The Bob Woodruff Foundation awarded a $100,000 grant to the National Organization on Disability (NOD) to provide intensive career services to severely injured veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan through its Wounded Warrior Careers program.
The Woodruff Foundation’s grant will allow NOD to reach an increased number of severely injured service members at its pilot sites in Texas, North Carolina, and Colorado. NOD’s Wounded Warrior Careers demonstration program is helping hundreds of veterans with disabilities, and their families, explore career options, access education and training opportunities, and find jobs – and identifying what practices work best to facilitate veterans’ transition to civilian careers.
“This generation of veterans with disabilities often needs help conceiving of civilian career paths, developing an approach to transition into career fields of interest – and, in most cases, family goals must be addressed as part of those efforts,” Carol Glazer, NOD president stated in a press release.
“The biggest help they are giving soldiers and their families is that they are a sounding board. They are right there every step of the way,” Cinthia Stewart, whose husband Stephen Stewart was diagnosed with significant Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder after being evacuated from Afghanistan, stated.
“They know what you’re going through,” Stephen Stewart, who is now working as an environmental technician with the Colorado Department of Transportation in Colorado Springs, Colo., stated.
NOD is now working with the Department of Defense and members of Congress in an effort to expand the program from three states to 12, and to continue the services for another 5 years. Doing so would allow NOD not only to reach more wounded service members and their families, but also to further test this promising career service model, which could be applied to help a broader population.
