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Show Summary
On this episode of Behind the Mission, we feature a conversation with Bruce Buckley, Chief Executive Officer of Soldier On, a 501(c)3 Nonprofit that provides veterans with shelter and support in an environment that offers dignity, integrity, and hope.
About Today’s Guest
Bruce Buckley is the CEO and President of Soldier On, Inc., a national provider of comprehensive services and affordable supportive permanent housing for homeless and at-risk veterans. Prior to becoming CEO, Bruce was the CFO from 2003-2016, under his management Soldier On has grown from a $600,000 annual budget to its current $20 million annual budget.
Soldier On provides services to roughly 5,000 veterans and family members annually through Housing First programs in Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. Bruce has helped to secure over $120 million in housing development resources since 2008 to build almost 400 units of housing for veterans in Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York. Funding sources include Low Income Housing Tax Credits, Historical Tax Credits, VAi2’s Innovation Initiative, Federal Home Loan Bank, HOME Investment Partnerships Program, Housing Innovations Fund (HIF), Affordable Housing Trust Fund, Berkshire Bank Financing, VA Capital Grant and Per Diem.
Bruce has led the charge in developing partnerships to expand Soldier On’s mission to end veteran homelessness. These partnerships include working with national affordable housing developers in New Jersey, New York, and Massachusetts to provide safe, secure housing for veterans.
The expansion of partnering with other non-profits has led to increased wrap around services for the veterans and their family members Soldier On serves. This growth has substantially decreased the number of veterans returning to homelessness.
PsychArmor Resource of the Week
This week’s PsychArmor resource of the week is the PsychArmor course, Why Financial Wellness Matters. Financial wellness is the peace of mind you have when you’ve balanced saving and spending. This course will illustrate some of the challenges military and Veteran families face and things to consider when on the path to achieving financial wellness. You can see find this course here: https://learn.psycharmor.org/courses/why-financial-wellness-matters.
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Theme Music
Our theme music Don’t Kill the Messenger was written and performed by Navy Veteran Jerry Maniscalco, in cooperation with Operation Encore, a non profit committed to supporting singer/songwriter and musicians across the military and Veteran communities.
This Episode Sponsored By:
This episode is sponsored by PsychArmor, the premier education and learning ecosystem specializing in military culture content. PsychArmor offers an online e-learning laboratory with custom training options for organizations.
Producer and Host Duane France is a retired Army Noncommissioned Officer, combat veteran, and clinical mental health counselor for service members, veterans, and their families. You can find more about the work that he is doing at www.veteranmentalhealth.com