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ACE's Initiative for Severely Injured Veterans Receives $250,000 Grant from Wal-Mart Foundation

March 5, 2008

The American Council on Education (ACE) has received a $250,000 grant from the Wal-Mart Foundation to support and expand its innovative program aimed at helping severely injured veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan pursue their dreams of a college education.

Formally launched in April 2007, ACE's Severely Injured Military Veterans: Fulfilling Their Dreams program offers educational consulting to injured veterans and their families to assist them in finding resources to help plan for the future and make informed decisions about potential programs of study.

To date, nearly 250 injured veterans have participated in the program. The Wal-Mart Foundation grant will help broaden the initiative's reach and sustain the effort through 2009.
 
“ACE's work to help severely injured veterans and their family members pursue their college goals underscores the power of education in helping individuals fulfill their dreams and make a difference in the world,” said ACE President David Ward. “We are pleased to have the Wal-Mart Foundation as a partner in this endeavor.”

“The Wal-Mart Foundation is proud to support and expand this important program to help veterans and their families explore options to advance their education and career opportunities,” said Margaret McKenna, president of the Wal-Mart Foundation.

McKenna is a former member of the ACE Board of Directors and former president of Lesley University (MA).

The Fulfilling Their Dreams program was inspired by Dartmouth College President James Wright, a Marine veteran, who learned first-hand through visits to Bethesda Naval Hospital about the challenges injured veterans face in continuing their education.

The program begins while the service member is recovering at one of four military hospitals: Bethesda Naval Hospital in Bethesda, MD; Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC; Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, TX; and a newly added site, Naval Medical Center San Diego, where Teleia Tollison was appointed to serve as that site's program adviser on Feb. 1.

Adviser Heather Bernard, the mother of an Iraq War veteran, works with service members at Walter Reed and Bethesda Naval Hospital. Jeff Stevens, a disabled Vietnam veteran with a doctorate from Texas A&M University, works with recovering service members at Brooke Army Medical Center.

The project advisers help injured veterans develop customized educational plans. Depending on individual needs, a veteran in the program can elect to pursue high school equivalency and certificate programs, two-year degrees, baccalaureate and graduate degrees, and even post-graduate study. Participants include first-time students, first-generation students, and returning students.

The advisers work with veterans to identify educational resources and programs that will help them achieve their goals, suggest strategies to help them be successful students, and show them how to avoid possible pitfalls, such as diploma and accreditation mills.

The program also matches veterans and family members with advisers and counselors who can provide personalized guidance on specific educational aspirations and career goals.

“This program is proving effective in helping veterans who have sustained significant injuries align their career and personal goals with available educational opportunities,” said James Selbe, director of program evaluation at ACE. “With this generous support from the Wal-Mart Foundation, we expect to expand the number of program participants, helping even more veterans and family members transition productively back to civilian life.”

Severely Injured Military Veterans: Fulfilling Their Dreams is funded with private donations. Including the Wal-Mart Foundation grant, more than $675,000 has been raised to date.