U.S. Navy veteran who served in Operation Enduring Freedom, was present for the day’s funding announcement.

He was credited by Wu for helping to set the new partnership into motion, along with Council President Liz Breadon, who represents Allston/Brighton, and Councilor Ben Weber, who chairs the Council’s budget committee.

“As we looked at the budget for the next fiscal year, (there was) a lot of painful cuts in it — among the most painful was a cut to our ability to help veterans in the city,” Weber said. “I wasn’t going to chair a process that didn’t fill that gap for veterans, and how to get it done was the question.”

Weber had been criticized this month for suggesting that the Council could cut from the fire department budget to restore the $724,000 cut to veterans services. He credited Flynn, Murphy and Wu for finding another way to restore funding.

“When you raise your right hand, we make a promise to put everything on the line, but the government also must keep their promise, and that’s a solemn promise as well, that when veterans return, the government will be there,” Flynn said. “No, we don’t want a handout. We want a little bit of respect and a little bit of dignity, and I think that’s what we’re here today for.”