2013" OFFICIAL " ANNUAL" REPORT Five Year Anniversary
History & Strategic Plan
Mission: Investing in Veterans to Build Better Communities.
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Leave No Veteran Behind RESPONSIBLE GROWTH
DETERMINED VISION
From the first conversations between its founders to providing hundreds of transitional employment opportunities for former service members, Leave No Veteran Behind has come a long way in five years.
Leave No Veteran Behind seeks to expand its programming to aid the Veteran reintegration process and to create additional opportunities for Veterans to increase the resiliency of communities affected by violence, poverty and limited access to economic opportunity.
Beginning as a $4,674 nonprofit organization targeting the issue of Veteran student debt in 2008, Leave No Veteran Behind has evolved into a multimillion-dollar organization that fosters meaningful relationships with individual Veterans to improve some of America’s toughest neighborhoods.
COMMITTED CAUSE The operational expertise of America’s Veterans has been forged by years of conflict. This makes them uniquely qualified for Leave No Veteran Behind’s mission because they know first hand the effects of injustice on the human condition. At the same time, members of our team are intensely motivated to continue serving once they return home. As an organization, Leave No Veteran Behind is excited to continue creating social impact moving forward.
Since its inception, Leave No Veteran Behind has created more than 400 volunteer and transitional employment positions for Veterans, youth and community members, primarily focusing those efforts on addressing America’s most pressing issues by creating public safety and youth mentorship opportunities intended to decrease violence in urban areas. Supported by the generosity of JPMorgan Chase, the city of Chicago, the M.R. Baur Foundation, and nearly one thousand individual donors, Leave No Veteran Behind has distributed more than $1.7 million to military families and communities in the form of transitional wages and educational scholarships.
Organizational History Leave No Veteran Behind founders, Eli Williamson and Roy Sartin, are pictured on the front page of the Chicago Tribune on January 2, 2010
“Consilio et Animis” 1
Investing In " Veterans to Build Better Communities Stewards of Public Resources Leave No Veteran Behind understands it is responsible for investing public dollars. The organization is committed to the best use of contributions to achieve its missions.
Transitional Jobs through Public Safety Chicago’s strategy for keeping students safe during the largest school closure in the history of American public education is strengthened with the presence of America’s military heroes. Learn how Leave No Veteran Behind leverages the skills and earned benefits of former service members to combat youth violence in Chicago.
Youth Mentorship as Veteran Jobs Opportunities Leave No Veteran Behind creates mentorship positions to work with students in Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math (STEAM) activities. Learn about the mutual benefits of Veterans and students coming together to improve communities through our S.T.E.A.M. Corps curriculum.
Addressing Veteran Student Debt Possessing a belief that every nonprofit organization should work to organize itself out of a job, Leave No Veteran Behind’s leadership team has raised the issue of Veteran student debt through our retroactive scholarship and advocacy support.
Capacity Building and Financial Stability Moving Forward This is Leave No Veteran Behind’s vision moving forward, including our development philosophy and a sampling of our institutional partners.
Leadership Team Meet Leave No Veteran Behind’s Board of Directors, Board of Advisors and Leadership team.
Table of Contents 2
FIVE YEARS
One Mission
LEAVE NO VETERAN BEHIND INVESTS IN VETERANS TO BUILD BETTER COMMUNITIES.
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TRANSITIONAL JOBS THAT
FOCUS ON PUBLIC SAFETY, YOUTH MENTORSHIP ACTIVITIES, AND OUR VETERAN DEBT RELIEF SCHOLARSHIP
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LEAVE NO VETERAN BEHIND
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INVESTS IN HEROES WHO HAVE SERVED THEIR COUNTRY HONORABLY AND WHO SEEK TO CONTINUE THEIR SERVICE AS
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ASSETS
IN COMMUNITIES ACROSS AMERICA.
VETERANS AND Serving AMERICA’S TOUGHEST
Communities
Budget Breakdown: Program Expenses vs. Administrative Cost
FISCAL YEAR
Program Expenses
2008
$4,674 | 100%
2009
$22,504 | 6%
$263,587
2010
% Administrative Ratio $ Total Budget 19.3% 14.3%
$573,566
2011 2012
Administrative Cost
$579,305
18.2% $1,450,009
2013 $0
$400,000
$800,000
$1,200,000
16%
$1,600,000
17.2% " Five Year Average Administrative Cost
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Financial History
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A" MODEL OF SOCIAL
Responsibility Every member of the United States Military understands that they are part of something larger than themselves. Leave No Veteran Behind believes that this ethos of service is a critical and final component for a Veteran’s successful integration into society. We understand that Veterans do not come home to programs; they come home to communities. With this understanding, engaging the community is integrated into our transitional jobs program and Veterans that are helped through other services are required to perform community service. While the focus of our organization is providing education and employment opportunities, the goal is to make sure that our Veterans are in a position to have a positive impact in the communities that need it most.
Organizational Philosophy 3
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Transitional Jobs Through
Public Safety
VOLUNTEER BEGINNINGS
VETERAN EMPLOYMENT SUCCESS
Leave No Veteran Behind’s work in public safety began as a volunteer project in 2009.
Due to a strong working relationship with Chicago Public Schools, Leave No Veteran Behind has emerged as one of the largest Veteran transitional jobs program in the nation.
U.S. Navy Reservist Hakki Gurkan organized an effort to decrease youth violence near the intersection of 35th Street and Martin Luther King Drive on Chicago’s Southside to satisfy the volunteer requirement associated with accepting the Leave No Veteran Behind Retroactive Debt Relief Scholarship.
By providing four years of paid transitional job opportunities to keep young people safe in some of America’s toughest neighborhoods, Leave No Veteran Behind has provided more than 255 civilian employment references to men and women that once served in uniform and distributed more than $1.6 million in transitional wages to military families.
In this effort, Leave No Veteran Behind recruited 15 to 25 former service members to provide a positive adult presence on predetermined “high violence” days with respect to Chicago Public Schools, which were specifically planned on days before holidays and days before extended school breaks.
410 Transitional Jobs Provided
All activities were coordinated with Chicago Public Schools Office of Security and extensive training was administered to Leave No Veteran Behind’s Veteran safety volunteers in order to meet legal and programmatic requirements.
$1.6 million
Leave No Veteran Behind’s professionalism and dedication to duty resulted in zero incidents of youth violence during the 2009-2010 academic year at the schools that they served .
Wages Paid to Military Families
Transitional Jobs
50-75 Transitional Jobs for Veterans every Day
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DECREASING YOUTH VIOLENCE Leave No Veteran Behind (LNVB) has been able to leverage Veteran talent and the earned benefits of former service members to record significant positive outcomes towards decreasing youth violence, including: 1. Up to a 51% decrease in student disciplinary rates at the schools we serve according to Chicago Public Schools (CPS) Office of Security;
Type to 2. Up to a 22% less crime activity reported according to the Chicago enter text Police Department’s CLEARMAP community policing program; 3. The University of Chicago and the Urban Education Institute have found that Leave No Veteran Behind has helped increase the quality of the learning environments that they serve by having students self-report: “There are adults that care for me in my community” and “I feel safe going to and from school” in their annual school survey entitled: My School, My Voice.
Photo Credit: Hannah Mae Photography
School Safety Veterans prepare for duty at Kenwood High School on Chicago’s Southside.
Photo Credit: Associated Press
Army Staff Sergeant Catherine Threat School Safety services at a site a provides Type to enter affected by CPStext school closings.
See the chart below to learn how Leave No Veteran Behind attracts higher caliber workforce by combining resources secured through our partnership with Chicago Public Schools and the earned benefits of our Veterans in order to improve public safety outcomes in Chicago:
PROGRAM DESIGN Veteran School Safety Compensation:
Photo Credit: CBS Chicago
$10 per hour, or $55 per day, or $1,100 per month(average)
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel provides School Safety on the first day of class.
1. Retired Veterans: additional income is provided by military retirement pay and Social Security dollars. Health coverage is provided from VA hospitals and Tricare Health systems.
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2. Student Veterans: additional income is provided by the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill, students complete college coursework midday, and health coverage is provided by the university.
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3. Unemployed Veterans: additional income is provided from unemployment payments for working up to 20 hours per week within the State of Illinois and Veterans interview and School Safety School Safety drop off their resumes midday to look for jobs.
Afternoon Shift
Morning Shift 6:30AM
9:00AM
Chicago Public Schools in Session
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2:00PM
5:00PM
Photo Credit: LNVB Staff Photograph
In support of the Aspen Institute’s Franklin Project, Army Gen. (Ret.) Stanley McChrystal and Leave No Veteran Behind Chief of Staff Pete Kalenik listen to Chicago Alternative Policing (CAPS) Director Beth Ford about the integration of the School Safety program and the Chicago Police Department’s latest policing strategies.
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Youth Mentorship as
Transitional Job Opportunities
EXPANDED EMPLOYMENT PARTNERSHIPS Following four years of success providing safety services in partnership with Chicago Public Schools, Leave No Veteran Behind’s transitional job opportunities now include a mentoring program that focuses on Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math activities called S.T.E.A.M. Corps. With the support of JP Morgan Chase and Chicago’s Department of Family and Support Service’s GreenCorps program, Leave No Veteran Behind has provided 130 youth with first-time employment experiences and 15 transitional jobs for Veterans to serve as mentors. This programming has exposed students to adults who have lived their lives according to a distinct set of values as Veterans of the United States military. Additionally, our mentors bring a defined technical background to the program, having served as Navy nuclear submarine crewmen, Army logisticians and military Reservists with prior teaching experience.
Leave No Veteran Behind’s S.T.E.A.M. Corps teaches young people how to create solar-paneled cell phone chargers.
131 Youth Jobs Provided
$370,000
Everyone involved in Leave No Veteran Behind’s S.T.E.A.M. Corps benefits from the structured transitional job opportunities it provides. At the same time, the program creates a chance for participants to recognize each other for their potential as future leaders with respect to their experiences in uniform or growing up in some of America’s toughest communities.
Wages Paid to Veteran Mentors and Youth Volunteers
15 Transitional Jobs
Veterans Employed
S . T. E . A . M . C o r p s 7
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Addressing
Veteran Student Debt
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RETROACTIVE DEBT RELIEF SCHOLARSHIP
ORGANIZING OURSELVES OUT OF A JOB
Most Americans believe our Veterans receive a free education in return for their military service. This is not always the case as our men and women in uniform run into a complex set of bureaucratic procedures, prolonged wait times and seemingly endless streams of red tape that make can make it difficult for them to utilize their military education benefits. This forces some Veterans to take on thousands of dollars of educational debt to complete their college degrees.
Leave No Veteran Behind understands that it is not possible to directly employ every Veteran in need of a job. We also understand that there are more Veterans affected by the loopholes in the military’s educational benefit system than resources available to assist them. Because of this, Leave No Veteran Behind collects data, speaks with decision makers and supports the creation of policies that will make our scholarship unnecessary. This includes recommendations developed by the Office of Servicemember Affairs at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau regarding student loan policies and financial institutions lending to men and women who once wore our nation’s uniform as they pursue higher education.
These policy loopholes created the initial stimulus for the formation of Leave No Veteran Behind. In this effort, Leave No Veteran Behind raises private dollars to pay off the educational debt of Veterans who meet the following requirements: 1. Served Honorably in the United States Military; 2. Completed some form of Higher Education; 3. Face an Economic Hardship; 4. Prove they were not supported by existing military education benefit programs;
10 Veterans Scholarships
5. Agree to complete a 100-400 hours of community service in return for financial forgiveness. Looking into the future, Leave No Veteran Behind will continue this program with the strong support of the Veterans United Foundation.
$150,000 Veteran Educational Debt paid by Leave No Veteran Behind
Identifying Policy Loopholes
Developing Innovative Solutions 8
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and
Financial Stability
Moving Forward
VETERANS AS A STRATEGIC INVESTMENT
INSTITUTIONAL PARTNERS:
Leave No Veteran Behind is not a charity. It is an investment. This perspective allows us to effectively serve Veterans and our youth in order to improve some of America’s toughest communities. It is under this backdrop that we view our client’s success as a sound strategic investment for all of our donors.
"At its essence, Leave No Veteran Behind’s programs
M.R. BAUER FOUNDATION
leverage the initial investment that America’s government makes in training our nation’s service members to create meaningful social impact. We understand that this process is costly. Expenses range between $44,887 for molding a Marine Infantryman to more than $19 million for providing the resources to certify a U.S. Air Force fighter pilot.
"Furthermore,
Leave No Veteran Behind combines funding from five main sources of revenue, including: (1) philanthropic grant-making, (2) corporate investment, (3) government partnerships, (4) individual giving, and (5) contract services. We strive to remind all of our donors that their contribution is a sound strategic investment, because in one sense, their support is providing direct job opportunities and reintegration services for America’s men and women in uniform to improve local communities, and in the other, their dollars are often matched by our institutional partners.
"In the end, an investment in Leave No Veteran Behind is socially innovative and fiscally responsible.
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Donation Philosophy
Strategic Investment 9
LEAVE NO VETERAN BEHIND
BOARD OF
“ L e a v e N o Ve t e r a n B e h i n d believes former service members are strategic assets. We leverage their skills to address some of America’s most pressing issues as we work to decrease youth violence, lower the Veteran unemployment rate and alleviate Veteran student debt. Join us in our mission.”
DIRECTORS " Maynard Anderson, Board Chairman
U.S. Army, Vietnam War Veteran Former Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Policy
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William Bader, PhD, Director Emeritus U.S. Navy, Vietnam War Veteran Former Assistant Secretary of State for Education and Cultural Affairs
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Maj. Gen. (Ret.) Ronald L. Johnson U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Everett H. Pratt U.S. Air Force, Vietnam War Veteran
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Vice Commander, U.S. Air Force Europe
Maj. Gen. (Ret.) Ronald L. Johnson U.S. Army, Iraq War Veteran U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
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Guy Nave, PhD U.S. Army Veteran
BOARD OF FOUNDERS " "ADVISORS " Gen. (Ret.) Richard B. Myers
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Professor, Luther College
15th Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff U.S. Air Force Veteran
H. Kenneth Walker, MD
Gen. (Ret.) Michael E. Ryan
U.S. Air Force, Vietnam War Veteran Professor, Emory University
Vietnam War Veteran
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Chief of Staff, U.S. Air Force
John Schwan, CEO CTI Industries 1st Cavalry Division, Vietnam War Veteran CEO CTI Industries
Col. (Ret.) Christine B. Knighton U.S. Army Veteran
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Travis Bickford, Director of School Partnerships and Community Relations, is pictured on the first day of school with School Safety staff at Northwest Middle School in Chicago.
Eli Williamson, President Iraq and Afghanistan War Veteran U.S. Army
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Roy Sartin, Vice President Iraq War Veteran U.S. Army
Brig. Gen. (Ret.) Velma Richardson U.S. Army Veteran
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VP of IT Programs, Lockheed Martin
Col. (Ret.) Jill Morgenthaler U.S. Army Veteran
Col. (Ret.) Damon T. Arnold, MD U.S. Army Veteran Former Director of Public Health (IL)
Russel J. Bruemmer, JD Partner, Wilmer Hale Law Firm Central Intelligence Agency
Uwe Rudolf, PhD Emeritus Professor, Luther College
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Leave No Veteran Behind 19 S. LaSalle Street, Suite 500 Chicago, IL 60603
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Phone/Fax: 312-379-8652 www.LeaveNoVeteranBehind.org