VOTE TODAY for the Warrior Gateway at SXSW!!!
Please vote today for the Warrior Gateway to be chosen as one of the presenters at the March 2010 South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive presentations. Encourage friends, family members, and colleagues to vote too!
The SXSW is a five day event that will feature networking and emerging technologies. The tradeshow will showcase the best new digital, video, and innovative ideas. The event will take place from March 11-15, 2010 in Austin, Texas.
HURRY, the deadline to vote is tomorrow Friday, August 27, 2010. Visit the Warrior Gateway’s Entry Page
VOTE NOW:
Sign In Page (for already registered users)
Register (for new voters)
Helping Homeless Veterans
Servicemen and servicewomen put their lives on the line to keep American safe; their fight does not always end when they come home. Soldier On, a non-profit organization is honoring those who serve America by providing shelter to homeless veterans.
On Tuesday, August 24, 2010, Soldier On purchased the Western Massachusetts Regional Police Academy on Westfield Street in Springfield, MA, for $1! They plan on converting the building into studio apartments for homeless veterans to live.
Soldier On has been helping homeless veterans since 1994. With time the organization has moved beyond just helping provide shelter, they have set up Veterans Village projects where former homeless veterans are given the chance to own a home.
If you are currently looking for shelter in the Massachusetts area, visit the Warrior Gateway. If you know of other services that provide veteran assistance add them to our Directory.
To view the original article, Editorial: Bay State Honors Pledge to Veterans, click here.
Vermont Guard Prepares for Soldiers’ Return
Vermont Guard Prepares for Soldiers’ Return
The Vermont National Guard Family Program realizes how difficult it is for soldiers to return to their communities after returning home from their tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. Spouses and children also struggle while adjusting to life with their soldiers back at home.
Unemployment is a big problem: On average, 25 to 30 percent of returning service members walk off the plane unemployed. Not having a job adds to the stress they have about things such as financial problems or mental health concerns. And, as part of their participation in Yellow Ribbon events, the Guard has lined up financial advisers, benefits specialists, mental health counselors, and job placement experts to help soldiers and families.
Lt. Col. Mark Goodreau, director of the Vermont National Guard’s Family Program, says, “We realize it’s really important to put our best foot forward from the get go.” He believes that the sooner they can provide a resource, the better chance they’ll have to resolve the related issue.
If you are currently looking for assistance in Vermont, visit the Warrior Gateway and search for service organizations in your area. If you know of any helpful organizations share them with others in our Directory.
To view the original article, Vermont Guard Begins Preparation for Soldiers’ Return, by Sam Hemingway, click here.
Reintegration Back Into Society Made Easier for Veterans
Adjusting back into society for many veterans is difficult. Many struggle with not being able to find jobs and sometimes end up homeless. Two programs are working together to help veterans avoid these problems.
The AACOG (Alamo Area Coalition of Government), out of San Antonio, TX has a house weatherization program that builds and modifies homes to reduce energy consumption and optimize energy efficiency. In combination with the American GI Forum and their “One-Stop” Veteran Service Center, the two provide jobs for veterans, to help in their reintegration process. The “One-Stop” Veterans Service Center also provides services including: a residential center for homeless veterans, Texas veterans outreach program, and help for disabled veterans.
To help with employment and training services the GI Forum also gets veterans in touch with the Department of Labor Veterans’ Employment and Training to help with the process of getting back in the workforce.
If you are currently looking for assistance in San Antonio, visit the Warrior Gateway and search for service organizations in your area. If you know of any helpful organizations share them with others in our Directory.
To view the original article, Helping Veterans Who Come Home, by Cathy Pasmore, click here.
College and Universities Becoming More Veteran Friendly
The West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission Office of Veterans Education and Training Programs held an event to establish a program that will assist student veterans and to gather information addressing their needs. Like many other service organizations colleges and universities are now designing programs to meet the needs of student veterans.
Dr. Al Batres, chief readjustment counseling officer for U.S. Veterans Affairs, was the keynote speaker at the event held on Wednesday July 28, 2010. Bates said, “The VA is first and foremost focused on the needs of veterans and their families.”
A university that is well on its way to following the path of being veteran friendly is Concord University in Athens, West Virginia. It has a veteran’s office, lounge, and student veterans club. There is also a counselor on the campus that is a veteran.
If you are looking for services in Princeton, West Virginia check out The Princeton Vet Center listed in our Directory. If you know of any helpful organizations share them with others in our Directory!
To view the original article by Greg Jordan titled Symposium Highlights Veterans’ Services, click here.
Valuable Help from Veterans Service Officers
Ron Seman is a columnist for the Record-Courier. Over the past 25 years he has received hundreds of questions from veterans about their benefits and entitlements that the men and women receive from the government.
The answers to these questions lie in the hands of the several veterans’ service offices that assist veterans every day. For example he lists organizations in Cleveland Ohio: American Legion, Disabled American Veterans, and AMVETS (American Veterans). Cleveland is just one of the cities; these organizations exist across the country. Many state, county, and local governments have veterans departments with personnel who are willing to help in your area.
If you are currently looking for assistance within any of these categories visit the Warrior Gateway and search for service organizations in your area. If you know of any helpful organizations share them with others in our directory.
To view the original article, Veterans Service Officers Can Provide Valuable Help by Ron Seman, click here.
Sea of Goodwill Series: The Warrior Gateway: Empowering the Military Community & Its Service Providers
When members of the military community (veteran, active duty, National Guard, Reserve, and family members) look for help on the web, the search for support and assistance across the major search engines for terms like “PTSD” or “veterans assistance” yields millions of results.
When you are looking for organizations in your hometown today, how is this helpful? With an estimated 400,000 service organizations and programs seeking to serve this community, how do you know what services are best for you or your family? How can you share your experiences with other veterans or family members?
The answers to these questions form the foundation of the Warrior Gateway.
The Warrior Gateway is a new approach to connecting today’s military community to the network of not-for-profit, government and private sector services and programs they seek. Modeled after the best practices from the world of social media, the Warrior Gateway lets community members quickly find what they’re looking for, rate organizations and programs, leave comments about their experiences, and share organization profiles with others. The result is more relevant information and better decision-making for themselves, their families, and their needs.
Currently, more than 32,000 service providers have Warrior Gateway profiles, allowing these organizations to communicate with the military community about services, programs, and current events, as well as respond to customer feedback. On their profile, they can answer questions and address feedback, creating an ongoing customer service conversation between customers and providers.
How much does it cost? It’s Free. We believe it is our duty to serve our military community in appreciation of their service. The Warrior Gateway pulls together a coalition of partners—across the sea of goodwill—that share our mission of connecting all military community members with the reliable, effective support they need. Check it out here.
This post was authored by Devin B. Holmes. Devin B. Holmes is the Executive Director of the Warrior Gateway.
$333,000 Utility Jobs Grant to Aid Fresno Veterans
The Fresno Regional Workforce Investment Board received a $333,000 grant from the California Employment Development Department. This grant will be put towards expanding a training program that lets veterans acquire skills to become utility workers.
The grant supports the many partnerships that have been established to make this effort a success. The Fresno City College, Sacramento’s American River College, the Sacramento Employment and Training Agency, and the Pacific Gas and Electric Company PowerPathway utility training program work together to train veterans for the utility workforce.
Blake Konczal, Executive Director of the workforce investment board said, “Fresno and surrounding counties have a wider percentage of local men and women who choose to go into the military, so it’s a huge local issue for us to help them find good jobs when they come home.”
The grant will also allow for training for 50 veterans to prepare to apprentice field positions within the industry.
To view the original article, Fresno $333K Jobs Grant to Aid Veterans, click here. If you have used this service provider please click here to leave feedback.
Are you looking for services in the Fresno area? The Warrior Gateway can help! Click here to search, rate, or add service organizations in the Fresno area.
Summer Makeover: A New Look and Feel for the Warrior Gateway Website
Whether you’re a member of the Warrior Gateway or not … come check out our new and improved website at www.warriorgateway.org. We’ve just made some great changes that will make it even easier for members of the military and veteran communities, and their caregivers/families, to find the services they need, when they need them.
The site now offers more advanced search functions and a more visually appealing look. The search results pages are more user-friendly thanks to an improved design. There is a tool for increasing or decreasing the text size to match personal preferences and a streaming feed from the Warrior Gateway Facebook and Twitter pages. A “Did You Know” feature on the home page helps people learn about and link to related resources.
Check out these new features and give us feedback on how we can continue to improve our site. We really want to hear from you. Sign into our site and click on the blog tab. This will take you to the blog homepage. From there you can comment on this or another blog post. You can also click on the Feedback tab and complete a short survey.
If you aren’t yet a member, we encourage you to register and check out our directory of more than 32,000 service providers. Then help us spread the word: be sure to tell your friends and family about the Warrior Gateway and how it’s helping the military and veteran community continue the tradition of “taking care of our own.”
Getting Smarter: Plans to Improve the Directory Search Results with Mark Logic Server’s Thesaurus Capabilities
Here is the beauty of MarkLogic Server: it allows the Warrior Gateway site to continually improve in meaningful ways that help our users. One of these slated updates is a smarter search for the Directory.
How is this possible? MarkLogic Server provides a built-in global thesaurus that can enhance search results. The Warrior Gateway will take advantage of this technology in several powerful ways:
- Synonyms: It will provide the ability to generate synonyms for specific search terms, thereby enhancing search accuracy. For example, a search for “PTSD” would also display results for “post-traumatic stress disorder”, etc. This helps those who may be looking for relevant search results across more than one search term or across topics that are related to one another.
- Misspelled Words: A search for the misspelled word “trama” would prompt the application to suggest “trauma” as the search term. (Many users will recognize the similarity of this feature to Google’s suggestion tool.)
So stay tuned to the Warrior Gateway to take advantage of the addition of the thesaurus capability and other enhancements in the coming months. Thanks to our users and our partners, we are getting smarter every day.
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