The Veterans Court mentoring program is thriving. At present, we are serving sixteen veterans of wars ranging from Vietnam to Iraq, keeping them out of prison and guiding them on the path to productive citizenship.
A new development that promises to have implications beyond the Vet Court program is the new computer clinic. Working in cooperation with The Employment Connection, a not-for-profit facility helping homeless and released felons get jobs, we have set up a program to teach our veterans and others the basic skills needed to function with computers in the workplace. It is known as the Veterans For Peace Computer Clinic.
Computers are donated, some from our local newspaper, the Post Dispatch, others from Applied Logic, a local software company and individuals. Training is being done by one of the Vet Court mentees, Kennedy Davis, who recently graduated from Harris-Stow University, bring with him two more professional instructors.
We have set up an advisory board composed of mentors and people from the community who have expertise in building businesses and obtaining funding. Our immediate objective is to build participation to a minimum of ten regular attendees, then go for expanded publicity and grants to further fund the operation.