Bob Woodruff Foundation Awards Swords to Plowshares and the Connecticut Veterans Legal Center Grant for the Veterans Discharge Upgrade Advocacy Project.
"Too many service members are being unjustly discharged with less than honorable discharges without access to meaningful legal remedies,” said Kate Richardson, Swords to Plowshares Legal Director.
San Francisco, California (PRWEB) June 22, 2017
We are proud to announce that Swords to Plowshares has received a grant from the Bob Woodruff Foundation (BWF) to work in partnership with the Connecticut Veterans Legal Center on the Veterans Discharge Upgrade Advocacy Project. The project will build resources for attorneys, advocates, and veterans that will help them obtain discharge upgrades from the military in partnership with the Connecticut Veterans Legal Center.
The Veterans Discharge Upgrade Advocacy Project will develop legal practice guides, disseminate instructional material, and coordinate convenings for advocates in order to improve veterans’ ability to correct errors and injustices in their discharge proceedings. Recent studies have confirmed our direct service experience that many service members are discharged unfairly, often when misconduct occurs as a result of mental health issues. Few of these service members are able to successfully obtain discharge upgrades or records corrections, due in part to the lack of information and guidance on standards and practices at the military review boards. In fact, a comprehensive practice guide has not published within a generation. The Veterans Discharge Upgrade Advocacy Project will work to fill these justice gaps.
BWF works to ensure impacted post-9/11 service members, veterans and their families are thriving long after they return home. The team at BWF navigates the maze of over 46,000 nonprofit organizations to find and fund innovative programs in communities where post-9/11 veterans, their families and caregivers live and work.
Receiving a grant from BWF is an honor that recognizes the dedication, focus and effectiveness of our staff, volunteers and supporters. As a grant recipient, our organization joins the Bob Woodruff Foundation grantee network, a collaboration of top-tier programs and advocates investing in the next chapter of our veterans.
"We are thrilled to receive support from the Bob Woodruff Foundation for the Discharge Upgrade Advocacy Project. Too many service members are being unjustly discharged with less than honorable discharges without access to meaningful legal remedies,” said Kate Richardson, Swords to Plowshares Legal Director. “We look forward to partnering with the Connecticut Veterans Legal Center to ensure that veterans and their advocates have access to the tools and resources they need to close this growing justice gap."
You can learn more about the Bob Woodruff Foundation at bobwoodrufffoundation.org. We encourage you to follow @Stand4Heroes on Twitter or like BWF’s page on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/Stand4Heroes.
About Swords to Plowshares:
Founded in 1974, Swords to Plowshares is a community-based not-for-profit organization that provides case management, mental health assessment and referral, rapid re-housing and eviction prevention services, employment and training, supportive housing, and legal benefits assistance for low-income, homeless and at-risk veterans in the San Francisco Bay Area. Swords to Plowshares promotes and protects the rights of veterans through advocacy, public education, and partnerships with local, state and national entities. Learn more about the work of Swords to Plowshares, and ways in which you can help, by visiting our website at http://www.stp-sf.org.