BWF Local Partners are Helping the Women Who’ve Served - Bob Woodruff Foundation

BWF Local Partners are Helping the Women Who’ve Served

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We’re relying on our national network of local partners to help women veterans know we’ve “Got Your Six.”

The Bob Woodruff Foundation is providing tools and funding for communities across the country. Through our national network of local partners, we are working to improve the lives of veterans by changing the systems that serve them. In honor of Women’s History Month, we wanted to specifically highlight the work of two local partners exclusively focused on helping women veterans, Lady Veterans Connect in Kentucky and YourNexStage in Maryland. We know that transitioning out of the military is rarely easy, but women face additional challenges when their service has finished.

As the name suggests, YourNexStage focuses on the critical first steps for women once they exit the military. One of those steps is rebuilding identity. YourNexStage seeks to increase the self-identification rate of women veterans who have served. Women often face questions and scrutiny about their service, and some opt to shed their military experience as a part of their identity. This can lead to them ignoring services, benefits, and support networks they have earned. An increase in self-identification often leads to increased rates at which women seek out essential services at the VA or other veteran organizations.

YourNexStage’s scope is ambitious and they also provide assistance for:

  • employment
  • housing
  • mental health support
  • educational resources
  • financial support
  • legal assistance

Lady Veterans Connect also offers critical assistance in several key areas for women transitioning into civilian life. The organization focuses on access to housing, employment, and mental health services. They are overseeing the renovation of an elementary school that will serve as a new housing facility for women veterans in need. Additionally, Lady Veterans Connect prioritizes mental health services for women. This weekend, they’ve organized a retreat where art therapy and yoga will be incorporated into a weekend of healing and stress relief.

Their website is filled with moving testimonials.

“Lady Veterans Connect changed my life. They helped me get the help I needed for so long. Besides helping me get counseling, I changed my whole outlook on life. I began loving myself again and became the strong person I used to be.”- Diane, member of Lady Veterans Connect.