Burton Blatt Institute awarded $35,000 for Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities

Burton Blatt Institute awarded $35,000 for Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with DisabilitiesJuly 01, 2009Me’Shae Brooks-Rollingmrolling@law.syr.edu

The Disabled American Veterans Charitable Service Trust has granted the Burton Blatt Institute (BBI) $35,000 to continue its partnership with the Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University to conduct its Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities (EBV). The EBV offers cutting-edge, experiential training in small business management and entrepreneurship to U.S. military veterans disabled as a result of their service to their country. The EBV program was founded in the Whitman School at Syracuse University in 2007 and has since expanded to the Anderson School of Management at UCLA, Florida State University’s College of Business, the Mays Business School at Texas A&M and the Krannert School of Management at Purdue University.

The DAV sponsorship of BBI supports the institute’s work with each of the five participating universities related to the disability components of the program. BBI provides disability-related curriculum, training and resources for veterans enrolled in the program at each campus. BBI staff and partners deliver training, benefit planning and consultation to the participating veterans before, during and after each session to assist them in making informed decisions about business goals and business incentives and resources available to entrepreneurs with disabilities or employers that hire workers with disabilities. The program provides information to veterans about disability benefits and incentives available to them to facilitate business start-up, including tax credits and deductions available to hire and accommodate other disabled veterans when businesses grow.

“The EBV program allows BBI to apply its expertise as a problem solver and innovator in the advancement of employment goals for individuals with disabilities to the community of veterans who pursue self-employment,” says BBI Chief Operating Officer James Schmeling. “DAV’s support for this program allows us to continue to work at the intersection of disability, veteran’s issues and self-employment.”

“This program leverages BBI’s experience in self-employment for people with disabilities and provides an opportunity to combine world-class entrepreneurship training with BBI’s pioneering work on disability and economic self-sufficiency,” says BBI Managing Director for Program Development Gary Shaheen.

BBI fosters public-private dialogue to advance the civic, economic and social participation of persons with disabilities in a global society. The institute takes its name from Burton Blatt (1927-85), a pioneer in humanizing services for people with disabilities. BBI currently has offices in Syracuse; New York City; Washington, D.C.; Atlanta; and Tel Aviv. For more information, visit http://bbi.syr.edu or contact Schmeling at (315) 443-8953 or jschmeli@law.syr.edu.

For more information on the Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities, visit http://whitman.syr.edu/ebv/.