Eliminating the "I didn't even know"

I just made a donation (it's super easy via PayPal on http://www.finalsaluteinc.org)...to an organization supporting a group I didn't even know existed until recently.  The first banner on the front page of Final Salute openly admits lack of awareness of the homeless female veterans population.

This reality is...crazy.  It is also sad.  It needs to be fixed.

That's where we come in.  We know our limitations.  We're just six people working on a class project, but we're hoping if we can reach enough people who can, in turn, reach enough people and so on and so on, awareness will increase and eventually lead to a measurable increase in donations and volunteer hours and a measurable decrease in homelessness for the female veteran population.

It's a lofty goal given the short time window, but we're focused on creating something that has sustainability.  It might be a viral video.  It might be a group on campus taking notice and connecting with Final Salute.  It might be some of us continuing to work with Final Salute beyond this project.  No matter what the method, the goal is clear: have less people saying, "I didn't even realize homelessness was a problem for female veterans."

That's the short term mission, the foundation for eradicating this problem long term.  See you on the other side.

The Creative Process

“Make something happen that brings awareness and attention to your disadvantaged or disenfranchised group and its interests and needs.”

So open-ended.  So devoid of the defined deliverables.  It's the type of assignment that could bring fear into the hearts and minds of a group of MBAs who are accustomed to order and structure.   

So our team decided to meet and get the ball rolling.  We spent some time thinking about what we were attempting to achieve with our project.  We identified a few key objectives: 

1.  Bring attention to Final Salute and homeless female veterans   
2.  Provide something tangible to the female veterans 
3.  Utilize course skills that focus on imagination and creativity   

We then started brain-storming to generate some ideas for how to accomplish our objectives.  Rather than cutting ideas down too quickly, we focused on adding to or improving them.  We also remained open to outside inspiration.  Several teammates spoke to friends and family about our project to continue generating and refining our ideas.  Eventually, we have arrived at a point where we are debating the merits of two great ideas that we are confident will meet all of our objectives.  We are going to be making a final decision between the two in the next 24-48 hours. 

To be continued...

Hitting Close to Home

“Make something happen that brings awareness and attention to your disadvantaged or disenfranchised group and its interests and needs”. So went the instructions for our team’s class project. But first we had to determine which disadvantaged group to focus on. We agreed that we wanted to identify a group that is often overlooked – perhaps a subset of a more widely recognized group? After throwing around a number of ideas, I remembered hearing about an organization that focuses exclusively on helping homeless female Veterans find both temporary and more permanent housing.

While there are Grant Per Diem (GPD) programs nationwide that provide housing for homeless Veterans, approximately 60% of these do not allow children and 70% of the programs that do allow children have restrictions on the ages and number of children. Because many female Veterans are also the sole caregivers for their children (over 30,000 single mothers have deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan), this gap in available services is a growing problem. In addition, the number of female Veterans is increasing. In fact, the number of homeless female Veterans doubled between FY2006 and FY2010 

(Source: "Homeless Female Veterans." National Coalition for Homeless Veterans. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Nov. 2013. <http://www.nchv.org/images/uploads/HFV%20paper%281%29.pdf>.)

 

As the wife of a Veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom, these statistics are particularly troubling to me. Many of my closest friends are either military spouses or Veterans themselves. I have attended multiple homecoming ceremonies where families have been reunited after 12 long months apart. I will also never forget standing in a cold airplane hanger watching sons and daughters say goodbye to a parent and sending them off to war. The thought of an entire group of Veterans falling through the cracks after having made such sacrifices for their country really resonated with me and I knew this was a cause I could get behind. Fortunately, the rest of the group agreed, and Final Salute, Inc. was happy to have our help in bringing more attention to this worthy cause.

We are so excited to work with this amazing organization to help an especially deserving group. Stay tuned to see our progress and impact over the next 3 weeks!

See below for an article that speaks to the specific plight of homeless female Veterans:

An Article from Veteran Journal

Home from a long 12 months in Afghanistan. These soldiers should never have to worry about where they and their children will live....

 A family reunited....

Where it all begins...

6 Georgetown MBAs

3 Weeks

1 Mission...

GET FEMALE VETERANS OFF THE STREET

Image Credit: http://womenslifestyle.com/epidemic-homeless-women-veterans/

Across the next 3 weeks, we will tell our story and theirs. Homelessness is a silent epidemic.  

Female veterans face challenges when returning to civilian life that are different from those of their male counterparts. Women vets are three times more likely to commit suicide than their civilian counterparts. Of the female veteran population, 47.3 percent are under 30, and an additional 31.7 percent are under 40. There are reasons that many homeless women veterans don’t make it to 41. With no health insurance and unsanitary living conditions, homeless vets face life-threatening illnesses. Extreme weather is a serious threat, as is starvation and dehydration. Sources: US department of Veteran Affairs, Department of Defense and National Coalition for Homeless Veterans  

Here we will document:

• our creative brainstorming process for how we can make a difference
• design, production, and filming of a youtube video to generate broader awareness
• our impact in 3 weeks working with partner organization Final Salute

What is Final Salute?

Final Salute is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the mission of providing homeless women Veterans with safe and suitable housing. It only costs $25 daily to provide safe and suitable, housing, food, clothing, and supportive services for a woman Veteran in need. Final Salute places women Veterans in transitional housing and also helps provides rent and deposit assistance for eligible women Veterans in MD, VA, and DC via interest free loan or grant. 

Why Female Vets?

It's estimated that there are currently 55,000 homeless women Veterans in the United States on any given day. For the sacrifices they and they families have made, this is unacceptable. We and Final Salute Inc. believe that unique needs of women Veterans should not be overlooked. Heroes need a home- why not give HER a home for the holidays?

Read stories about women veterans helped by Final Salute: Click here for testimonials

Who are we?  

We are MBA students at Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business committed to

                                      serving others

                                                               thinking creatively & 

                                                                                                   acting locally!

Image Credit: Georgetown University, Teri Delgado