Recipient Organization
OPERATION WELCOME HOME, INC.
452 MYLAN PARK LN
MORGANTOWN,WV 265012281
Performing Department
Executive
Non Technical Summary
Operation Welcome Home (OWH) is a 501(c)3 non-profit initiative for Veterans of the Armed Forces. It is a Veterans job placement and service facility at Mylan Park in Morgantown, West Virginia. OWH serves as a community resource for Veterans and their dependents by providing applicable job reintegration training, classes, counseling, resource events and fairs, referrals, and linkages to professionals and services within the Greater Morgantown area.OWH alleviates common barriers to employment faced by Veterans who have so selflessly served our country. Through services like: resume workshops, mock interviews, financial planning workshops, benefits informational sessions, and business planning classes, OWH helps prepare veterans and their dependents for sustainable employment. Operation Welcome Home also works closely with employers in the community that want to hire veterans by providing open interviews.OWH works individually with veterans to determine their career goals. To date, the organization has successfully placed over 550 veterans in full time jobs and served well over 3,000 other veterans with various veteran-related issues. These veterans have been reached through social media, email listserv, attending and hosting job fairs, holding the first North Central West Virginia Veterans and Dependent Resource Fair, and speaking to many local schools and groups including all local high schools, every Rotary chapter in the surrounding area, attending all home and outdoor shows near our home location, and various other means.Operation Welcome Home was granted funds by the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service approximately three years ago and began a partnership with the West Virginia University Extension Service to teach veterans the basics of high tunnel operation, site selection, setup, etc. and was holding at least two classes per week aside from hands-on activities of constructing a high tunnel, which is located across from our physical location.The plans were brought to an abrupt halt in operations when the public-school system was forced to reclaim some space they had allowed us to use for construction as they needed to build an addition to their current Alternative Learning Center (ALC). We have since found another site located nearby at Mylan Park where OWH is co-located with numerous other thriving non-profits on a reclaimed strip mine, as well as a new community building that houses West Virginia Department of Agriculture and the county Extension Service. In fact, our high tunnel is located directly across from that building and still within walking distance of our physical establishment.Operation Welcome Home's Veterans in Agriculture Training program will provide a full gamut of classroom education, hands-on workshops, field trips, and individual needs assessment for our participants. We will begin the program course with classroom instruction on what participants can expect from participating in the program: from learning what a high tunnel is through program completion with a blueprint to success in developing economic self-sufficiency. Participants will have the opportunity to work in the high tunnel as their schedule permits and we will schedule oversight of operations appropriately. As participants begin to learn, we will host field trips to different, successful, farms throughout the State and allow them to see various opportunities to enlighten them to what enterprises within agriculture they might like to pursue. Essentially, the first year of this project will be "Agriculture 101" for our veterans and not only provide them with the knowledge they will use as a foundation to be successful in the field (whether it be for profit or for social reasons), but also provide them with a tried and true therapeutic outlet and venue.By sowing seeds and seeing the fruiting of their labor, veterans will take pride in their work and feel accomplished while forming important bonds with both their veteran peers and some non-veteran counterparts. The healing power of agriculture has been a highlight of many veterans' personal recovery. This will undoubtedly be a win-win situation for all involved.Based on our previous level of interest in this project, we foresee up to 40 veterans being involved in this project from the start and know that this interest will grow as information is spread through word of mouth, social media, emails, field trips, and regular outings to both our local farmer's market and those within our commutable area. The first year of the project will be catered to all veterans and dependents (regardless of branch, rank, service era, ability or disability) with a focus on business planning and the start-up phase of high tunnel operations.West Virginia has the highest number of small farms in the U.S. at over 98% according to the United States Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Statistics Service, which also translates to a high percentage (62%) of single operator businesses (USDA NASS, 2016). There are 38,123 producers that operate 23,622 farms in West Virginia. Of these individuals, 5,160 (13.5%) of them are producers with military service (USDA NASS, 2019). With the knowledge that farming in the state is highly diversified, this will be the basis of the educational sessions for participants and this network of existing veteran farmers will be built upon by integrating a mentoring program.To aid in the project networking, the West Virginia chapter of the Farmer Veteran Coalition will enhance the project outreach across the state through their network of 450 Veteran farmers located in the state. Their membership is free and an opportunity to strengthen the support that program participants receive. This partnership will also open doors for additional job placement opportunities, peer-to-peer networking, and sharing of success and challenges encountered while farming in West Virginia.
Animal Health Component
25%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
25%
Applied
25%
Developmental
50%
Goals / Objectives
Operation Welcome Home's Veterans in Agriculture Training program will provide a full gamut of classroom education, hands-on workshops, field trips, and individual needs assessment for our participants. We will begin the program course with classroom instruction on what participants can expect from participating in the program: from learning what a high tunnel is through program completion with a blueprint to success in developing economic self-sufficiency. Participants will have the opportunity to work in the high tunnel as their schedule permits and we will schedule oversight of operations appropriately. As participants begin to learn, we will host field trips to different, successful, farms throughout the State and allow them to see various opportunities to enlighten them to what enterprises within agriculture they might like to pursue. Essentially, the first year of this project will be "Agriculture 101" for our veterans and not only provide them with the knowledge they will use as a foundation to be successful in the field (whether it be for profit or for social reasons), but also provide them with a tried and true therapeutic outlet and venue.By sowing seeds and seeing the fruiting of their labor, veterans will take pride in their work and feel accomplished while forming important bonds with both their veteran peers and some non-veteran counterparts. The healing power of agriculture has been a highlight of many veterans' personal recovery. This will undoubtedly be a win-win situation for all involved.Based on our previous level of interest in this project, we foresee up to 40 veterans being involved in this project from the start and know that this interest will grow as information is spread through word of mouth, social media, emails, field trips, and regular outings to both our local farmer's market and those within our commutable area. The first year of the project will be catered to all veterans and dependents (regardless of branch, rank, service era, ability or disability) with a focus on business planning and the start-up phase of high tunnel operations.West Virginia has the highest number of small farms in the U.S. at over 98% according to the United States Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Statistics Service, which also translates to a high percentage (62%) of single operator businesses (USDA NASS, 2016). There are 38,123 producers that operate 23,622 farms in West Virginia. Of these individuals, 5,160 (13.5%) of them are producers with military service (USDA NASS, 2019). With the knowledge that farming in the state is highly diversified, this will be the basis of the educational sessions for participants and this network of existing veteran farmers will be built upon by integrating a mentoring program.To aid in the project networking, the West Virginia chapter of the Farmer Veteran Coalition will enhance the project outreach across the state through their network of 450 Veteran farmers located in the state. Their membership is free and an opportunity to strengthen the support that program participants receive. This partnership will also open doors for additional job placement opportunities, peer-to-peer networking, and sharing of success and challenges encountered while farming in West Virginia.Ultimately, abaseline level of knowledge or skill related to business management, high tunnel production, and mentoring topics will be determined by sampling each training participant at the beginning of the project. At the conclusion of each topic segment, a survey will be conducted to track changes in skill and knowledge over the course of the project. This and other information gathered during participant interviews will be used by the evaluators to show project outcomes. Upon completion of the cohort year, a final written assessment will be administered which will determine the skill, knowledge and confidence obtained by all participants. All will be asked to state the aspects of the program which was most and least beneficial to them. The long-term plan for this program proposal is to developa model that can be packaged and replicated regionally around the state while also graduating sustainable veteran farmer participants. Project objectives include:Engaging participants in a minimum of two hands-on workshops per quarter to occur annuallyForty veteran farmer participants will receive training annuallySurveys of veteran farmer participants will indicate and increase in knowledge, skill, and ability in business planning, production, and marketingThe veteran farmer network will increase by at least fifty people each yearParticipants will have a complete set of resource materials including a blueprint to success and a business plan, to further facilitate training, mentoring and consultation with veteran resourcesConduct twenty classroom educational sessions per project year for participantsAssist five veterans in obtaining job placement within the field of agriculture annuallyTwenty veteran farmer participants will launch an agricultural business by the end of the project
Project Methods
We propose to target the population of active military and veterans in West Virginia. This will be accomplished using the Farmer Veteran Coalition, West Virginia Chapter to reach individuals specifically interested in agriculture. The plan includes the West Virginia Department of Agriculture network through the Veterans and Warriors to Agriculture project to build upon their entry level classes. This project also includes outreach through the West Virginia Department of Veterans Assistance office in addition to the Operation Welcome Home resources.Operation Welcome Home will learn of potential participants and process information in a confidential manner as per current procedures. OWH will process intake forms to determine the needs of veteran participants and make referrals as needed.Classroom sessions will be held to first describe our program to all interested parties and what they can expect from participating in the long-term project. (i.e. they will be informed that by participating in the project they will be equipped with the necessary skills, training, and hands-on experience that will lead to fruitful employment opportunities in agriculture/farming and will be able to work either on an established farm or create their own.) Some veterans may enter as a hobby which provides a therapeutic outlet, but later learn that their hobby can lead to empowering economic self-sustainability as a farm business.Classroom sessions will be held at Operation Welcome Home or within a building within walking distance to our location. While the subject matter expert (SME) instructing may be a non-veteran, a veteran leader (e.g. OWH staff member) will always be on site to intervene on veteran-specific questions or topics that may arise.The recruitment process for this project will initially come through word of mouth, social media, newspaper, local radio, and our veteran email listserv, which is comprised of well over 2,000 veterans. Further, OWH will hold multiple outreach events at their establishment to inform the veteran population that this program will be available. Previous program participants will be invited from the high tunnel gardening program to get involved now that the processes and high tunnel are permanently placed for long-term use.Operation Welcome Home currently has a high tunnel (34'W x 96'L) in place on over 2 acres of land and will grow the program by placing another high tunnel on land at that location with plans to have the additional high tunnel donated during the program.Workshops conducted will take place at the Operation Welcome Home high tunnel site for hands-on horticultural experiences as well as the West Virginia University Animal Science Farm for poultry demonstrations.The tunnels will be used to grow traditional crops and specialty crops such as peppers, kale, cucumbers, tomatoes, green beans, etc. As participants engage in hands-on activities within the high tunnel, OWH will engage participants in growing more year-round crops for various marketing channels, such as broccoli, winter greens, and lettuce as the knowledge of the veteran farmers progresses.OWH has partnered with the WVU Extension Service Small Farm Center, WVU Extension Service, West Virginia Department of Agriculture, West Virginia Small Business Administration, and numerous other grass-roots organizations to ensure we have full support and subject matter experts to ensure success in this endeavor.This project is very unique in that it is being spearheaded by an already established non-profit with an excellent track record and positive reputation in a community with many veterans that are eager to engage in agriculture, but have not had the means or knowledge to do so. With Morgantown being highly populated, but surrounded by plenty of opportune locations to start an agriculture endeavor, this will resound with much of our veteran population. Further, the unique fact that we are co-located with the USDA, WVU Extension Service, 4-H, and are sitting on a perfect location to grow makes our project site different from many others. We are not relying on a sole "teacher" or individual professional to teach and mentor our veterans because we have partnered with so many knowledgeable entities. We have field trips planned to teach for a true recipe for success.The educational component to this proposal is driven locally through the WVU Extension Service Specialist subject matter experts that will teach the agricultural curriculum for this program and providing subject matter experts to teach content over the three-year project. The curriculum will include a full range of agricultural business startup courses, horticultural workshops, poultry education, and mentoring sessions for continuation and success of the program. This content will be focused on what the small farmer can engage in to produce the most amount of resources using limited dollars to meet the needs of the underserved population.