On Saturday, May 18, 2013, Soldier On president and CEO Jack Downing was awarded a degree of Doctor of Public Service, honoris causa, by the Board of Trustees of Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts. Below is a letter to Jack from MCLA explaining the work he has done with veterans to earn this degree.

“Jack Downing, It is impossible to overstate the impact that you, and Soldier On, the organization you serve as a president and CEO, have had on how we treat out veterans in this country. Your passionate defense of your values, your sense of social justice, your empathy, and your boundless energy have resulted in an improved quality of life for the most vulnerable members of American society.

As a boy growing up in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, you were one of nine children. Your brothers and sisters were encouraged by your parents to engage in debate, and you learned early on how to argue the values and positions you held dear.

As a young man you won the heart of Mary Tobin, and Mary has been your source of strength, love, and truth through good times and bad. Together, you and Mary have created a home for your two biological children, and for the seven you’ve adopted.

You have been a powerful advocate for youthful offenders, and for the imprisoned and the addicted. These experiences, and your service to your community, prepared you for what would become your defining work: changing the end of the story for homeless veterans of U.S. military service.

In 2001 you became the head of United Veterans of America, Inc. in Leeds, Massachusetts. At the time, the UVA shelter program was in disarray and the Veterans’ Administration had cut the program’s funding. In your words, veterans were ricocheting between the medical center, the shelter, the streets, and prison. You went to Washington, made your case, and your funding was restored.

You recast UVA as Soldier On, an agency that would create permanent supportive housing for formerly homeless veterans. Speaking truth to power, you fearlessly advocated for new programs and increased funding for homeless veterans.

You sounded the alarm that women veterans were returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with all the injuries suffered by mal veterans, in addition to alarming rates of rape and abuse. You have borne witness, and your testimonies before congressional committees are both legendary and memorable.

You hired new, young professional staff, among them women. You trained Soldier On’s formerly homeless veterans to manage the facilities in Leeds, and embarked on unprecedented and ambitious effort to create a home ownership opportunity for homeless veterans. Your dream was that of veterans owning, occupying, and managing their own homes and living free of institutional constraints.

Today, the Gordon Mansfield Veterans Village in Pittsfield, Massachusetts is home to 39 formerly homeless veterans. Currently, Soldier On is building two new veterans villages in Massachusetts, and another is planned for New Hampshire. In nine more states across the country, Soldier on is providing technical assistance to others wishing to emulate the model. BusinessWest Magazine has recognized you as a Difference Maker and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has singled Soldier On out for recognition as well.

You have shown us that veterans deserve better, and that therapy, support, case management, and safe, decent housing can help our veterans return to productive lives once their military service is complete. You have opened our eyes to the plight of women veterans. You have rebuilt lives and sheltered battered souls. And, yes, you have changed the end of the story for homeless veterans.

John F. Downing, on behalf of veterans everywhere, the Board of Trustees of Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts is proud to award you the degree of Doctor of Public Service, honoris causa.”

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CUMMINGTON — Iraq war veteran Alonzo Swift lived in his car for close to four years after becoming unemployed soon after his return from duty in 2005. This changed when he learned about Soldier On, an organization that provides services for homeless veterans, at an outreach event in Springfield in 2010.

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Visit http://www.memorialdaymarathon.com/ for more information on the races and events!

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Soldier On and the Gordon H. Mansfield Veterans Community in Pittsfield, MA were featured in FHLB Boston’s Advisory Council 2012 Annual Report.

Download the featured Soldier On story here,

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Early this week, Soldier On president and CEO John (“Jack”) Downing was invited to attend the first HVAC Veterans Service Organization Roundtable of the 113^th Congress. Chairman Jeff Miller (FL-01) hosted this off-the-record discussion on Tuesday, April 16, amongst veterans service providers in Washington, DC. Jack was one of 30 representatives in attendance. Attendees were a compilation of veterans service agencies, HVAC members and congressional staff. The discussion that took place addressed perennial veterans-related challenges such as VA’s benefits claims backlog and mental health care access.

“VSOs give veterans a voice on Capitol Hill, so it’s important for us to listen to what they have to say,” Miller said. “Today’s event was a great opportunity to have a candid discussion about what our committee has been doing to improve the lives of veterans, our priorities for the 113^th Congress as well as those of the VSO community. The input and support of America’s VSOs has been invaluable to our work at the committee over the past two years, and I look forward to strengthening our partnership as we work to ensure our veterans receive the care and benefits they deserve.”

“I would like to thank chairman Jeff Miller and his colleagues on the Veterans Affairs Committee for their willingness to listen and implement the changes that will begin to create a more rapid and dignified response to each veterans disability claim,” said Jack Downing. “Government works best when our elected officials listen and then hold the appropriate institutions accountable.”

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It wasn’t drugs, alcohol or jail that sent this college graduate into a downward spiral. It was perfectionism, an extreme preoccupation with neatness and a need to control his environment that devastated his personal relationships and created major suffering and stress in his life.

“I was on my third try attempting to live with the same woman when she sent me packing again,” Tom recalled. “Even though we had been together over 10 years, we just couldn’t live together because I had such a need to control everything. I ironed her clothes, did the shopping, house cleaning, laundry, cooking and organized the whole house to where it looked more like a museum than a home that was lived in. If something was scratched, stained or dented, or in any way ‘not perfect,’ I tossed it out. I emptied the trash four or five times daily. My only motto was, ‘when in doubt, throw it out.’ That poor woman had to come home after a hard day at work and check the dumpster for her prized possessions that I considered excess debris and timeworn scraps.”

Tom found it difficult to relax, and despite excelling in his work, he could not understand why his private life always unraveled. It wasn’t because he wasn’t intelligent or motivated. Tom earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from Amherst College and both a master’s degree in Social Work and a Non-Profit Business Administration degree from Boston College. He had worked as a correctional officer, counseling supervisor and program manager for two different organizations. He earned a black belt in Tae Kwon Do and taught martial arts for six years. Still, his behavior had led him to homelessness.

In 2010, after the death of his father, Tom boarded a train from California to his native Massachusetts to help settle the estate. While in Massachusetts, he discovered Soldier On during an online search for veteran’s assistance. Once he settled into the Soldier On program, Tom worked with a psychotherapist who diagnosed him with OCPD (Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder). Although he initially denied he had this problem, Tom gradually began to accept his situation and agreed to work on his struggles under one condition – that he be allowed to do so without medication. Soldier On supported his decision and Tom has shown dramatic improvements in his ability to interact with people on a collaborative and interpersonal level.

Tom currently serves as an outreach case manager for the Soldier On SSVF (Supportive Services for Veteran Families) federal grant in eastern and upstate New York, helping fellow veterans to access support services to avoid homelessness. He also continues to see a therapist on a regular basis at his place of employment at no charge. At Soldier On, Tom has served as a committee member, resident staff member and General Manager of the Pittsfield facility.

“Not only did my associations excel and improve after Soldier On, but the relationship with my partner in California is now healed,” Tom said. “We are both extremely happy and grateful to Soldier On, and plan to spend the rest of our lives together. I could not have achieved this without Soldier On. I was allowed to set my own pace, address my issues and continue to work in a supportive environment all at the same time. I knew that if I fell, I would be picked up, brushed off and set back on track by people who truly care about you as both a struggling veteran and an at-risk human being.”

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Virginia will be working closely with the Soldier On Women’s Program team to bring health and wellness experiences to the women veterans who reside in our transitional program.  Encompassing “mind, body and spirit” the program will enhance the residents’ lives by giving them the chance to try different exercise experiences including yoga, walking, running and aerobics.  Classes offering a wide array of creative experiences such as jewelry design, painting, silk screening, scrap-booking and wood burning will be offered.  Virginia’s main goal will be to analyze each resident’s schedule and give her the opportunity to try new experiences that will open doors for employment, reengagement with family and general all-around happiness and fulfillment.

Please join the Women’s Program team in welcoming Virginia to the Soldier On family.  We can all benefit from embracing a life of health and wellness!

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NORTHAMPTON, Mass. (WGGB) — Transitioning homeless veterans into homeowners. Tonight, we introduce you to John Downing, one of this year’s Difference Makers.

John Downing’s passion is serving our nations veterans by making them feel at home.

As the president of Soldier On, Downing has worked tirelessly to restoring the diginity and purpose of our nation’s homeless veterans.

“In our program, we have no rules. Our job is to make you successful to the degree that you want success and to the degree that you want to return to the center of your life. So what we have been able to do and started to do was we deliver services where you live,” Downing says.

And many of the veterans that Solider On works with are now just be shuttled into shelters. They are being offered the chance to own their own home.

Downing adds, “If you could own where you lived, you probably wouldn’t leave. Now, that magical fact worked for us so what we decided to do was figure out how we could build affordable housing that you could own and that will have sustainability and ‘controlability’ for the rest of your life.”

Soldier On builds condos and works with veterans to help them have an actual ownership stake, all the while bringing much needed services right to there door.

And in this era of budget cuts and austerity, Soldier On is proving that their model reduces the long term costs.

“With the model of home ownership and services being delivered where you are drives down – over the lifetime of a homeless veteran – the long term medical care costs by 300 percent.”

Downing works alongside a dedicated staff of young people who share his commitment to those who have served our country and being there whenever they are needed.

“You can’t do this work on an 8 to 5 basis. This is a seven day a week, 24 hour a day challenge. Our people are homeless 24 hours a day. Their lives have been broken for years. They need us to be there when they need us,” Downing notes.

To view video and read the entire story, visit http://www.wggb.com/2013/03/20/2013-difference-makers-john-downing/.

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 A campaign in support of Soldier On & New England Public Radio, made possible by Berkshire Bank.

 Soldier On is partnering with New England Public Radio in a radio campaign that will support the 16 unit transitional housing building for women veterans and their children that we are breaking ground on in the fall. For every donation that you make to the radio campaign, Soldier On will receive a 2×4 to go towards the construction of our building. Visit nepr.com/contribute or call 1-800-639-8850 to give. The campaign is ten days long, lasting from March 6 to March 16. Tune in to NEPR, 88.5 FM or 640 AM, or contact Maggie Porter, *protected email*, to learn more! A special thank you to Berkshire Bank and the Berkshire Bank Foundation for their support and for making this radio campaign possible!

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