2020 Winners

GI Go Fund
Veterans Center for Job Training and Entrepreneurship, Newark, NJ

GI Go Fund was founded in 2006 to assist service members, reservists and guardsmen, veterans, their family members, and veteran caretakers with finding employment, connecting to their benefits, making smart decisions about higher education, and accessing housing. One of the organization's strongest programs is their Veterans Center for Job Training and Entrepreneurship in Newark, New Jersey, which offers a job training center and incubator space to hundreds of veterans in the New York and New Jersey region. The center's training is available both in person and online in several major business skills ranging from business writing to cloud computing. The center also offers a veteran incubator where veterans can run their businesses and receive services such as legal aid, website development, marketing materials, conference room space, and business cards.

For more information, contact James Fanous (james@gigo.org) or visit (www.gigo.org).


Warrior Wellness Solutions
Warrior Wellness Solutions Program, Durham, NC

Warrior Wellness Solutions is a Durham, North Carolina based 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 2009 that provides personalized Functional Medicine Health Coaching, Rehabilitative and Adaptive Exercise, Mindfulness and Mindset Training, and wellness education to wounded, ill and injured warriors, their families, and caregivers. Warrior Wellness Solutions delivers sustainable wellness and lifestyle solutions that contribute to redefining a life of purpose and creates a ripple effect impacting relationships with family, friends, and the community at large.

For more information, contact Elijah Sacra (e.sacra@warriorwellnesssolutions.org) or visit (www.warriorwellnesssolutions.org).

Veterans Community Project
VCP National Expansion, Kansas City, MO

Veterans Community Project is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded by a group of combat veterans in Kansas City, Missouri who resolved to stand in the gaps of a broken system that left too many of their brothers and sisters behind. By providing critical support services paired with an innovative transitional housing model, VCP has served thousands of at-risk and homeless veterans since 2016. Using the VCP Village and Outreach Center in Kansas City as a blueprint, VCP is now expanding its programs to 8 cities by 2022. VCP’s long-term goal: ending veteran homelessness nationwide.

For more information, contact Kellyn Sloan (ksloan@veteranscommunityproject.org) or visit (www.veteranscommunityproject.org).

Second Chance Cars, Inc.
Second Chance Cars, Inc. Program, Concord, MA

Second Chance Cars is an innovative nonprofit with a mission to mobilize low-income Massachusetts veterans through affordable car ownership, so they may access living-wage jobs and improve their quality of life. SCC created a unique coalition consisting of car donors, vocational schools who affordably refurbish cars, social service agencies who select candidates for them, a credit counseling agency who screens candidates, and a bank that provides SCC car buyers with a zero-percent, $900, credit-building car loan. While SCC cars cost $900, they are worth, on average, $3000 and provide their recipients with the means to earn, on average, $23,000 of additional annual income, decrease their commute time, improve their credit scores, and increase their ability to access healthcare and grocery stores. No other organization is providing refurbished, affordable, and reliable cars to Massachusetts’ 23,000 low-income veterans, and no other like-organization in the country is utilizing affordable vocational school labor to do so.

For more information, contact Dan Holin (dan@secondchancecars.org) or visit (www.secondchancecars.org).

Military Spouse Advocacy Network
New Military Spouse Support Program, San Antonio, TX

The New Military Spouse Support Program has provided thousands of new military spouses the opportunity to receive peer-to-peer mentorship from the time they become new military spouses through the time they PCS for the first time. All military spouses that transition from the program feel equipped to handle anything that military life throws their way and will forever have a safe community to reach out for additional help if they need it. This program is a resource available inside the Air Force's Basic Military Training which provides peer-to-peer mentorship support to all new military spouses including National Guard & Reserve components.

For more information, contact Verenice Castillo (president@milspouseadvocacynetwork.org) or visit (www.militaryspouseadvocacynetwork.org).

Invictus Games Foundation
‘We Are Invictus’ Ambassador Programme, London, UK

The ‘We Are Invictus’ Ambassador programme will give wounded warriors an opportunity to inspire, motivate and support their fellow injured servicemen and women through the Invictus Games Foundation’s social network – We Are Invictus. The programme will give wounded warriors the tools, assets, and support to be “masters” of their own fate and the opportunity to continue to serve in an ambassadorial role within the international Invictus community. Ambassadors will be helping to share the Invictus spirit and engage wounded, injured, and sick military personnel and their families in sports recovery activities around the world.

For more information, contact Jenni Anderson (jenni.anderson@invictusgames.org) or visit (www.invictusgamesfoundation.org).