REBOOT™ Celebrates One-Year Anniversary of Regional Pilot Program with Donation from District Attorney’s Office
San Diego (July 18, 2011) – REBOOT™, an innovative three-week workshop provided by the National Veterans Transition Services, Inc. (NVTSI) that helps veterans ease back into civilian life, announces the opening of a North County location following a successful pilot year. The new Oceanside classroom is located at the QLN (Quantum Learning Network) Conference Center at 1938 Avenida del Oro, Oceanside, CA 92056.
District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis, the keynote speaker at REBOOT’s Class 18 graduation ceremony, held June 24, donated $25,000 from the Asset Forfeiture Fund, assets seized through investigations, to sponsor 10 military students to go through the program. In her speech, Dumanis stressed the importance that REBOOT plays in keeping returning veterans out of her court room. She was inspired by graduates’ stories, many with comments on how REBOOT changed their lives and put them on the right track to succeeding in civilian life.
REBOOT was launched by Retired Rear Admiral Ronne Froman and Retired Master Chief Petty Officer Maurice Wilson in July 2010, after becoming concerned with the increasing number of former service members not adjusting to the “real world.” The concept is that if you have to go through boot camp to be acculturated for the military, there should be a program when you leave the service as well. To date, nearly 300 service men and women have benefited from this program.
San Diego is home to the nation’s largest number of veterans returning from wartime duty. Each year, about 28,000 veterans in San Diego leave the military – 200,000 nationwide. With the conflict in Iraq winding down and the military poised to leave Afghanistan, numbers leaving the service will increase. Statistics show that ex-military suffer from high jobless rates, as well as higher rates of homelessness, substance abuse and many other reintegration challenges. REBOOT gives San Diego’s veterans the tools to combat these challenges and to succeed.
Many government agencies and non-profit organizations assist our veterans. However, none address the underlying causes of their poor re-adaption to a life of independence. As a result, many veterans fail to adjust and spiral into depression, economic distress and family disintegration.
Opening an Oceanside location is part of the regional pilot program that will re-train about 2,500 veterans in 18 months, and is another step closer to a possible national rollout.
Currently, REBOOT has the capacity of holding three workshops per month with 18 students in each workshop. To reach regional goals, REBOOT wants to increase the workshops to 10 each month. The new Oceanside location will greatly help to increase the number of workshops offered and more importantly, increase the number of REBOOT graduates with the tools to thrive in the “real world.”
REBOOT workshops are available free of charge for employed veterans, active duty personnel and spouses. The workshops are conducted at NVTSI headquarters in Mission Valley, 4141 Camino Del Rio South, as well as the new location in Oceanside. Transportation vouchers and gas cards are available to unemployed veterans, while coffee and continental breakfast is also provided free to students.
San Diegans can help by donating to the program or participating in the Hire Our Heroes program. For more information on the workshops, to donate or to register for a workshop, call (866) 535-7624 or visit www.nvtsi.org.
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