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Examples of the impact of the Warrior to Citizen Campaign
(spring 2007 to present)
Work in progress:
- A citizen group has developed a Warrior to Citizen military challenge coin that veterans will receive at educational or community events, or by participating in community activities such as the oral history project. Businesses around the state that want to honor the service of veterans are offering discounts or other incentives to veterans who hold the coin. Complete information for veterans and businesses
- A diverse group of volunteers is working with the Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs, the Minnesota National Guard, the Minnesota Historical Society and Minnesota State University-Moorhead to train interviewers and recruit veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan to participate in an oral history project. The project to collect veterans stories is statewide and cross-service. Contact Kristin Farrell at repe0002@umn.edu for more information.
Individuals are organizing others to take action.
- Humphrey Institute Policy Fellows brought together members of the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of state government in a rare demonstration of collaborative work: passage of a joint resolution declaring May 2007 Military Family Appreciation Month.
- Graduate students at the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs created a guide for community-based discussions to plan action around the reintegration of veterans. The first facilitated discussion was held at St. Bernard’s Catholic Church in St. Paul in September. Other churches (Catholic, Episcopal, Methodist), the Veterans Transition Center at the University of Minnesota, and community groups in St. Cloud are hosting discussions in early 2008. A work team has developed a facilitator's guide and is sharing best practices with interested groups.
- Members of the community discussion at St. Bernard’s Catholic Church (see above) worked with their school contacts to convene teachers for awareness training on how deployment impacts kids and families. The teachers earned continuing education credits by participating in the training, which is offered through University of Minnesota Extension’s Operation Military Kids program.
Citizens—including policy and law makers—are working together to change policy.
- Humphrey Institute Policy Fellows drafted and recruited sponsors for a bill that would change the Power of Attorney (POA) form and provide greater protection from financial abuse (many service members use a POA while deployed, in addition to elderly and vulnerable adults). The bill has sponsors and will be reintroduced in the 2008 legislative session.
- The nonpartisan Citizens League has devoted the February 2008 issue of its monthly policy newsletter, Minnesota Journal, to veterans reintegration and the Warrior to Citizen Campaign.
A Warrior to Citizen campaign speakers bureau is committed to raising awareness statewide about reintegration through training sessions and presentations to groups, media appearances, and letters to the editor.
- In June 2007, a retired Army chaplain and member of the Warrior to Citizen Campaign made a presentation to 250 priests in the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis about reintegration and what churches can do.
- Dozens of legislators and legislative staff participated in awareness training sessions in summer 2007 and shared ideas of how they can be involved in the reintegration process and respond to constituents in their district.
- State legislators from both houses and both parties, representatives of the National Guard and Army Reserves, veterans, and others, participated in two panel discussions about the Warrior to Citizen Campaign at the Minnesota State Fair in September 2007.
Employers and corporate partners are involved in the campaign.
- Citizens in Bloomington, including the mayor and a consortium of Lutheran churches, organized a Stand To event at the Bloomington armory in January 2008. The event featured Bloomington businesses that want to honor the service of veterans through discounts and special offers. More than 300 National Guard members attended as part of their regular drill weekend.
- Imation Corp., an Oakdale, Minn.-based data storage company, donated 3,000 flash drives in December so that the Minnesota National Guard could distribute reintegration materials to returning soldiers in a convenient electronic format. Because of the flash drive’s small size and capacity for holding personal files, veterans are more likely to keep it and use it, unlike reintegration materials distributed in paper form.
- A Minnesota sales rep for Atlanta-based Zep Manufacturing worked with his company and a contact at the Minnesota National Guard to get 108 kits of household cleaning supplies distributed to National Guard Family Assistance Centers around the state.
- The Humphrey Institute and the Citizens League hosted a public event on the Warrior to Citizen Campaign in October. One attendee, an employee at Thomson Corporation, later organized her colleagues and worked with the National Guard to find a military family for her department’s annual adopt-a-family holiday tradition. In addition to gifts collected by Thomson, the family of four will receive a $250 check from Ziegler Caterpillar.
The Work | Additional Information About the Coalition
Why this work is important for Minnesota | Get involved | Links
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