Brandeis Alumni, Family and Friends
Leroy Ashwood ’71 Serves the Nation’s Brave
September 17, 2024
The advocate for veterans and pragmatic activist receives 2024 Alumni Achievement Award.
Leroy Ashwood, Jr., ’71 has always known how to use his voice to bring about change. As a student, he served as co-chair of the Brandeis Afro-American Organization and took part in the 1969 Ford Hall protests, in which students advocated for racial justice and a more inclusive, equitable, and diverse student experience on campus. Upon graduation, he received the Bruce R. Mayer Memorial Award, given annually to a Brandeis student for promoting interracial amity.
Today, he’s still using his voice, albeit with a focus on serving U.S. veterans. Ashwood co-founded and is president and CEO of BRAVE for Veterans, Inc., a Massachusetts nonprofit that fosters educational opportunities, sustainable employment, and financial security for veterans.
He is one of three Brandeis alumni to receive this year’s Alumni Achievement Award. The university’s highest honor, the award recognizes graduates for longstanding contributions to their chosen field, as well as society more broadly, while embodying Brandeisian values. Ashwood joins fellow 2024 winner Martha Kanter ’70, lifelong educator and under secretary of education in the Obama administration, and Adam Cheyer ’88, inventor of Siri and co-founder of Change.org.
Working on behalf of veterans
Since establishing BRAVE for Veterans, Ashwood, his partners, and a cadre of volunteers – known as “Bravites” – have launched several initiatives to help veterans earn academic credit for work experience that could accelerate their career training or higher education.
The organization has also been at the forefront of protecting veterans facing foreclosure from a practice known as Home Equity Theft, in which municipalities could take the surplus equity that the former owner was entitled to in tax foreclosure.
Ashwood, who mentors Brandeis students and provides internships, enlisted pre-law student Harold Watkin-Fox ’25 to conduct research on laws in 15 different states and analyze draft legislation prohibiting Home Equity Theft. Fox’s thoughtful recommendations helped to shape the thinking of the authors of the law this past July and will continue to do so on a commission that has been created for further refinement and implementation.
“I will forever be influenced by the principles that Mr. Ashwood instilled in me,” says Fox, noting that Ashwood firmly believes that assuming the good in people should guide policy making. “He has given me more than just any typical summer internship. I will take all that I have learned from him into law school and beyond.”
In the future, BRAVE plans to recognize and celebrate Massachusetts companies and organizations that hire and promote veterans with an annual, signature event in Boston.
A long history of fighting for change
Long a leader in public service and social entrepreneurship, Ashwood has directed initiatives in the Massachusetts Departments of Corrections and Youth Services that give adult and juvenile offenders a second chance and worked for the Massachusetts Executive Office of Human Services Secretariat. On the federal level, he was the New England Regional Grants and Contracts Officer for ACTION. He has also served on several professional and local community boards, for which he has received numerous awards.
The son of a WWII US Army veteran, Ashwood has always been dedicated to ensuring that veterans are supported as they face challenges overseas and at home after they return. Initially, he tapped his expertise in information management, particularly document imaging, to provide veterans with the technical training to enhance their job prospects in a well-paying field. After the 2008 economic downturn, Ashwood focused on connecting vets with broader employment opportunities and addressing inequities and other impediments to a secure financial life.
“My goal is to inspire or enable people to solve problems,” says Ashwood. “And I am not done. Not by any means.”
In fact, just this past July, Massachusetts governor Maura Healy signed The HERO Act, the most sweeping legislation for veterans in 20 years. When Ashwood and his team discovered a missing research component in the draft, an amendment was added to the bill establishing an 11-person BRAVE commission to research and improve veterans’ quality of life in the state. The commission will use, in part, Brandeis students and Brandeis research capacity to develop recommendations for veterans and their families in the 21st century as required by the law.
