Tag Archives: wounded warriors

Warrior Gateway Announces the G.I. Network: A Nation of Support. One Network

Posted on by Mike

VETERANS TO BENEFIT FROM PARTNERSHIP AND INNOVATION BETWEEN NON-PROFITS, GOVERNMENT

Washington, DC – Today, Warrior Gateway announces the G.I. Network: A Nation of Support. One Network, the largest free network available designed to connect hundreds of thousands government programs and vetted non-profits, with the millions of veterans in the US.

Available in January 2012, the G.I. Network will connect veterans and their families with more than 220,000 government and non-profit organizations as well as with each other.  The G.I. Network has been piloted over the last year with several Warrior Gateway non-profit and government partners to provide a collection of free tools and services to help veterans and military families find and connect with education, employment, health and wellness programs.

“Warrior Gateway has a history of providing innovative technology solutions designed to help veterans and their families,” said Devin B. Holmes, CEO of Warrior Gateway.  “Veterans tell us that there are too many disconnected resource websites.  The G.I. Network is the game changer that solves this problem.  It provides a solution to network all those resource websites and help people connect in a meaningful way.  Developed in response to the Joining Forces initiative, the G.I. Network helps each of us connect with veterans and their families in our communities.”

The G.I. Network will launch in January 2012. For more information about participating and to be notified of the public launch, please visit: www.GINetwork.org.

About G.I. Network: A Nation of Support. One Network.: Publicly launching January 2012, the G.I. Network connects hundreds of thousands non-profits and government programs as well as millions of veterans under one network.  A program of Warrior Gateway, the G.I. Network harnesses state-of-the art technology to create the largest free network for today’s veterans to connect in their local community.

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Warrior Gateway Featured Resource At “2nd Annual Wounded Warrior Hiring and Support Conference”

Posted on by Mike
The Warrior Gateway team is proud to be a featured resource at the “2nd Annual Wounded Warrior Hiring and Support Conference” on November 9-10, 2011, in Vienna, Virginia.  As we approach Veterans Day, we are reminded of our commitment to those who have served our Nation and are looking for employment opportunities in both the public and private sector. In recognizing this, the Department of the Navy is hosting the 2nd Annual Wounded Warrior Hiring and Support Conference “Hiring our Nation’s Heroes.”

Goal:

To convene prominent government, military, and industry leaders and their human resource professionals who are committed to hiring and supporting Wounded Warriors. Conference attendees will have the unique opportunity to learn best practices from many successful organizations on how to recruit, hire, train and retain Wounded Warriors.

On the Agenda:
There is an AMAZING line-up of distinguished guest speakers including senior leadership in the federal government, private industry, Wounded Warrior care agencies, and hiring programs that will share their best practices. Our conference will boast OVER 20 BREAK-OUT SESSIONS to offer you their TOOLS and RESOURCES on how to hire and support Wounded Warriors. There will also be EXHIBITORS from various agencies and organizations that support our Wounded Warriors.

Fees:
THE CONFERENCE IS ENTIRELY FREE.  Plenty of free parking is available. You may purchase food and beverages on-site.

Register:
To register, please go to the following website and received the latest conference updates: http://www.public.navy.mil/donaa/Pages/woundedwarrior.aspx

Date:
November 9 – 10, 2011

Location:
Sheraton Premiere at Tyson’s Corner, 8661 Leesburg Pike, Vienna, VA.

More Information:
Please contact the Conference Management Team at nssc_wwarriorhiring@navy.mil

Please forward this email to anyone who may interested in attending our event.

Warrior Gateway & Pin-Ups For Vets Auctioning Off 2012 VW Beetle

Posted on by Mike

“21st Century Calendar Girl Auctions Off 21st Century Beetle To Support Veterans”

Los Angeles, CA – Pin-Ups For Vets and Warrior Gateway have joined forces to raise money for hospitalized Veterans by auctioning off a 2012 VW Beetle given away during Oprah’s final “Favorite Things” show. Inspired by the romance of bygone eras, especially the 1940’s, Gina Elise the 21st Century pin-up girl draws inspiration from the World War II pin-up girls, whose photos and paintings boosted moral for service members fighting overseas.

Starting at 9am PDT on October 17th, interested supporters can bid on the 2012 VW Beetle on eBay Auction.

All proceeds from the sale will be donated to Pin-Ups For Vets, a California registered 501(c)(3) non-profit, that works to improve the quality of life for hospitalized Veterans across the U.S.A. The highest bidder will also get an autographed copy of the 2012 Pin-Ups For Vets calendar in addition to bringing home this special 2012 VW Beetle with a special boxed gift key from Oprah’s “Favorite Things” show.

“We are honored that Pin-Ups For Vets has asked us to join this auction to raise funds for our Veterans” said Devin B. Holmes, CEO of Warrior Gateway. “From providing funding for equipment for spinal cord injury patients in Salt Lake City to supporting the Armed Services YMCA in San Diego, Gina is an example of how one person can impact the Veterans community and is role model for all those who want to know how to give back.”

“I am excited to partner with Warrior Gateway” said Gina Elise, Founder and CEO of Pin-Ups For Vets. “Veterans and their families need better ways to find and connect with support organizations in their local community and Warrior Gateway provides this valuable and free service for them. Our partnership showshow community collaboration is one of the cornerstones to successfully changing how Veterans are supported.”

About Pin-Ups For Vets: Gina Elise, Founder and CEO, has been dubbed the “Calendar Angel”and “The Betty Grable for a new generation” by today’s active duty service members. She is the creator and model in the “Pin-Ups For Vets” calendar fundraiser that supports America’s hospitalized Veterans and recovering troops. In addition to raising funds to support Veterans’ healthcare programs, Gina has made countless personal bedside visits to ill and injured patients in VA and military hospitals across the U.S. and the globe, where she delivers her nostalgic pin-up calendars and posters that are donated by the public. Gina’s nostalgic pin-up calendar draws attention to Veterans’ healthcare, while at the same time honoring the four-year military service of her late grandfather. In 2009, The “Los Angeles Business Journal” and its members honored Gina Elise as “VOLUNTEER OF THE YEAR” at their annual “Women Making A Difference”awards ceremony. Pin-Ups For Vets has donated $50,000 to date to expand physical, cognitive, and occupational rehabilitation programs for V.A. and Military hospitals nationwide. Visit the website, www.pinupsforvets.com.

About Warrior Gateway: Founded in 2009, Warrior Gateway connects individuals in the military community with organizations and programs (non-profit, government, educational or employment-related) in their neighborhood that are there to support them. Led by CEO, Devin B.Holmes, Warrior Gateway harnesses state-of-the art technology and community collaboration to help today’s Veterans make better decisions about what service providers they can go to for help, and have a public forum to share their experiences about the quality and effectiveness of those services. This innovation was recognized when Federal Computer Week honored Devin B.Holmes with a Federal 100 award for significant contributions to the Federal IT community. For more information, please visit: www.warriorgateway.org.

New VA bill established to assist post-9/11 veteran caregivers could fall short

Posted on by Devin

On 5 May 2010 President Obama signed the Caregivers and Veterans Omnibus Health Services Act, Public Law 111-163. The bill, first of its kind, intends to provide direct assistance to veteran families. However, recent press releases indicate that the bill is in distress. Many articles are quick to fault the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) after the organization missed the 31 January 2011 deadline to start carrying out provisions of the bill, and before that, the 1 November 2010 implementation plan milestone. The VA signed the long-awaited implementation plan on Wednesday 9 February, but the contents of that bill may be falling short of its mark. For instance, only about 10 percent of the intended post-9/11 caregiver population (est. 850) are said to be eligible for assistance.

New benefits – restricted to caregivers of the critically wounded and seriously ill of the post-9/11 veterans – outlined by the Caregivers and Veterans Omnibus Health Services Act of 2010, include: monthly stipend (based on the average home healthcare costs in the veterans hometown), health care coverage, travel expenses (including lodging and per diem while accompanying veterans undergoing care), respite care, and mental health services/counseling.

Among those supporting the bill are the following political figures:

  • Sen. Daniel Akaka (HI)
  • Sen. Richard Burr (NC)
  • Sen. Patty Murray (WA), Chairwoman, Senate Veteran’s Affairs Committee
  • Rep. Jeff Miller (FL), Chairman, House Committee on Veteran Affairs

While some of the enhancements are currently available, many will require an issuance of regulations, whereas others will remain unavailable. To date, the VA has given no timeline as to when the services will be available to caregivers. However, under the law, the VA must report to Congress within 2 years about the possibilities of providing the enhanced benefits to all post-9/11 caregivers.

The Warrior Gateway can assist those that are affected by the Caregivers and Veterans Omnibus Health Services Act of 2010 by providing veteran caregivers a place to find assistance services located in their hometown. The free-of-charge Warrior Gateway directory currently has over 100 caregiver assistance organizations available for veterans of all eras.

Please feel free to post comments about this blog and suggest other topics you would like to see covered by the Warrior Gateway Government Relations Blog.

Wounded Warrior Task Force Testimony

Posted on by Devin

Today I had the opportunity to present to the Wounded Warrior Task Force.  In case you don’t know what the Task Force is all about, you can read more here.

One of the objectives of Wounded Warrior Task Force as stated in their mission statement is to provide advice and recommendations on matters and policies relating to the effectiveness of wounded warrior information resources.  Since I was only given two minutes to present, I had to make my comments brief so I focused on two subjects near and dear to the Warrior Gateway: open information sharing and public-private partnerships.

A recent search on the web for the term wounded warrior resources returned over 300,000 results.  A recent web search for the term post traumatic stress returned over 5 Million results. Wow!  That’s a lot of results to look through.  And yet with all these resources, here at Warrior Gateway, we consistently hear that wounded warriors, veterans and their families aren’t finding what they need.  While we continue work to give you a voice and make it easier for you to find and connect with the local organizations and program in your community, I hope that the Wounded Warrior Task Force looks at what the government can do better to share information and partner with organizations like Warrior Gateway to better serve our military community.

-devin

Here is the full text of the testimony:

Ladies and Gentlemen of the Task Force, thank you for the opportunity to present today.  My name is Devin Holmes and I am the Executive Director of Warrior Gateway.

After returning home from active duty, our wounded warriors often face a new battle at home.  And yet, while the treatments for their injuries in some cases are complex, when they come home to their communities, their desires are simple and straightforward.  They want to recover, find their new normal life, and enjoy time with their family and friends.  And yet so many of them still ask that simple question:  “Where do I go for help?”

I would like to share with you an excerpt from an email we received a couple of months ago from a veteran in Ft. Lauderdale, Fl struggling with post traumatic stress:  “My family is in need of help.  I am a disabled OIF veteran married to another veteran with multiple deployments.  We have 3 children.  I wanted some information before my family breaks apart.”

We know from examples like the one I just read that we are failing our wounded warriors. There are simply too many fragmented and silo-ed information resources both inside and outside the government.

I would like to encourage the Task Force to focus their efforts on the following:

  • A full and detailed inventory of the information resources both inside the DoD and VA and outside the government
  • An assessment of which of these resources are openly sharing their information with other resources
  • And for the DoD and VA, an inventory of which of these resources have created public-private partnerships with non-governmental organizations

I would also encourage the Task Force to examine and make public the following:

  • How are both the government and non-governmental information resources evaluating those programs and organizations providing services to our wounded warriors
  • How they measuring effectiveness
  • Are these evaluations and measurements made publically available to our wounded warriors and their families
  • Do our wounded warriors and their families have a voice in providing feedback as to the effectiveness of the programs and organizations listed in these information resources

Our goal should be to share information and work together so that no matter WHERE our wounded warriors look for information, the answers they receive will be immediate, accurate and consistent regardless of where they ask that question “Where do I go for help?”

Thank you.