With support from the California Arts Council, RETURNING SOLDIERS SPEAK will strengthen organizational sustainability through expanded staffing, accessibility efforts, and digital engagement infrastructure. Funding will support increased paid hours for key personnel, including the Executive Director, Operations Manager, Accessibility Coordinator, Web Designer, and Content & Social Media Manager. Grant funds will also support website hosting, expansion of the organization’s YouTube content, and continued growth across social media platforms to increase accessibility, audience engagement, and long-term capacity for serving Veteran communities through the arts.
Our programs and services address the pressing need for veterans, first responders, and their families to have supportive and safe platforms to tell their stories through the written word, readings, and performances for the community. Veterans often face isolation and a lack of community engagement post-service. Evidence suggests that many struggle to find avenues to express themselves creatively. By providing structured developmental programs for veterans, first responders, and their families to write and workshop their stories and original writings, we offer them a pathway to healing and community. Through dialogue, storytelling, poetry, prose, creative non-fiction, and playwriting veterans overcome isolation, connect with peers, and break through barriers to sharing their talents and their life experiences. We offer readings and performances opportunities for veterans to share their stories with the community, through this cohesive and holistic process and programs; they learn that coming home is possible and deserved.