2016 Fall Grants
The following grants were awarded as part of the Bob Woodruff Foundation’s Fall Cycle.
100 Entrepreneurs Foundation
100 Entrepreneurs Project
Location: Washington DC
Issue Area: Education and Employment
100 Entrepreneurs Foundation expands the employment horizons of wounded and transitioning service members and their families, who are inclined, but lack the expertise, to open their own business. 100 Entrepreneurs holds classes on entrepreneurship, industry, and business functions, and assign mentors to the participants, who learn to initiate businesses or find a meaningful career in the industry of their choice.
Farmer Veteran Coalition
The 2016 Fellowship Fund and Homegrown by Heroes
Location: National
Issue Area: Education and Employment
The Farmer Veteran Coalition (FVC) helps veterans succeed as farmers and agricultural leaders through education, training and collaboration. The BWF grant to FVC’s Fellowship Fund will provide financial assistance to 30 post-9/11 veterans’ farm operations, and a peer support network to facilitate their successful transition to farming. Additionally, BWF is investing in the Homegrown by Heroes brand to expand the brand to additional states and teach farmer veterans how best to leverage the brand to maximize their profit. This investment uniquely complements a sea of resources for veterans interested in trade or corporate employment, and has national impact, including to our heartland.
Four Block
Career Readiness Program
Location: National
Issue Area: Education and Employment
The Four Block Veteran Career Development Program provides transitioning post-9/11 veterans with the essential tools needed to jumpstart civilian careers. The program empowers veterans to obtain competitive internships and full-time positions at companies or organizations that match their interests, attributes and strengths. Program participants receive weekly classroom instruction, practical application and one-on-one mentorship and have higher employment retention rates than other transitioning veterans. The program’s success is underscored by the number of veteran alumni that return to mentor and support future Four Block cohorts. The Bob Woodruff Foundation grant will fund a full-time NYC director, permitting Four Block to provide this valuable career development assistance to NYC veterans, and an alumni director who will provide support and evaluate retention rates, career growth and career satisfaction.
Team Rubicon Global, Ltd.
Team Rubicon Global
Location: International
Issue Area: Education and Employment
Team Rubicon Global (TRG) launched in April 2015, capitalizing on the interest from international veterans who had participated in Team Rubicon (TR) disaster-relief missions abroad. TRG recognizes an urgent global need and an important opportunity to expand internationally and export the premise that veterans worldwide are ideally suited to conduct tough humanitarian missions in support of the common good. As a long-time partner of Team Rubicon, the Bob Woodruff Foundation recognizes the importance of garnering the cohesive capability of veterans worldwide, to serve the world’s population in times of crisis and need. The Bob Woodruff Foundation is proud to be a Founding Sponsor of Team Rubicon Global, to support and empower veterans around the world. Our veterans fought as a coalition and can thrive as one.
Center for Court Innovation
Enhancing Court Services for Veterans Initiative
Location: New York State
Issue Area: Quality of Life
A public/private partnership between the New York State Unified Court System and the Fund for the City of New York, the Center for Court Innovation (CCI) identifies and resolves gaps in the justice system. Current court professionals designing court-mandated treatment protocols are insufficiently aware of available services for veterans with traumatic brain injury (TBI) and invisible wounds. CCI will use the Bob Woodruff Foundation grant to develop and administer a training program in three New York State regions that will teach court professionals how to identify veterans, familiarize them with veterans’ unique background and challenges, and connect them to appropriate services that could improve veterans’ outcomes. This program will help ensure that the New York court considers a veteran’s service experience when determining criminal justice outcomes, and is an important aspect of the BWF portfolio considering the legal challenges that some veterans confront.
Disabled Sports USA
Chapter Capacity Building TBI and PTS Awareness
Location: National
Issue Area: Quality of Life
Physical activity is a key component of a full and healthy life. Disabled Sports USA, a nationwide network of 120-plus community-based chapters operating in 42 states, provides disabled individuals independence and confidence through sports and educational programs. Participating disabled veterans are twice as likely to be employed as are their non-active counterparts, and also attribute their workplace success to being physically active. BWF’s investment will provide adaptive sports training and opportunities for over 500 disabled veterans in 15 states; train and certify 100 volunteer instructors in sports-specific injury prevention; and provide 300 helmets for veterans participating in sports such as rock climbing, skiing, biking, and hockey, to ensure their safety. BWF is proud to enable adaptive sports opportunities that provide physical fulfillment, independence, and cohesive team experiences to disabled veterans nationwide.
Greater Washington Educational Telecommunications Association
BrainLine: For Service Members, Veterans, and Families Dealing with TBI or PTS
Location: National
Issue Area: Quality of Life
BrainLine Military is a user-friendly national website serving service members, veterans, caregivers, and family members who are caring for or living with traumatic brain injury (TBI) or post-traumatic stress (PTS). The Bob Woodruff Foundation grant will improve BrainLine Military resources, materials, and content to provide military families with practical, concrete information and support for dealing with the social and emotional impact of traumatic brain injury or post-traumatic stress. The BrainLine articles, expert advice, and personal stories of veterans and caregivers living with TBI address the need commonly expressed by this population: they feel alone and isolated and nobody around them really understands what they are going through. This investment also provides BWF an opportunity to link with, and disseminate information about, our community of partners.
Henry Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine
The Veterans Metrics Initiative: Linking Program Components to Post-Military Well-Being (TVMI Study)
Location: National
Issue Area: Quality of Life
The sea of goodwill lacks collective measures for veteran outcomes that might prioritize programs, identify shortcomings, or quantify remaining needs. The Veterans Metrics Initiative (TVMI), led by the Center for Public-Private Partnerships at the Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine, is a premier effort to identify and measure what truly improves veteran long-term outcomes. This study, which includes the most-esteemed experts from civilian academia, industry, and the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs, will identify and develop evidence-based measures, apply those measures to the veteran population, and generate unprecedented information about the transition from military to civilian life and the programs improve veterans’ outcomes. BWF is proud to contribute both substantively and financially to this important effort, which will inform BWF and other stakeholders’ investments in future years.
Military Child Education Coalition
Supporting Veterans’ Children Through Transitions
Location: National
Issue Area: Quality of Life
Transitioning from military to veteran life presents challenges for the entire family; ensuring that schools are receptive and supportive of veterans’ children eases the transition for the entire family. This Military Child Education Coalition (MCEC) program will provide resources and support for children whose service member parents are facing separation from active duty, including those service members who are separating unexpectedly due to physical injuries or mental health illnesses. The Bob Woodruff Foundation grant enables MCEC to develop and disseminate free online modules for school personnel directly supporting these students. This grant will also encourage peer and social support for veterans’ children by funding online student-to-student (S2S) materials for elementary, junior high, and high school students to support youth in transitioning or caregiving families. Additionally, the BWF investment will support the Supporting Veterans’ Children Through Transitions course delivery to leaders from community-based programs, including many BWF partners, at the annual MCEC National Training Seminar.
New York State Defenders Association
Veterans Defense Program
Location: New York State
Issue Area: Quality of Life
The New York State Defenders Association Veterans Defense Program provides best practice models and consulting support for public defenders who represent veterans in the criminal justice system. The Bob Woodruff Foundation grant will support two intensive “Point Person” trainings and 22 county-level trainings for more than 6,000 public defenders in 13 New York State judicial districts. The public defenders will learn about services, issues and community resources, enabling them to advocate for diversionary treatment and trauma-informed sentencing when they represent veterans. This investment complements the BWF-sponsored program for court professionals.
North Carolina Public Radio
The American Homefront Project
Location: National
Issue Area: Quality of Life
The American Homefront Project (AHP) is a public radio journalism initiative that focuses on the lives of military personnel, veterans, and their families. The program chronicles the challenges and successes of the American military, with emphasis on the changing nature of military service and the transition of recent veterans into civilian life. The Bob Woodruff Foundation investment expands the American Homefront Project’s broadcast and content capabilities by adding AHP stations in Texas and New York, two states with sizeable military and veteran populations, to the current partner stations in North Carolina, Southern California, and Washington. AHP productions will air on the five partner stations, and be available to the Public Radio Exchange and National Public Radio. The vast majority of Americans have not served in uniform. This BWF investment will deepen the nation’s understanding of unique military and veteran issues, and will herald the strengths and contributions of our population.
Northeast Passage
Promoting Access, Transition, and Health (PATH) Program
Location: New Hampshire
Issue Area: Quality of Life
The rural countryside often features fewer social opportunities and support services for veterans. Northeast Passage, a privately-funded program of the University of New Hampshire, developed the Promoting Access, Transition, and Health Program (PATH) to serve veterans living with disabilities and invisible wounds in rural New Hampshire. PATH’s local Certified Therapeutic Recreational Therapists travel to and engage veterans in their homes, and improve their health by involving them in recreation and community activities. The Bob Woodruff investment will provide two additional Certified Therapeutic Recreational Therapists to the PATH program, increasing capacity to serve 60 additional rural New Hampshire veterans. Northeast Passage previously responded to the BWF challenge to develop ground-breaking standards for adaptive sports, and BWF welcomes this opportunity to partner with them again and increase their reach to rural veterans.
Our Military Kids
Our Military Kids
Location: National
Issue Area: Quality of Life
Our Military Kids supports wounded veterans by paying for extracurricular activities and tutoring programs for their children. The BWF grant will help fulfill children’s extracurricular aspirations, focus their time and energy on an activity of importance to them, and decrease financial strain and emotional stress of the injured veteran parent and the entire family. This investment in children’s extracurricular activities is an important complement to BWF’s investment in children’s academic wellbeing, and underscores BWF’s intent to address the wellbeing of the entire caregiving family.
PsychArmor Institute
Bob Woodruff Foundation School for Volunteers
Location: National
Issue Area: Quality of Life
PsychArmor Institute (PAI) and the Bob Woodruff Foundation are building a suite of free online courses to provide military and veteran cultural competency training for prospective volunteers and other community members. These online trainings range from foundational courses such as “Volunteering with Veterans with Invisible Wounds of War” to more targeted courses, such as “How to Interact with a Service Animal.” PAI involves prominent experts from the public and private sectors and ensures professional content and delivery. The national reach of this capability, the opportunity to improve all BWF partners, and the potential impact on the national collective effort to support the mil/vet population underscore the importance of this investment.
Urban Justice Center
Veteran Advocacy Project
Location: New York, NY
Issue Area: Quality of Life
Veteran Advocacy Project (VAP) provides free civil legal services to low-income New York City veterans, focusing on those living with post-traumatic stress, traumatic brain injury, and substance abuse issues. The VAP addresses veterans’ legal challenges that, unresolved, might spiral into more significant individual crises. The BWF investment will promote continued public-private engagement between VAP and government resources to ensure that veterans are connected to the appropriate social services.
American Red Cross
American National Red Cross Complementary and Alternative Medicine Program
Location: National
Issue Area: Rehabilitation and Recovery
The American Red Cross will develop a Mind-Body Workshop to be taught on military installations and at VA medical centers, nationwide. Partnering with subject matter experts at Walter Reed National Medical Center’s Center for Mind Body Medicine and the Defense Centers of Excellence for PTSD and TBI, Red Cross mental health professionals will develop a course that offers alternative approaches to healing and provide an in-depth introduction to such topics as yoga, mindfulness and mediation, healing through writing, deep breathing and more. This BWF investment will fund curriculum development and training of mental health professionals who will facilitate the workshops and incorporate alternative therapies into their traditional practice. This BWF grant ensures connections and facilitates collaborations between Red Cross and other BWF partners providing alternative and complementary therapies to serve the military veteran population.
Hope For The Warriors
Family Resiliency Services
Location: National
Issue Area: Rehabilitation and Recovery
Hope For The Warriors’ Family Resiliency Services supports service members, veterans, and military families struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injury (TBI), by providing referrals, admissions assistance, travel assistance, financial support, and family counseling. Hope For the Warriors targets these efforts to the most-severely injured population and coordinates with the Department of Veterans Affairs to ensure complementary, rather than duplicative, services. This program helps those severely wounded veterans engage and remain in critical treatment programs, by facilitating and addressing life’s challenges that would otherwise present barriers to treatment. The Bob Woodruff Foundation is proud to fund two Hope For The Warriors Family Resiliency Services social workers, as well as direct financial assistance to veterans and their families.
Museum of Glass
Hot Shop Heroes
Location: Washington State
Issue Area: Rehabilitation and Recovery
The Museum of Glass, co-founded by Dale Chihuly, introduced Hot Shop Heroes in 2013 in partnership with the Warrior Transition Battalion at Joint Base Lewis-McChord. These glass-blowing and flame-working classes have proven particularly effective for participants with traumatic brain injury (TBI) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Teams of veterans collaborate in an urgent, dangerous, creative environment to produce works of art, while Departments of Veterans Affairs and Defense mental health professionals oversee and assess individual progress. This Bob Woodruff Foundation grant enables the Museum of Glass to develop an online operations guide and curriculum so other glass studios can replicate the program. Hosting the content online helps ensure that competent and skilled instructors deliver this effective program in collaboration with Departments of Veterans Affairs and Defense mental health providers. This relatively small BWF grant will expand this renowned creative and therapeutic program to 72 new locations, providing a tremendous return on investment.
Red Badge Project
Red Badge Project
Location: Washington State
Issue Area: Rehabilitation and Recovery
The Red Badge Project employs writing and storytelling to help service members and veterans communicate their experiences to their families and communities. Writing and storytelling can have a cathartic impact, especially for service members and veterans diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). While crafting their story, participants develop a deeper understanding of themselves, their self-worth and their value to society, while civilians learn about the veteran’s skills and experiences. This enhanced mutual understanding fosters receptivity and eases transition. The Bob Woodruff Foundation grant ensures the Red Badge Project teaches these courses quarterly across Washington State; increasing this capacity of this high-demand program to 300 veterans. This investment endorses a creative therapeutic program that partners effectively and responsibly with the Departments of Defense and Veterans’ Affairs.
Warrior Canine Connection
Veterans Court Program
Location: San Mateo County and Santa Clara County, CA
Issue Area: Rehabilitation and Recovery
Warrior Canine Connection (WCC) captures the benefits of service dogs for two complementary veteran populations: veterans with invisible wounds experience a healing benefit from the responsibility, routine, and regimen of training service dogs, and mobility-impaired veterans subsequently gain a permanent canine companion. The training process employs WCC’s innovative canine connection therapy program and harnesses the human-animal bond to reduce the trainers’ symptoms of combat trauma. This BWF investment will enable Warrior Canine Connection to explore whether canine training might be included in the range of justice treatment plans available for veterans in legal distress, and develop the appropriate strategy, business plan and relationships. BWF will provide both resources and expertise to this partner, helping them forge opportunities for veteran canine programs nationally.
Warriors at Ease
Warriors at Ease Mind Body Web Portal
Location: National
Issue Area: Rehabilitation and Recovery
Warriors at Ease (WAE) is a well established yoga/meditation training organization serving the military veteran community. The Department of Defense (DoD) recognizes WAE’s culturally sensitive programming as evidenced-based treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), insomnia, and pain relief. WAE teachers employ a wide variety of tools customized to the military veteran participants, including adaptive yoga techniques for conditions such traumatic brain injury (TBI), spinal injuries and amputations; breathing exercises; and trauma-sensitive meditation protocols. This Bob Woodruff Foundation investment in WAE’s Train, Teach and Transform program will provide scholarships to train wounded warriors and military spouses as WAE certified yoga and meditation instructors. In addition, WAE instructors nationwide will provide free classes to support the wellbeing of service members, veterans, and their families, and will increase WAE’s interaction with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). This BWF investment underscores the need for, and merit of, alternative therapies, customized to the military veteran population, and employed in partnership with the DoD and VA.
