Wounded Warrior Project Selects Seventh Round of Grant Recipients
WWP Grants Program Expands Network of Services Available to Injured Service Members Nationwide
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Jacksonville, FL (June 11, 2015) – In its first grant cycle of 2015, Wounded Warrior Project® (WWP) has awarded over $1 million in grants to organizations that provide support and specialized services to this generation of wounded service members, their families, and caregivers. Now in its seventh round, the WWP Grant Program has provided over $10 million to 90 organizations through 107 grants since the program’s inception in 2012. The support from the WWP Grant Program has enabled an additional 15,490 wounded veterans, 3,208 family members, and 1,728 children across the country to access critically needed programs and services to date.
“The WWP Grant Program fosters teamwork and collaboration in veteran services by cultivating and supporting a network of organizations that share our mission to honor and empower Wounded Warriors,” said Steve Nardizzi, chief executive officer at WWP. “Together, WWP and our grantees are creating and deploying critically needed, specialized programs and services across the country to meet the unique needs of injured veterans, their families, and caregivers.”
The WWP Grant Program was created to bridge gaps in existing services and expand the availability of programs that provide specialized, critically needed support to this generation of wounded service members. WWP focuses on providing grants to exceptional organizations that operate in underserved areas or fulfill a need outside the scope of WWP’s 20 free programs and services. All organizations that receive a WWP grant must provide their programs and services to injured veterans, their families, and caregivers free of charge.
The funding priorities for this grant cycle were based on direct feedback from injured veterans in WWP’s Annual Alumni Survey. The survey results allow WWP to gauge the most significant reintegration challenges that injured veterans, their families, and caregivers struggle with as they transition from military to civilian life. The funding priorities are adjusted annually to correspond with the top issues that injured veterans report in each of WWP’s four core program areas: engagement, mind, body, and economic empowerment.
“We listen to our veterans to determine what is most important for their recovery and reintegration, and work collaboratively with our grant recipients to ensure we are collectively meeting their needs,” said Nardizzi. “Coordinating efforts with these excellent organizations allows us to better serve injured veterans, their families, and caregivers in their communities.”
All grant candidates go through a rigorous vetting process to ensure that grants are provided to the best organizations that deliver high-quality, high-touch programming, and that the funds are used appropriately and efficiently. Before submitting a full grant application, interested organizations must submit a letter of interest, explaining how their program addresses one or more of the selected funding priorities. Only candidates that meet the requirements within the funding priorities are invited to submit a full application. All grant recipients are required to participate in a formal reporting process that calculates program spending, tracks performance, and evaluates impact.
This cycle’s grant recipients are Catch a Lift Fund (Baltimore, MD), Shepherd Center Foundation
(Atlanta, GA) Rocky Mountain Human Services (Colorado Springs, CO), Northeast Nebraska Community Action Partnership (Pender, NE), Western Dairyland Economic Opportunity Council (Independence, WI), Brain Injury Services of Southwest Virginia (Roanoke, VA), Yellow Ribbon Fund (Bethesda, MD), Colorado State University Foundation (Fort Collins, CO), and David Lynch Foundation (New York, NY). For more information, and a description of the grant recipients, please visit 2015 WWP Grant Program.
Follow WWP on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/wwp), Twitter (@WWP), Instagram (https://instagram.com/wwp/), and Youtube (http://www.youtube.com/user/WoundedWarriorProjec) to see how we’re working together with our grant recipients to honor and empower Wounded Warriors.
Media Contact: Amanda Jekowsky, ajekowsky@woundedwarriorproject.org, 202-644-9150
About Wounded Warrior Project
The mission of Wounded Warrior Project® (WWP) is to honor and empower Wounded Warriors. WWP’s purpose is to raise awareness and to enlist the public’s aid for the needs of injured service members, to help injured servicemen and women aid and assist each other, and to provide unique, direct programs and services to meet their needs. WWP is a national, nonpartisan organization headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida. To get involved and learn more, visit woundedwarriorproject.org.