Happy Tuesday good people.
For you Chicago area Vets interested in attending the Chicago VA OSDBU Small Business Conference of May 25, 2011, please see the attached flyer....and please help pass the word. This informative and important small business gathering is at no-cost to our Veterans. Hope to see you there.
Our friend Lu Caldara, Marine Corps League, Westchester, New York, informs us that registration is now open for the 2nd Annual Big Apple Run For The Warriors® to be held on June 5, 2011. The run is located in New York City’s Battery Park and includes a 3-mile and a 1-mile run/walk as well as a 200-meter dash for children ages 6-14. A pre-race ceremony starts the day at 8:30 a.m. with both races following at 9:00 a.m. General registration costs $30; discounts for veterans, active duty military and their families, and students are offered. Six member team registrations are also available at $20 per runner. To register, visit www.hopeforthewarriors.org/r4w.html Funds raised will go to Hope For The Warriors®, a national nonprofit organization that supports wounded U.S. service members, their families, and families of the fallen. Please see attached Flyer/News Release for additional details! Thanks Lu!
Our friend Mark Seavey from the American Legion turns our attention to the 2nd Annual Warrior Games. Wounded, ill, and injured service members compete in the inaugural Warrior Games through a joint effort between the U.S. Department of Defense and U.S. Olympic Committee. These inaugural games are part of an effort to inspire recovery, capitalize on physical fitness, and promote opportunities for growth and achievement among those wounded, ill, or injured. For more information, please go to the following Links:
Prayers and blessings for you and your loved ones and for our dear Troops and their loved ones everywhere.
Sincerely..............Wayne
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Received some good scoop from our friend Joe Sobota at SBA Advocacy regarding the recent SBA study, "Factors Affecting Entrepreneurship among Veterans." Thanks Joe!
Wayne: We’ve had some good feedback already, including press in the Wall Street Journal and the Business News Daily (see respectively, http://blogs.wsj.com/in-charge/2011/05/11/why-vets-are-likely-entrepreneurs/ and http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/military-service-enterpreneurship-correlation-1268/
Attached are electronic links to the study and its accompanying research summary. You can access the full study at http://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/files/rs384tot.pdf and its two-page Research Summary http://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/files/rs384.pdf The small business FAQ is at http://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/files/sbfaq.pdf
The Census Bureau today posted online at http://www.census.gov/econ/sbo/ its long-awaited report on veteran-owned businesses (VOBs) using data from the 2007 Survey of Business Owners (SBO), a major survey conducted only once every five years. The survey for data year 2007 went out to more than 2.3 million business owners in 2008-2009. The new VOB report is the most important source of information that we have on veteran-owned firms. We now have more information on VOBs than we have ever had in history, but in June, three more reports will be issued that will give us even more information, including new data on service-disabled veteran business owners.
Joe also alerts us to the below U. S. Census Bureau UStream being held tomorrow, May 18.
May 18: Veteran-owned Businesses, Survey of Business Owners
Please join the US Census Bureau for a live UStream event featuring new data on Veteran-owned businesses from the 2007 Survey of Business Owners at 2 PM EST on Wednesday, May 18. The event will feature Tony Caruso, US Census Bureau Project Manager for the Survey of Business Owners. Tony will be taking questions from the public live during the event on Facebook and Twitter and via email at newmedia@census.gov
Approximately 2.3 million businesses received the 2007 SBO-1 questionnaire asking for information about characteristics of the businesses and their owners. These data show the number and percent of veteran-owned businesses, and sales and receipts at the national, state and local levels, as well as other details. These are the first-ever estimates of all veteran-owned businesses in the United States.
To view the UStream event broadcast, please visit: www.facebook.com/uscensusbureau or http://www.ustream.tv/channel/us-census-bureau
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Veterans News for Tuesday, May 17, 2011. Thanks to Kevin Secor at VA HQ!
1. Coalition Seeks to Raise Awareness and Help Returning Vets.
Fox News (blog)
Gillibrand from leaving Washington to reveal the details of her plan at a roundtable discussion, but veterans' advocacy organizations, the US Department of Veterans Affairs, New York City leaders and corporate interests joined together to talk about ...
•2. Troops in Mideast Have More Respiratory Ills, Data Show. Wall Street Journal
The US Department of Veterans Affairs has asked the Institute of Medicine, an agency that advises the government on policy, to assess the health risks of burn pits. The report is expected later this year. The 2010 National Defense Authorization Act ...
•3. Innovative Boston Program to Help Paralyzed Veterans Secure Good Jobs. PR Newswire (press release) ... based at VA Boston Healthcare System, West Roxbury Division. It is being established through an innovative public-private partnership between Paralyzed Veterans of America, the US Department of Veterans Affairs, and Activision's Call of Duty Endowment.
•4. RecruitMilitary to Present Civilian Jobs/Opportunities Expo for Veterans. PRLog.Org
... the National Veterans Employment Program (NVEP) of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, Prudential Insurance Company, St. Augustine University, Sanford Brown, Southern Career College, Strayer University, Team Industrial Services Inc., ...
•5. Let veteran service officers pick board. Madison.com The Board of Veterans Affairs should be appointed by a group composed of all county veterans service officers and state-recognized veterans organizations, such as the VFW, American Legion, Disabled Veterans and others. These people are the ones who are ...
•6. Brecksville Veterans Administration campus ends 50 years of care. Plain Dealer (blog)
"Brecksville has been a wonderful institution that has provided terrific care to thousands of veterans, but the physical plant is old and doesn't allow us to provide state-of-the-art care to our veteran population," said Susan Fuehrer, director of the ...
•7. Honor a Connecticut Veteran for Memorial Day. Patch.com The current head of the Connecticut Department of Veterans Affairs, Dr. Linda S. Schwartz, is the president of the Connecticut State Veterans Memorial group. Dr. Schwartz, herself a Vietnam War veteran, is the first woman to head the state vets' group ...
•8. Family of disabled veteran relocates to be near treatment. Glens Falls Post-Star
Looking to halve the distance to Albany and give their son greater access to Veterans Affairs occupational and physical therapists, the Ryans have begun constructing a home in Lake George. Eddie Ryan and his family spent much of their summers in Lake ...
•9. NH Veterans Home to get $4.3 million for upgrades. Boston Globe US Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki says the money will ensure New Hampshire veterans receive the top-notch care they have earned through their military service. Last year the Tilton home cared for 242 veterans of World War II and the Korean ...
•10. Future of Knoxville VA buildings being decided in Washington, DC. Radio Iowa The future of the former Knoxville veterans hospital should be decided sometime in the next couple of months after three groups recently made presentations to the US Department of Veterans Affairs. ...
•11. Clinic could face fourth delay before construction. Green Bay Press Gazette It would be the fourth such delay since the US Department of Veterans Affairs originally said a development contract would be awarded last November. "We're tying up loose ends," said George Szwarcman, chief of real property services for the federal ...
•12. Vans get veterans to clinic. Kingman Daily Miner Veterans in need of a lift to a medical appointment at the Kingman Veterans Affairs Clinic can get one courtesy of the US Department of Veterans Affairs. The organization received a $1.7 million grant from the US Office of ...
•13. Town hall connects veterans to resources. Frederick News Post (subscription)
Representatives from the US Department of Veterans Affairs' Veterans Health Administration and Veterans Benefits Administration kicked off the informational session, speaking to about 75 people about what is new in veterans assistance. ...
•14. Gates Notes His Efforts To Improve Care For Soldiers Wounded In Afghanistan. CBS' 60 Minutes "It's not at all unusual to hear the Pentagon being criticized for its bloat, bureaucracy, and spending binges. But what is surprising about the latest criticism is that it doesn't come from an outsider with an antimilitary agenda; it comes from" outgoing Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, who has "canceled tens of billions of dollars' worth of expensive weapons programs." During an interview it conducted with Gates, CBS said he "battled" the Pentagon's medical bureaucracy to reduce the "time it takes to get a wounded soldier from the battlefield to a hospital" in Afghanistan.
•15. Officials Anticipating "Huge Costs" For Care. Louisville Courier-Journal Experts "predict that caring for injured, older troops soon will seriously strain already rising budgets for military and veterans' health care." Meanwhile, Veterans Affairs officials "said they have provided care to about half of all Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who have left the military since 2002 - or about 625,000 veterans - and are committed to caring for them as they age.
•16. GAO: Improper Payments Under Post-9/11 GI Bill. Federal Times "A rise in improper payments and delays in claims processing are among the challenges the Veterans Affairs Department faces in implementing the Post-9/11 GI Bill, according" to the Government Accountability Office (GAO). "Almost one-third of $356 million in advance payments were awarded to ineligible recipients, GAO said in a new report, citing findings by the VA inspector general." While the report, the findings of which a "top VA official agreed in principle" to, did note some improvement in VA's processing times for Post-9/11 GI Bill claims, it also recommended that, among other things, VA "should learn from the experiences of the Education Department in administering student aid."
•17. VA Chief To Visit Guam Clinic. Pacific Daily News "Guam veterans will have the ear of top Washington brass next week." At that time, Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki "will be arriving on island to participate in a dedication ceremony for the Guam Veterans Affairs Community Based Outpatient Clinic near Naval Hospital."
•18. Graduates Urged To Take Risks In Life. Duke Today "In a ceremony that combined new details with familiar rituals, Duke's Class of 2011 graduated Sunday with encouragement from their commencement speaker," Cisco Systems CEO John Chambers, "to be courageous in life." The "university also awarded honorary degrees to Chambers and six other recipients," one of whom was Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki, a "former Army chief of staff and a Duke graduate."
•19. VA Strives To Give Better Service To Women Veterans. US Navy SEALs "As more women become part of the armed forces, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is making a conscious effort to do more in terms of being of service to women service members.
•20. In New Mexico, A Place For Homeless Women Veterans. Reuters A new transitional housing facility in Albuquerque, New Mexico, called the Henderson House caters to female veterans. A project of the YWCA of Albuquerque, the shelter has space for 10 women, who will receive career guidance, counseling, parenting classes, and free childcare.
A welcoming home for our Troops.
