In our recent eNewsletters and into the next month we are sharing our goals as they relate to our work as a Center of Excellence. We are doing this to build awareness and then, to inspire the reader by demonstrating that Dixon Center for Military and Veterans Services is accountable for something big. One of Dixon Center’s seven goals, and one of two focusing on awareness and engagement is: Steward and build strategic relationships that support partner organizations & advance their fiscal results.
Our goal is not to create new programs. Rather, the goal is to enable the integration of military and veteran services into existing programs to increase impact. As a Center of Excellence, we provide and coordinate technical assistance/training, resource sharing, and strong leadership to our partners, who, with our ongoing support, develop and operate direct service programs.
This includes working at local and national levels in five focus areas: workforce development and career placement; housing solutions; wellness research and development; expanding funding streams for veteran entrepreneurs; and advancing impact via service networks.
Despite the pandemic, our team during Fiscal Year 2020 has been able to maintain meaningful engagements with social, civic, private, and public sector decision-makers and people of influence to expand services by our partner organizations. One of the lessons our team has learned is that to have the greatest impact these engagements must be documented, interactive, and includes a follow-up based on a prescribed timeline. We have also determined that attendance tracking tools; pre and post gauging of activities; online survey tools; and follow up communications (email, phone, in person) to track change/outcomes assist in our accountability, as well as our partners.
Leveraging technology, we have increased outreach and awareness of more than 100 new partnerships in FY 2020. These support organizations, who with our help or encouragement, are including veterans and their families into their existing community-based service programs. This is different than the 300 organizations we referenced last week whose work we are promoting. These are 100 new partnerships who have been encouraged at the community level to include veterans and their families.
Our outreach and awareness are assisting organizations in adjusting their programing to focus on the evolving needs of veterans today, shaping their organizations goals and objectives, and helping them adjust to a new fiscal landscape created by COVID-19. While many organizations have hunkered down and adopted a fortress mentality to ride out the impacts of COVID-19, Dixon Center’s collaborative approach has kept a keen eye on opportunity and emergent needs while leveraging existing community-based programs that have national reach and local impact.
For more information about Dixon Center and our outreach and awareness efforts, please contact Duncan Milne, President, dmilne@dixoncenter.org.
Also, be on the look out! Our newsletter will start going out on Tuesdays instead of Fridays. We hope you continue to look for it on its new day in your inbox.
