One, an extensive whitepaper entitled Channeling "The Sea of Goodwill" to Sustain "The Groundswell of Support", is worth reading if you are looking to push the engagement level in your community.
The second is a list of innovative resources, I've pasted the first few paragraphs below as an example:
Innovative Example Descriptions Serving Our Nation’s Service Members, Veterans, Families & Families of the Fallen Across the nation
Many local-level organizations are stepping up to the plate to ensure that our Nation’s returning Service Members, Veterans, Families and Families of the Fallen have access to the services and support they need to succeed during transition and reintegration into civilian life. The focus of these efforts is on education, meaningful employment and access to health care within communities. Following are examples of such efforts:
1. Web Portals – Expanding Collaboration and Information Sharing at the Local Level
The three Web portals below assist community organizations in helping Veterans, Service Members and families access the wide range of services and resources available to them during transition and community reintegration. Community organizations are encouraged to contribute information and resources to these portals as a way to expand their reach and effectiveness.
- Warrior Gateway. Warrior Gateway is a nonprofit, privately funded Web portal created to connect the military community with health care, education and employment organizations to ease transition into community life. It provides access to the largest directory of service organizations, national to local, and enables wounded warriors, Service Members, Veterans, their families, caregivers and families of the fallen to search for services by category or location, including zip code. It also allows users to provide comments and feedback, both good and bad, on organizations and services included on the site.
Point of contact: Devin Holmes, Executive Director, devin@warriorgateway.org
- National Resource Directory (NRD) The National Resource Directory (NRD) is a government-sponsored Web portal created to help wounded warriors, Service Members, Veterans and their families and caregivers connect to services and resources that support recovery, rehabilitation and community reintegration. It provides access to thousands of services and resources at the national, state and local levels and gives individuals the ability to search by topic, state, and zip code. The NRD was created collaboratively by the U.S. Departments of Defense, Veterans Affairs and Labor. The information it contains comes from federal, state and local government agencies; Veterans service and benefit organizations; nonprofit and community-based organizations; academic institutions; and professional associations that provide assistance to wounded warriors and their families.
- Community Action Teams – Collaborating to Support Veterans Augusta, Georgia, The Central Savannah River Area Wounded Warrior Care Project uses a three-pronged approach to promote community services serving Service Members and Veterans in the Augusta, GA area. It focuses on: 1) leveraging Augusta’s unique warrior care assets, 2) increasing information flow and coordination among agencies, communities, and individuals, and 3) bringing troops all the way home after combat and supporting them during community reintegration. The organization has created a “Community Action Team” model of public-private partnerships. There are thousands of resources available to assist wounded warriors, returning Service Members, Veterans and their families. The Augusta model offers a community-based structure for coordinating those resources and encouraging community involvement at the local level where Service Members and Veterans live and work. Point of contact: Jim Lorraine, Executive Director, jim.lorrainecsrawwcp@gmail.com
- Sea of Goodwill of New York City – Collaborating to Reach Out to Area Veterans Columbia University spearheaded the establishment of the Sea of Goodwill of New York City. As part of this, it hosts monthly meetings with Veterans service organizations, non-governmental organizations and Mayor Bloomberg’s office to discuss ideas for community initiatives and events to increase public awareness among area Veterans of available programs, services, and benefits. The collaborative effort’s first event, focused on jobs and services, will take place in 2011. Point of contact: Amanda Riego, at2169@columbia.edu
You can review both documents in full on the CareerXroads site.
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