Category: Uncategorized

He’s Supporting Immigrant Wheelchair Users to Become Empowered Leaders

Posted on by NationSwell Team

Growing up in Mexico, Pancho learned to see his identity woven with that of his community. He found his own dignity depended on seeing the dignity in others. 
He helped communities in Mexico and Nicaragua tap their strengths to improve the lives of everyone there — work that required years of building trust. When he followed his American girlfriend, now wife, to the United States, he had to start over. 
In Houston, Pancho met immigrants with spinal injuries who were denied county medical support for wheelchairs and health supplies, so he became part of the Living Hope Wheelchair Association. Pancho says he doesn’t serve; he accompanies the members as they move from needing help, to living independent lives, to becoming valued community leaders.

This article was created by Weave: The Social Fabric Project of the Aspen Institute. Weave supports people who live in a way that puts relationships and community first. These “Weavers” lead with love and defy a culture of hyper-individualism that has left Americans feeling more lonely, distrustful and divided than ever. See their stories and learn more here.

Summit West 2020: Why DeNora Getachew Leads With Purpose

Posted on by NationSwell Team

Ahead of Summit West 2020, NationSwell is profiling leaders and luminaries from a diverse array of fields to discover how they lead with purpose — and inspire others to do the same.
For DeNora Getachew, the professional is personal. As the New York Executive Director for Generation Citizen, she’s leading the charge to help young people to see their own civic stake in our democracy and empower them take action on behalf of themselves and their communities. NationSwell spoke with Getachew about what fuels her commitment to acting with purpose in her professional life. She shared with us a pivotal moment from her teen years that showed her how powerful results can be achieved when advocating for action.
NationSwell: Tell us about a moment from your personal or professional life when you acted with purpose, and how acting with purpose made a difference.
DeNora Getachew: For me, my professional purpose is a direct result of my own personal purpose. I found my own civic voice as a pregnant teen at a high school in Harlem, and at the time didn’t realize what it meant to be civically engaged and to advocate for oneself. And when I was encouraged to transfer to an alternative high school for pregnant girls because my pregnancy was a distraction to the community — they were worried it was something that could be caught in the water — I decided to launch an advocacy campaign to stay at my school and graduate on time with my peers.
That was two decades ago, and I didn’t realize at the time that that was what I was doing, but it’s been powerful to think about how that moment as a self-interested young person sparked my own civic journey. About how that has manifested itself and the work that I do, how it helps me be more mission driven.

“Every once in a while you should write your own personal mission statement.” — DeNora Getachew

NS: What’s your advice to others on how we can all better act with a sense of purpose?
Getachew: We live in a fast-paced world, and I think that’s more true than it ever has been. I think many of us don’t take the time to reflect on what it is [we’re doing] and why we’re doing it, reflecting on our own mission statement and why it is we’re called on to do the things we do, and whether we’re doing it in the most impactful way possible. Every once in a while you should write your own personal mission statement, and write why it is you’re doing what it is you’re doing and whether you’re using all the tools in the toolbox to advocate for that and harness that. I think if we were all more conscientious about doing that it might be more visually impactful, and seeing it will make a difference.
NS: Who are the other leaders and luminaries who inspire you to keep acting with purpose in mind?
Getachew: I am inspired by so many leaders, but especially leaders who don’t take no for an answer and, like me, are “ninjas” for what they believe in. I recently joined the board of Higher Heights for America, an organization committed to building the political power and leadership of Black women from the voting booth to elected office. I call myself a democracy ninja because I use all of the tools in my toolbox to advocate for an inclusive and reflective democracy. I am most inspired by leaders like Shirley Chisholm, who paved the way for me and my peers; young leaders like Yara Shahidi, who is a tireless advocate for young people participating in democracy and registering to vote; and Michelle Obama, who is an all around #BlackWomenLead.

At a time of extreme tension and uncertainty, people are losing confidence in traditional institutions’ ability to solve bigger problems facing our communities and environment. To fill the vid, leaders and organizations are expected to make a commitment to a purpose that benefits all stakeholders.
NationSwell’s Summit West will bring together a diverse group of impactful leaders and organizations. Together, we will learn from the people practicing purpose every day.
DeNora Getachew is a member of the NationSwell Council. To find out more about the NationSwell Council, visit our digital hub. And to learn more about Summit West 2020, visit our event splash page. 

Leading With Purpose: How Amy Nelson, CEO of ‘Venture for America,’ Stays Connected to Her Work

Posted on by NationSwell Team

Ahead of Summit West 2020, NationSwell is profiling leaders and luminaries from a diverse array of fields to discover how they lead with purpose and inspire others to do the same.
As CEO of Venture for America, an organization that empowers the next generation of our nation’s socially minded business leaders, Amy Nelson knows that walking the path of entrepreneurship will help new opportunities flourish around you. But she also knows that, traditionally, there hasn’t been a clear path towards becoming an entrepreneur. Nelson and Venture for America have changed that through their commitment to equipping business-minded youth with the skills they need to succeed in an ever-changing economy. Nelson and VfA’s impact is staggering: The 129 fellow-founded start-ups have created over 360 jobs and employment opportunities in cities that stand to benefit greatly from them.
NationSwell recently connected with Nelson by email to ask her three quick questions about how putting purpose into action has made a meaningful difference. Here’s what she had to say.

NationSwell: Can you tell us about a time in your professional or personal life that you made a difference by putting purpose into action?

Amy Nelson: Most of the work I have done has been in education or leadership development; so the most impactful results are years in the making. I’m in a space now where I have mentored or coached hundreds of young entrepreneurs, and seeing many of their businesses flourishing is hugely gratifying. For me, there is nothing better than receiving a heartfelt thank you note from someone whom you worked with in the past. A nonprofit I’ve been advising for awhile wrote to me, “I smile when I think back on those conference calls we had when Bench Mark Program was just beginning. Your advice meant the world to me, and I am so incredibly proud of you for rising to the role of CEO at Venture For America. I know that now so many others are benefitting from your insight and advice.”

I have really made a point of carving out time to stay close to the work and the individuals we support even as I’ve become CEO so that I can maintain that connection. Yes, it helps me be a better leader, fundraiser and ambassador for the organizations — but it also just feeds me personally and allows me to stay in the work.

“We need to understand that purpose-driven work is a marathon and not a sprint — building coalitions and social change takes time, and there will be setbacks. Accepting that … is absolutely key.” – Amy Nelson

NationSwell: What advice do you have for others on how they can better act with a clear sense of purpose?

Nelson: There is no shortage of worthy causes to get behind, which can be overwhelming. Add to that the relentless barrage of the 24 hour news cycle, and it’s easy to feel discouraged. I think it’s critical to really zero in on and deeply understand your own unique abilities and how they can help move us forward, and then line that up with your sphere of influence. We might not all be addressing the same issues or operating at the same scale, but everyone can be a part of this work. At the same time, we need to understand that purpose-driven work is a marathon and not a sprint — building coalitions and social change takes time, and there will be setbacks. Accepting that, and finding space for rest and reflection, is absolutely key.

NationSwell: Who are others leaders or luminaries who inspire you to act and lead with purpose, and why?

Nelson: Reading Jacqueline Novogratz’s The Blue Sweater when I was an early career professional inspired me to return to school to get my MBA so that I could better apply business skills and free market tactics to purpose-driven work. She remains a huge inspiration for me.

More recently, I had the opportunity to visit the Equal Justice Initiative’s Museum and Memorial in Montgomery, AL and left absolutely floored by the leadership of Bryan Stevenson. He manages to put his whole being into the work of racial justice while maintaining tremendous humility and groundedness. He sets a high bar for all of us.

The job of CEO, even in a smaller organization, can be quite isolating. NationSwell has introduced me to a community of peers across multiple landscapes that has been incredibly valuable, both for building community and gaining perspective on different areas of work.

Amy Nelson is a member of the NationSwell Council. To find out more about the NationSwell Council, visit our digital hub. And to learn more about Summit West 2020, visit our event splash page. 

This Young Woman Is Helping Struggling Teens by Truly Seeing Them and Caring

Posted on by NationSwell Team

At age 5, Claudia emigrated with her family from Chile to the United States, but the experience was hardly the American Dream. She lost her sister to a drug overdose and experienced PTSD from living with domestic violence. But instead of these experiences breaking her, they broke her open and helped her create a better life.
She knew she was not the only one living with trauma in her Newark, New Jersey school. So after college, she returned to help others overcome their challenges and succeed in school. She started Future Leaders Accomplishing Intellectual Readiness (FLAIRNow) to break down the walls faced by students of different backgrounds and give them the skills to start a career. 
She learned to accept the bad in the world and still see the good. Every day, she says, her students teach her how to keep turning the bad into good. 

This article was created by Weave: The Social Fabric Project of the Aspen Institute. Weave supports people who live in a way that puts relationships and community first. These “Weavers” lead with love and defy a culture of hyper-individualism that has left Americans feeling more lonely, distrustful and divided than ever. See their stories and learn more here.

A Cross-Sector Approach That’s Changing the Way We Support Veterans

Posted on by NationSwell Team

Communities across the U.S. are using a collective impact approach that aligns people and organizations from all sectors — government, business, nonprofit and more — around shared goals to ensure more successful outcomes for veterans and their families.
When service members leave the military, a network of more than 45,000 nonprofits, public agencies, organizations and individuals aim to support their transitions to civilian life. The collective impact framework is powered by collaboration across the public, private, business and social services sectors. In this video, members of National Veterans Intermediary (NVI)’s Local Partners collaboratives explain the collective impact approach and show it in action in communities in Texas, New York and Maine.
Learn how to build a strong community-based collaborative in your community here.

This article was produced in partnership with National Veterans Intermediary, an initiative of the Bob Woodruff Foundation. NVI increases the collaborative capacity of local communities to steward a national ecosystem, in order to achieve optimal well-being for veterans and their families. Sign up for alerts about NVI’s free webinars and tools to support community-based collaboration here.

Helping Student Veterans Excel Goes Beyond the Classroom

Posted on by NationSwell Team

When service members separate or retire from the military, more than 45,000 nonprofits, thousands of public agencies, and countless other organizations and individuals aim to support their transitions back to civilian life. This series explores how communities are collaborating across public, private, business, and social sectors to better connect the systems that serve veterans. This principle is called “collective impact”. The subjects featured are members of National Veterans Intermediary (NVI) Local Partner collaboratives. 
Camden Ege was just out of high school when he enlisted in the Air Force in 2007, but college was still on his mind. He was on active duty when he earned an associate degree in Education and then applied to the University of Southern Maine (USM). 
Ege thought he was being proactive until his brother, who serves in Maine’s National Guard, began peppering him with questions: Had he applied for GI Bill benefits? Had he filled out his Free Application for Federal Student Aid?
“I thought, ‘How has no one told me any of this?’” Ege recalled. He felt lucky to have his brother guide him through the process, but he knew not everyone has that advantage.
“Others don’t necessarily know how to access resources or even that they need to,” he said.
In 2015, the Department of Veterans Affairs studied student veterans’ perceived barriers to achieving academic goals. The research highlighted the need for a system that better explains the GI Bill and other school-related policies to service members before they enroll in an education program. The study also recommended offering ongoing, accessible support to veterans throughout their academic career.
Ege also realized the importance of supporting vets who pursue higher education, so he established the USM chapter of Student Veterans of America. He then helped expand the university’s Green Zone program, which coaches faculty members on understanding the unique challenges student veterans face. Once he graduated, Ege took a job with USM’s Veterans Services. 
It was through his on-the-ground experience helping veterans access education resources that Ege began to realize how fragmented the current system is. There are numerous nonprofits that work to enroll veterans in college, but these groups often operate in a vacuum. Instead of collaborating toward a common goal, the organizations are competing to create the greatest independent impact.  
As the state’s approving official for the Maine GI Bill, Ege is now in a position to do things differently. In his role, he evaluates and approves education programs, including on-the-job training and apprenticeships, that military members can access through the GI Bill. “What excites me is making a veteran’s dream come true,” he said.

Camden Ege is more dedicated than ever to increasing veteran accessibility to education.

These days Ege is more dedicated than ever to increasing veteran accessibility to education — and he’s thinking about how to do so holistically through a model known as “collective impact.” It’s a collaborative approach that gives those with similar end goals a blueprint for how to come together to work smarter and more effectively.
Ege is a co-chair of the Maine Military and Community Network (MMCN), which convenes community stakeholders to discuss issues impacting their work and figure out how they can share resources in order to overcome the challenges they all face. Each stakeholder brings their own unique expertise to the table, which helps everyone align on a set of common goals in a supportive environment that energizes the group to keep collectively working towards helping ease the transition from military to civilian life for local veterans. 
One of ten MMCN chapters in Maine, this network of local organizations includes a VA medical center; a community-based counseling center; outpatient clinics; the state chapter of Easterseals; and Boots2Roots, a Maine nonprofit focused on connecting with soon-to-be-veterans before they transition back to civilian life. These groups have developed a shared understanding of the problem and have committed to solving it together by sharing resources, data and knowledge. 
Connection is key, Ege said, “so that we’re all on the same page about how we can address the needs of our veterans’ community. When a provider is committed enough to stay active in our collaboration, that speaks volumes as to how reliable they’ll be when we refer a veteran to them.”
 And when veterans get frustrated because there’s not a clear solution to their problem, “having a point person is huge,” said Ege.
“I can’t help solve every problem,” he added. “But I can be one dedicated person to answer their questions and help them find the right people to talk to.”
Ege is a co-chair of the Maine Military and Community Network (MMCN).

Ege feels confident that, over time, the collective-impact approach he’s championed will make a significant difference in the educational outcomes for Maine’s veterans. And though not in his official job description, Ege, is dedicated to helping veterans reintegrate back to civilian life, stepping in when he needs to as a friend, an ombudsman or a counselor.
“The idea has always been to make sure all of a student veteran’s basic needs are met so that they can focus on their coursework,” Ege said. “Ultimately, helping veterans is all that matters at the end of the day.”

This article was produced in partnership with National Veterans Intermediary, an initiative of the Bob Woodruff Foundation. NVI increases the collaborative capacity of local communities to steward a national ecosystem, in order to achieve optimal well-being for veterans and their families. Sign up for alerts about NVI’s free webinars and tools to support community-based collaboration here.

Effectively Serving Veterans Is Not a Solo Mission

Posted on by NationSwell Team

When service members separate or retire from the military, more than 45,000 nonprofits, thousands of public agencies, and countless other organizations and individuals aim to support their transitions back to civilian life. This series explores how communities are collaborating across public, private, business, and social sectors to better connect the systems that serve veterans. This principle is called “collective impact.” The subjects featured are all members of National Veterans Intermediary (NVI) Local Partner collaboratives. 
Laura Whitfield joined the Marines right out of high school. While stationed in Tokyo, she earned a bachelor’s degree and worked as a broadcast journalist, yet her transition back to civilian life was bumpy.
In the military, “anything I needed, I could go to my commanding officer and get guidance on the resources we had on base,” Whitfield said. “It was a close-knit community where we all supported each other.”
But once she returned to the U.S., “I didn’t have a full sense of ‘OK, what do I do now?’. [Instead], I had a sense of confusion,” she recalled. “I didn’t have any idea how to connect with an organization that helped veterans.”
Today, Whitfield is the director of the Miami-Dade chapter of Mission United, a United Way program that helps veterans navigate local services and resources. The nonprofit operates as a coordination center — a one-stop shop where veterans can go when they need help with everything from finding steady work and affordable housing to accessing healthcare and legal services. 
Since its launch in 2013, Mission United has helped more than 12,000 veterans and their families, but Whitfield and her team know there’s always more that can be done. An estimated 40,000 veterans currently live on the streets and nearly 25% have a disability resulting from their service. Another sobering statistic: Roughly 6,000 veterans die by suicide each year.
To better help more veterans, Mission United partners with a number of diverse organizations across the private and public sectors. The group effort Whitfield leads, in which each partnering organization’s unique strengths are leveraged to benefit the most people, is essential to Mission United’s success. It’s an approach known as “collective impact,” which refers to a coordinated cross-sector collaboration structured to achieve measurable impact on social issues.

Laura Whitfield is the director of the Miami-Dade chapter of Mission United, a United Way program that helps veterans navigate local services and resources.


“We all want to offer comprehensive services that address the needs of veterans and their families, and reduce the barriers they face when integrating back to their communities,” Whitfield said of the collaboration’s goals.
“We share data and information about the capacity we have to provide these services, and work together to fill gaps so that veterans aren’t turned away because the community has reached a threshold limit,” said Whitfield, adding that a key component to their success is continuous follow-up with veterans to make sure they’re getting the help they need.
Within this network of nonprofits, corporations and government agencies, Mission United serves as the “backbone”: The organization not only acts as a coordination center for veterans needing assistance, it also sets the strategic focus and vision for the collective.
Currently, Whitfield is in the process of retooling the program in Miami, with input and feedback from Mission United’s partners. Her hope is that Mission United can eventually help service members prepare for life after the military, even while still on active duty. That includes preemptively networking and forging connections with other people — and fellow veterans — in their communities back home. Once that happens, “[veterans] don’t feel so alone and isolated,” Whitfield said. “They’ve got their tribe.” 
For her part, Whitfield is encouraged by the strides Mission United is making. 
“I know that we have the right [partners] at the table because there is buy-in to a shared vision, willing participation and engagement, ownership of results and trust among partners,” she said. 
Whitfield is currently in the process of retooling the program in Miami.


Although Whitfield only recently joined the Miami chapter of Mission United, she’s all-in on the nonprofit’s collective impact approach. In the future, she said, “we’ll focus on developing strategies and aligning on a system of measurement in a way that celebrates the contribution of all of the ecosystem partners in helping veterans achieve fulfilling and productive lives after serving.”

This article was produced in partnership with National Veterans Intermediary, an initiative of the Bob Woodruff Foundation. NVI increases the collaborative capacity of local communities to steward a national ecosystem, in order to achieve optimal well-being for veterans and their families. Sign up for alerts about NVI’s free webinars and tools to support community-based collaboration here.

One Veteran Rallied His Rural Community Behind an Important Cause

Posted on by NationSwell Team

When service members separate or retire from the military, more than 45,000 nonprofits, thousands of public agencies, and countless other organizations and individuals aim to support their transitions back to civilian life. This series explores how communities are collaborating across public, private, business, and social sectors to better connect the systems that serve veterans. This principle is called “collective impact”. The subjects featured are members of National Veterans Intermediary (NVI) Local Partner collaboratives. 
Pennsylvania is home to an estimated 930,000 veterans — 5,000 of whom reside in McKean County, a rural area in the northwestern part of the state. “We don’t have access to things in our backyard, like a city like Philadelphia or Pittsburgh does,” said Zach Pearson, an Army veteran and director of the county’s Department of Veterans Services. “So how do we combat that and still provide excellent service to our veterans?”
The answer: Design a model that invites all community members to become stakeholders in veterans’ well-being, and work collectively toward the achievement of goals that support  them. 
McKean County’s approach deploys the “collective impact” framework. Jennifer Splansky Juster, executive director of Collective Impact Forum, describes the all-hands-on-deck approach as building “a shared understanding of a problem and a commitment to solving it together.”
When it comes to addressing complex social issues and creating lasting change, collective impact, which effectively mobilizes diverse participants with the same agenda, can generate more momentum than any one person or group working in isolation.
McKean County’s Department of Veterans Services makes sure local veterans and their families get the county, state and federal benefits they’re entitled to. But for Pearson, assisting vets doesn’t stop there. He’s also dedicated to helping them find steady employment, receive counseling and access medical care. 
To reach those goals, Pearson has built a framework of companies, nonprofits, hospitals and schools. Thanks to his efforts, each month for the past two years 28 members of the McKean County Community Veterans Engagement Board have carved out time for strategic planning. After clearly defining the biggest issues facing local veterans, they create a plan that outlines the steps needed to address them. 
“We’re not there to eat lunch together,” Pearson said. “We’re there to solve problems.”
Pearson serves as the group’s leader, bringing together state representatives, county commissioners, the regional director of the Environmental Protection Agency, anti-homelessness advocates, and suicide prevention coordinators. “If someone has an impact on veterans’ lives, they’re asked to be on my board,” he said. 

Zach Pearson has built a framework of companies, nonprofits, hospitals and schools to support the veterans in his community.

The network’s information-sharing and aligned activities have produced bold results, and incorporating diverse perspectives and opinions adds invaluable input into real-time issues. For instance, when Pearson learned that some veterans had no choice but to drive four hours to the nearest VA hospital in Pittsburgh for cancer treatment, he met with decision-makers at the regional airport and Southern Airways Express, an airline that serves the area. They agreed to offer veterans $19 fares. The collaboration also arranged free ground transportation and helped coordinate hotel stays for veterans while they were in Pittsburgh.
“It’s simple outside-the-box thinking,” said Pearson. “Almost everyone I’ve come across is 100% willing to help.”
To get more exposure for his efforts and increase community engagement, Pearson regularly hosts live Q&A sessions on Facebook. In 20-minute increments, he might explain what Pennsylvania’s chapter of Wounded Warrior Project does or give an overview of the VA Medical Center’s services. 
 “It’s like an introduction to the organizations in our backyard,” he said. “One of the most positive parts of my job is putting someone in contact with a service they didn’t know about.” 
 It’s something he gets to do more often these days.
 “The fact that [veterans] are blowing up my phone — that’s a measure of success,” said Pearson. “I can get a phone call telling me a veteran’s disability [application] was approved, but that doesn’t mean as much to me as 25 phone calls in a day. People are trusting that we can help them.”
Next on Pearson’s agenda? Spreading the word about how the collective impact approach has helped the veterans in McKean County. 
“If it works for our county, it’ll work for others,” Pearson said. “When the community gets involved in veterans’ lives, more members are encouraged to go get help.”

This article was produced in partnership with National Veterans Intermediary, an initiative of the Bob Woodruff Foundation. NVI increases the collaborative capacity of local communities to steward a national ecosystem, in order to achieve optimal well-being for veterans and their families. Sign up for alerts about NVI’s free webinars and tools to support community-based collaboration here. 

Setting the Stage for Connection Between Veterans and Their Communities

Posted on by NationSwell Team

When service members separate or retire from the military, more than 45,000 nonprofits, thousands of public agencies, and countless other organizations and individuals aim to support their transitions back to civilian life. This series explores how communities across the country are collaborating across public, private, business, and social sectors to better connect the systems that serve veterans, by leveraging the principles of “collective impact.” The subjects featured are all members of National Veterans Intermediary (NVI) Local Partner collaboratives. 
Recent research shows that loneliness is a health risk factor for many. A 2018 study suggests that social connectedness may even protect veterans, for example, against developing symptoms of PTSD. Opportunities to connect, however, can be tough to find. It can be difficult for veterans to talk about their experiences, especially with people who have not shared them and may not understand. The social gap in connectivity and understanding between current and former members of the military community and their civilian counterparts is known as the “civilian-military divide,” and for many, it can represent the isolation of the veteran experience.
Theater of War Productions is working to change that by using theater to bridge the divide and create opportunities for connection. Through dramatic readings of iconic plays, followed by candid discussions about themes related to service and reintegration, the 10-year-old company aims to help audiences gain a deeper understanding of the complex experiences that many of our nation’s veterans share.
The company’s hallmark project, the eponymously named Theater of War (ToW) , is designed to increase awareness of the invisible wounds of war. Professional actors read ancient Greek dramas — long thought to have originated both as a storytelling medium and a form of communal therapy — to audiences comprised of service members, veterans, and civilians.
The subject matter is intentionally weighty. In Sophocles’ “Ajax,” for example, a warrior of great strength and courage is betrayed by his kings and unjust gods, and ends up dying by suicide.  
“[These tragedies] are a way to talk about the utter horrors of war and the challenges that it brings,” said Lisa Feder-Feitel, who works at ToW to identify leaders, local organizations, libraries, schools and others to secure community panelists and fill the seats. Some of those hardships are obvious, like being separated from family. But military service can also lead to other challenging emotional experiences, including, as Feder-Feitel puts it,  “feeling alone — even though you’re part of a system and a brotherhood.”
The paradox of feeling isolated even in the presence of others is an experience familiar to many veterans, and one that ToW is directly addressing by building community conversations that include audiences that may not immediately see themselves as stakeholders in veterans’ wellness.

Theater of War Productions is using theater to bridge the civ-mil divide.

To expand its impact, ToW applies “collective impact” theory. This approach allows ToW to enlist a diverse network of organizations and government agencies in support of a goal related to one of its plays or conversations, and then coordinate activities to meet that goal. 
Jennifer Splansky Juster, executive director of the Collective Impact Forum, which supports those who adopt the approach, noted that relationship-building and effective communication are critical to the success of collective-impact models.
“Building trust [means] the groups that are involved in collaborating are doing what they’re best at, and the sum is greater than its individual parts,” Juster said.
In the case of ToW, that might translate to help from partnering government agencies and nonprofits — ranging from the Department of Defense to the USO — in getting the word out about performances, distributing free tickets, and transporting veterans to productions at military installations, hospitals, libraries, homeless shelters and public parks.
ToW measures the impact of its productions through post-performance audience surveys, focus groups and impact-assessment studies conducted by outside evaluators. But the best metric may be that of the audience in the moment.
“If you’re looking for impact, come into the room and watch what happens,” said Doerries. “Theater itself is a certain experience that pushes people into a different cognitive space.”
Feder-Feitel keeps in touch with groups that attend ToW performances. Many ask to be invited to future events. 
“We want, in a very tiny way, to duplicate what Sophocles did,” Feder-Feitel said. “That is, create an opportunity for people to feel safe, to feel valued and to speak from their hearts about their different experiences. They go from here, knowing they’re part of a larger community.”

This article was produced in partnership with National Veterans Intermediary, an initiative of the Bob Woodruff Foundation. NVI increases the collaborative capacity of local communities to steward a national ecosystem, in order to achieve optimal well-being for veterans and their families. Sign up for alerts about NVI’s free webinars and tools to support community-based collaboration here.