In Texas, a group of veterans at the San Antonio Military Medical Center is making beautiful music, thanks to volunteers with the Warrior Cry Music Project.
The nonprofit gives instruments — guitars, drums, trumpets and more — to injured service members, then provides them with music lessons.
Robert Henne started the organization five years ago because he believes playing instruments helped him recover from injuries he sustained in a car accident. At the time, his wife was working as an Air Force doctor at the Walter Reed Medical Center, and he wondered if the same process could help wounded veterans recover.
As the veterans work through the inevitable squawks and stumbles that come along with playing an instrument, they also learn to overcome other challenges. “It’s not just learning to play music,” Henne tells the San Antonio News-Express. “It helps reprogram what’s going on in the head.”
The former soldiers agree. Army veteran Ricardo Cesar suffers nerve damage in his fingers, but plucking the guitar is helping with his recovery. “Just parking here and knowing I’m coming in here lowers my blood pressure,” Cesar says. “This is my time. This is my therapy. Now when I’m starting to transition (to civilian life), at home, I can shut the world out and start playing my guitar, rather than, you know, drinking or doing all types of other nonsense that I don’t need to be doing.”
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Tag: Texas
What Happens When Veterans and Wild Horses Meet Up?
Several organizations across the country are helping veterans rebuild their lives through equine therapy, but the Texas-based Mustang Heritage Foundation offers a unique twist: the horses it uses are wild.
The therapy involves veterans training a mustang that was previously living on land owned by the Bureau of Land Management and that has never had contact with humans. Over the course of the 12-week-long program, the veterans train the horse so it can then be adopted.
Program Director Byron Hogan tells the Austin American Statesman, “We started seeing this transformation not only of horses but of trainers. Time and time again we’d hear, ‘This horse changed my life.'”
Program participant and Army veteran Christina Avery says, “Honestly it was my last-ditch effort to find something that was going to work. I’ve been through a lot of counseling, I’ve been through a lot of treatments, I’ve been on a lot of pills. Nothing has compared to this…This has brought me to where I should be.”
KEYE-TV interviewed some participants from the most recent group of veteran tamers. One participant, Laura Parunak, flew Apache helicopters during two tours of Iraq. She found the training experience challenging, but rewarding. “I knew it was going to be hard, and I knew there were going to be days like this.” And yet, she says, “I don’t know that I could ever continue my life without some exposure to horses.”
Larry Howell, who was wounded during his second tour in Iraq, tells KEYE-TV that working with mustangs “teaches you patience.”
Both Howell and Parunak worked with their mustangs all summer to ready them for a September livestock auction. Parunak tried to buy her horse, but was outbid. A generous donor, however, had a surprise in store for the veterans, buying their horses for each of them, leaving Parunak with a big grin — and a new pet.
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The Wireless Industry Looks to Train and Hire Veterans
The Labor Department calculated the unemployment rate among post-9/11 veterans to be 9 percent in 2013, a number that represents a drop from the 9.9 percent rate in 2012, but that’s still much higher than the rate among non-veterans—5.9 percent according to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics’ most recent calculations.
A number of businesses and industries have stepped up their efforts to offer assistance in reducing the veteran unemployment rate, including companies such as Uber, Tesla, and Microsoft. The wireless industry is also joining the crusade, seeking to train veterans to take jobs in the field. Warriors4Wireless is a nonprofit helping connect veterans to employment in wireless companies that are always seeking new qualified technicians.
On Veteran’s Day, Warriors4Wireless will host the event “Wireless Warriors Lead the Pack” at GrayWolves Telecom in Carrollton, Texas. It’s designed to highlight a joint program between the business and the nonprofit that’s training vets to start careers in the wireless industry and invite more vets and business leaders to participate.
Lisa Hanlon, CEO of GrayWolves Telecom, told the Carrolton Leader, “Far too many of our veteran-heroes in Texas and across the country are struggling to find work once they leave military service. The goal of the program is to repay part of the debt we owe the brave men and women who have eminently sacrificed for our freedom. Simultaneously, the program will help these veterans acquire skills they need to pursue careers in wireless facility construction and maintenance.”
Kelley Dunne, the Executive Director of Warriors4Wireless, hopes the collaboration between the nonprofit and GrayWolves Telecom can be replicated across the country. “The workforce is the backbone of wireless expansion and economic growth in this country,” Dunne said. “The GrayWolves’ program helps veterans find meaningful careers in an industry that’s growing exponentially.”
MORE: Transitioning to Civilian Life Can Be Difficult. So Microsoft Trains Marines in IT Before They Hit the Job Market.
The Group Pedaling to a Cleaner Earth
What would you think if saw someone riding a bike with a bunch of garbage bins attached to it?
For residents in Austin, Texas, this site isn’t uncommon. That’s because since December 2012, the East Side Compost Pedallers (ESCP) have been riding around, collecting trash to be composted by local urban farms, schools and community gardens.
“Scrapple” is how the cyclists affectionately refer to the compostable food waste which they collect. Currently, the group is comprised of seven bikers who serve residences in east Austin and neighborhoods by the University of Texas, as well as local businesses such as DropBox and small cafes.
Cyclists are equipped with custom-built, heavy-duty Metrofiet cargo bikes that can carry 55 gallon barrels totaling 250 pounds each. They also have the option of riding retro-filled pedicabs, which can carry barrels weighing 800 pounds each.
The for-profit organization charges for its services: For residences, it’s $4 per week, while the cost varies for businesses depending upon their size and the amount of bins required.
Over the past two years, ESCP has seen a growing client base and massive results. Among its achievements, the group can boast that it has redirected more than 190,000 pounds of scrapple from landfills, produced 50,000 pounds of compost, reduced the costs of composting by $5,000 for farmer patrons and stopped the emission of about 30 tons of methane, according to Good.
Their clients have also noticed how beneficial the service has been, too. Composting for the past 27 years, the East Side Café started using ESCP six months ago. So far, the café has redirected 7,155 pounds of waste and prevented more than a ton of methane emissions.
Perhaps the most defining feature of the group, though, is their drive to improve the environment and the community.
“East Side Compost Peddallers are pioneering the compost movement in Austin,” Elaine Martin, Eastside Cafe’s chef and owner, tells Good. “They’re out there pedaling every day, and you can tell they’re passionate about what they’re doing and want to make our community a better place to live. It’s great to work with people who care about your neighborhood as much as you do.”
And with that, keep pedalling, please.
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Residents in America’s Poorest City Receive Customized Housing
It sounds strange, but there are still towns in American without paved roads and sewage systems.
This is the reality facing many people living in Texas’s 1,800 colonias — neighborhoods originally developed in the 1950s on unusable land for low-income people, particularly Hispanics.
Brownsville, located in Texas’s Rio Grande Valley, is home to many colonias. In addition to being the poorest city in America with 36 percent of residents living in poverty, Brownsville residents also have some of the highest rates of obesity and diabetes.
Considering all of these factors, the quality of life in this Texas town seems pretty poor, or at least it was until the nonprofit bcWorkshop (led by Dallas architect Brent Brown) and the Community Development Corporation (CDC) of Brownsville stepped in.
The result of their collaboration? A 56-unit apartment complex called La Hacienda Casitas. Together, the groups have also designed a hiking and biking trail through one of the worst neighborhoods, a disaster relief housing prototype and improved infrastructure plans for seven colonias.
Next, the groups are working on La Hacienda Two. And while apartment complexes can be churned out quickly according to CDC executive director Nick Mitchell-Bennett, these groups are taking their time and adding a personal touch.
Instead of making cookie-cutter houses, bcWorkshop and the CDC asked the individual residents what they want in their residences. While the personalization may add an extra four to six weeks to the building process, the results are worth it.
“Somebody who makes $8.50 an hour, they’re never asked, ‘What do you want?'” Mitchell-Bennett tells City Lab. “By the end of the process … they designed this house.”
And for people who are used to living with very little, the pride in ownership and design is a new and welcome phenomenon.
“There’s a real need for what I would consider design-focused effort to assist other organizing and community-building efforts” in the Rio Grande Valley, Brown explains. “So it made a nice fit.”
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Meet the Eighth Grader Who Designs Subway Systems
What do most of us think of when traveling through a city? Maybe it’s congestion, pollution and headaches. And while some urban planners are looking for ways to improve life on the streets, perhaps it’s time to take a look at what’s happening underground.
That’s exactly what one designer started doing. The interesting part? He isn’t even in high school, yet he’s already designing transit systems for cities that don’t have underground public transportation.
What started as a simple hobby for eighth grader Ivan Specht has now turned into a brand (Metro-ology) with a website, posters and t-shirt designs.
His first subway design was for Austin, Texas and was given as a Father’s Day present to his dad. From there, inspiration took off and Specht produced 10 more, including plans for San Antonio and New Orleans.
So, how did an eighth grader became an infrastructure prodigy? According to Specht, it’s just always been a passion.
“Ever since I was about five, I have been fascinated by mass transit systems — especially that of New York City, which is where I now live,” Specht tells Fast Co. Exist. “[My Dad] really liked the gift. So much so he suggested I turn it into a summer project and business, which is exactly what I have done.”
To create each design, Specht uses Google Maps Maker. No detail is left unnoticed, and his designs are as intricate as that of the New York City subway system. In addition, much of his inspiration comes from Harry Beck’s London Underground map.
“Usually, I try to concentrate the lines in the city centers. I then re-draw the map in Photoshop, using 45-degree angles, which I think make the maps look much cleaner and more graphically pleasing. Lastly, I add a legend, as well as reference points like highways and rivers,” Specht explains to Fast Co. Exist.
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Taking a look at the designs, it’s clear that Sprecht’s transit plans have the potential to be turned into reality. Which city will be the first to call him?
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How Turning Row Homes Into Works of Art Helps Single Mothers
This year’s class of MacArthur Foundation Genius Grants, which includes winning $625,000 with no strings attached, include an impressive offering of scientists, mathematicians and poets. But a Houston artist’s work on a small community — where an art experiment has led to economic revitalization over the last two decades — may be one of the more fascinating programs of note.
Rick Lowe, a Houston artist and recipient of this year’s MacArthur Grant, has been working on Project Row Houses since its inception in 1993. The conceptual project began began with just 22 houses in one of Houston’s oldest African-American communities and has grown to more than 70 buildings across the neighborhood, according to City Lab.
Lowe and a group of artists transformed the area into what he refers to as “social sculpture,” which includes housing for young, single mothers, an arts incubator for budding artists and a community support program. But that’s not all.
Project Row Houses also focuses on architectural and historical preservation, which include some of the 1930-era shotgun homes that comprise part of the properties.
“Houston is not a place that is accustomed to preserving its history. Or having a high cultural identity in its neighborhoods,” Lowe says. “Project Row Houses at least gives Houston an example of how that can happen.”
The Young Mother Residential Program, or subsidized transitional housing for single mothers between the ages of 18 and 26 with children under the age of 17, provides support to find employment and education.
The project launched a separate nonprofit in 2003. The community development corporation is a support center committed to “strengthening, sustaining and celebrating the life of the Third Ward community,” according to the site.
But more than anything, Lowe contends Project Row Houses is first and foremost an art project.
“Project Row Houses is an art project. I always tell people, creating anything, it’s art, especially if it’s something experimental. If it’s new, it’s always hard,” Lowe says. “To bring a painting into being on a blank canvas — if you think about it, that’s impossible. How can that happen?”
The project is also home to an arts incubator and has partnered with the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, since 2004 to host the Glassell Core Fellow Artist residency. The recipient receives a one or two-year residency while the Summer Studios program exhibits work from selected local college or university art students. The project also serves as an arts venue for other artists.
But how will winning the grant help the thriving community? Lowe isn’t sure, but says that the project will look to food issues next and a possible “little small museum thing we’re playing around with.”
Project Row Houses has informed several other projects across the country including the Watts House Project in Los Angeles, the Transforma Projects in New Orleans and more recently, the Trans.lation: Vickery Meadow in Dallas. Lowe is also heading up the Pearl Street revitalization program in Philadelphia’s North Chinatown neighborhood.
How Mapping Health Data Can Reduce Childhood Obesity
There is no blanket solution when it comes to fighting childhood obesity, especially in an urban setting where diverse cultures, economic disparity and access to parks and fitness activities can create a complex web of challenges.
Add insight from an abundance of community stakeholders including educators, parents and local lawmakers and finding a single solution to combatting the problem is near impossible. But an Austin, Texas, nonprofit may have found the key to getting everyone’s attention when it comes to understanding the problem: Visualization.
Children’s Optimal Health (COH) is charged with improving health for the city’s youth, but the nonprofit discovered that identifying the problem meant looking at the issue on a neighborhood level. Thanks to a Texas law that requires public schools to record fitness data on every student, COH used the information to create maps that identify “hotspots” that include social and economic information, according to Government Technology.
“You don’t have to know English or have an education to see this and say, ‘Oh my gosh, that’s my neighborhood,’” said COH Executive Director Maureen Britton.
Through data-sharing agreements with more than 12 central Texas education and health entities, COH aggregates student information including BMI and cardiovascular fitness scores, geo-tagged by neighborhood. Student names are removed and the data is completely anonymous — focusing only on identifying the issues families in these local communities face. As the Austin tech sector continues to bring more business and more people to town, COH is committed to ensuring low-income residents don’t fall by the wayside.
“There’s not enough attention paid to the struggles in Austin as the population outside of the tech industry grows. That’s our concern,” Britton said. “The more we bring this data to life through the maps, the more we get data-driven information to the right people.”
COH is also able to overlay the student health maps with other data sets, creating more granular narratives to show how the city can improve wellness initiatives. For example, a neighborhood’s proximity to a concentration of fast food restaurants or a community’s crime rate could contribute to the area’s obesity rate.
But perhaps it’s COH’s ability to network institutions that may otherwise not collaborate that might be most impressive about the nonprofit, as Government Technology points out. For example, getting hospitals involved in changing school physical education curriculum or schools to engage in interventions for existing infrastructure are just a few examples of how COH has found a way to get all community stakeholders on the same page.
As more cities collaborate on civic innovation initiatives, officials should take note the power of a picture and how it can reshape the conversation.
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Thanks to This Pop Star, 22 Homeless Veterans Now Have Access to Affordable Housing
Who cares what color Katy Perry’s hair currently is. She’s proven her heart is true blue by auctioning off a concert experience to help homeless veterans get off the streets.
The pop star teamed up with Veterans Matter, a nonprofit started by Ken Leslie in 2012 when he learned that HUD-VASH (a combined initiative of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing) doesn’t provide a deposit to homeless vets receiving rental vouchers.
The lack of a down payment is a huge obstacle for struggling, jobless veterans looking to take advantage of the program.
Perry auctioned off a ticket package — complete with VIP perks and a chance to meet the singer — to a stop on her Prismatic tour for $4,000 to Scott Vaughn of Oakton, Va. The money will make a big impact: providing housing deposits to 17 homeless veterans in Austin, Texas, and 5 in Detroit.
Vaughn attended Perry’s recent Cleveland show, where she told him, “Thank you so much for helping Veterans Matter, it is so important that we help those who fought for our freedom,” according to Digital Journal‘s Earl Dittman.
Leslie is quite skilled at interesting celebrities in Veterans Matter, with such musicians as Kid Rock, John Mellencamp, Ice-T and Stevie Nicks contributing to the cause. “These homeless veterans have guaranteed long-term housing and the keys are jingling in their hands,” Leslie tells Dittman. “All they need is the deposit to get them over the threshold. Katy and the others are helping us provide that final piece that pushes them over that threshold.”
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How Texas is Turning Toilet Water into Drinking Water
The idea of turning wastewater into drinking water might make your stomach churn, but for the dry American southwest, it’s a smart, economic reality.
As the Associated Press reports, 2,000 acres of man-made wetlands in Fairfield, Texas are naturally filtering out the pollutants from the area’s treated wastewater, slowly converting the muck into 65,000 gallons of drinking water per day.
This system — which, since beginning operations in 2002, consists of a series of sedimentation ponds and wetland cells — is part of the George W. Shannon Wetland Water Reuse project and is the first of its kind in the country.
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It takes about a week for the vegetation, soils and microbes residing in the wetlands to filter out the phosphorous and nitrates in the water that’s been diverted from the Trinity River (which mostly contains treated wastewater). This naturally-cleaned H2O is then pumped into the Richland-Chambers Reservoir for future use.
The AP notes that at $75 million, it’s far cheaper to build wetlands over traditional filtering infrastructure. (It’s also a win for the area’s wildlife which have taken habitat on the grounds.) According to the report, the George Shannon wetland has already provided about 30 percent more water to the reservoir than it would normally hold. This is only good news for the drought-stricken state and the 1.5 million local Texans that the reservoir serves.
“This is stepping back from dependence on rainfall,” David Marshall, head of engineering services for Tarrant Regional Water District, which operates the wetlands, tells the news organization. “With potential climate change or long-term droughts, we’re at risk, whereas these wetlands firm up a tremendous amount of water supply for us.”
Encouragingly, a similar wetlands project will be built at Cedar Creek Reservoir in the near future.
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