MLB commits $500,000 to vet-assist groups
Grant will support nonprofit organizations helping service members transition to civilian life
In an ongoing effort to further support military veterans and their families, Major League Baseball announced a $500,000 grant commitment through 2019 to several nonprofits to assist service members in transitioning to civilian life.
The services range from career, personal and network development to fulfilling general family needs, caregiving and community outreach. More than 200,000 people each year make the transition out of military service, according to a release from MLB.
The organizations that the grant will support include Code of Support Foundation, The Mission Continues and American Corporate Partners.
The Code of Support Foundation will offer continued backing to the cloud-based PATRIOTlink, a populated provider-assistance tool that empowers service providers to easily navigate and find resources for the service members, veterans and families they are assisting. According to its website, Code of Support provides essential and critical one-on-one assistance to struggling service members, veterans and their families with the most complex needs.
The Mission Continues is geared toward helping veterans looking to make a community impact, with the hope that their actions will inspire future generations to serve. Founded in 2007, Mission Continues partners former service members and their families with innovative nonprofit partners nationwide, helping improve community education resources and mentoring at-risk youth, among other efforts. Through Mission Continues, MLB will sponsor and offer funding to support the annual Women Veterans Leadership Summit, which brings together female leaders from business, philanthropy, entertainment and politics. The fourth annual event will be held March 22-24, 2019, in Washington, D.C. Female veterans, guardsmen and reservists from all branches and generations of service can apply at www.missioncontinues.org/wvls.
American Corporate Partners helps veterans find their next careers through one-on-one mentoring, networking and online career advice, and its services have supported more than 20,000 since its founding in 2008. MLB's impact will be through ACP's mentoring program, as 25 front-office employees from across the Majors will connect with one veteran for one year to assist their mentees with professional development and career planning.
This week's announcement, in conjunction with Veterans Day, marked yet another effort by MLB to support service members.
MLB also recently announced a partnership with the talent development company SHIFT, which helps veterans in all five branches of the armed forces with career changes outside of the military to help find careers throughout the league through MLB Human Resources. With SHIFT, which is run by veterans and based in Silicon Valley, MLB HR is facilitating the job-search process for positions in the Commissioner's Office, with all 30 clubs, at MLB Network and MLB.com.
In May, MLB donated 100 percent of all royalties earned through the sales of on-field apparel on Memorial Day to the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors and the Folds of Honor Foundation, for a minimum $500,000 collective donation.
Each of MLB's 30 clubs also continues to make contributions to military service members.
Daniel Kramer is a reporter for MLB.com based in Denver. Follow him on Twitter at @DKramer_.
