A Grant Competition To Reward Millennial Veterans And Invest In Their Ideas

On January 25, 2009, I lost my "soon-would-have-been" father in law, Major George A. Smith. Major Smith was a charismatic leader who dedicated his life to the armed services and to fighting for his country -- as a solider, at FEMA and most recently, as a member of the Veterans Affairs staff in Arizona. He often shrugged off the contribution that he had given to his country, citing duty and responsibility and all that he had been given. He would read the newspapers and listen to the stories about today's service men and women and he'd urge us to do something for these heroes; to ensure that our country recognized and appreciated the service of these kids, as he called them, and most importantly -- created opportunities for them to continue to serve at home, as citizens. These kids are our heroes, just as Major Smith was mine, and I'm thrilled to announce the contribution of my organization, Mobilize.org, to the next generation of Millennial veterans.  

To date, there have been approximately 2 million service men and women who have served our country in Iraq and Afghanistan. Of those millions of brave souls, over 1.25 million of them are within my generation, the Millennial Generation, born after 1975. They are young men and women who are returning home to our campuses and our communities, facing obstacles and opportunities that seem swept under the rug in the everyday lives of many of our peers.

To better understand and support those needs, Mobilize.org is announcing a grant competition in partnership with the Goldhirsh Foundation, MTV,  the McCormick Foundation and ServiceNation: Mission Serve that will explore the unique issues facing our returning Millennial veteran population. We will hold a summit, entitled Beyond the Welcome Home, in Los Angeles on April 1 - 3, 2010. The summit, which will be kicked off with a USO Care Packages for the troops service project, will be highlighted by MTVU and will bring together 100 returning Millennial veterans to use interactive keypad voting technology to discuss, debate, and collaborate to propose veteran-led, veteran benefitting projects in their communities and on their campuses. Mobilize.org and our lead partner, ServiceNation: Mission Serve, have worked hard to raise the funds necessary to provide awards totaling $25,000 to veteran-led projects that rise to the top during our two days together.

If you are a Millennial veteran with a great idea that could become a great reality with some support, please click here to submit your idea for consideration.

Do you have an idea for how to improve your campus, community, or installation? We invite Millennial veterans of the Military.com community to apply to attend and join your fellow leaders as we support veteran-led projects that create meaningful opportunities to continue to lead, and serve at home.

Mobilize.org and our partners understand that the prosperity of this generation is the key to our success, both today and tomorrow. Our veterans deserve this and much more -- and we hope you will join us as we salute your service and work to highlight the leadership, perseverance, innovation and creativity of the Millennial generation as we address our society's most pressing issues. We look forward to seeing you in Los Angeles and we thank you for your service.

Millennial veterans -- click here to submit your ideas on how to improve your campus, community, or installation, and join us at the grant summit in California.