Posted on August 11th, 2011 by Hilda Solis
Veterans put their lives on the line defending our way of life, and they deserve the best possible help as they make the transition back to civilian life and civilian work.
But too many of our veterans face difficulty making that transition, and too many battle homelessness as a result. Read more on "Our Work Putting Veterans to Work" »
Posted on August 10th, 2011 by Craig Newmark
DonorsChoose.org supports school classrooms with a kind of micro-finance. If a teacher needs funding for classroom projects, he or she can post the project on DonorsChoose, and people can fund it with small contributions and get it done. In many cases, a project is like "get enough pens and paper" if the school district is underfunded.
I got two DonorsChoose efforts going, one's my Giving Page, which I should push heavier. So far, it's gotten $52,346 contributed, supporting 5776 students. (I gotta get my act together, to help more.)
More recently, I started a modest effort to support classrooms in schools that primarily serve military families. (You might recall that I'm piggybacking off an effort by Stephen Colbert.) As a team, we've reached 16,153 students, mostly in military families.
Part of the success of this effort is that I'm personally matching funds up to $25,000, and you can still take part in my personal matching funds effort. There are still 29 efforts to be funded, and I'd really appreciate your help, thanks!
Posted on August 6th, 2011 by Craig Newmark
Now and then, good news.
Note it's a double, reached all the way to the other side.
Posted on August 5th, 2011 by Holly Petraeus
Hello from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, or the CFPB! On July 21st we officially opened our doors for business. We are here to serve consumers, and that definitely includes military consumers. I’d like to tell you about my particular office within the CFPB, the Office of Servicemember Affairs. We’ve assembled a great team with a whole lot of military experience (almost 100 years, in fact!). It’s our goal to help provide a quality financial education for the military, to see that their complaints about financial products and services are heard and responded to, and to raise awareness of military financial issues not only within the CFPB but also with other government agencies. (And I should add that my definition of military includes active-duty, Reserve, Guard, retired, veterans, and their families.)
One priority for us is to listen to and learn from the military community. We’ve already traveled to a bunch of military installations for town halls and listening tours, and there are more visits ahead. We’ve also met with the Adjutants General and National Guard troops and families in Oklahoma, Ohio, and Illinois, as well as with a number of state Attorneys General who are interested in military issues. And just a few weeks ago we signed a Joint Statement of Principles with the Judge Advocate Generals (JAGs) of the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard. This partnership between the CFPB and the JAGs will allow us to hear about military complaints about consumer financial products – and be sure they are addressed. Read more on "The Office of Servicemember Affairs" »
Posted on August 4th, 2011 by Jarom L. Vahai
Now that I am home, I am able to look back on my experiences in combat and contemplate things that I didn’t have time to think or worry about while in “the thick” of a combat zone.
One prevailing thought that I have is my feelings about the men I served with and the men who served under me. Many times the ones who served under me were so young that they walked a thin line between a man and a boy. Regardless, the young boys who came home are more than men now, aged not only by time but also by suffering, pain and loss. I look back now and I remember how some of these young men endured the 140° heat of the land. Their clothing soaked with sand, sweat, and stench. The sweat would crystallize and chafe their skins like sandpaper as the flies gathered to bite and follow the scent of the blood. Days at a time, these men would stay “outside the wire” finding 2 or 3 hours of sleep in a bombed out building, upon broken glass, rubble, debris, and sometimes upon the hot sand without shade or cover. I was impressed as I watched them ignore the most uncomfortable circumstances in order to keep their minds, first upon the mission, and second upon the welfare of each other. As one or two would sleep for a brief moment the rest of us watched over them like lions protecting our pride. There was no safer place to sleep for us, even though our enemies were all around; we were not afraid because we knew we could rely on each other.
Read more on "Now that I am home, I am able to look back on my experiences in combat…" »
