It’s time for week three of our Artist Spotlight Series! We’re a few weeks away from the opening night of our exhibit, so if you’re in Aspen this summer, mark your calendars for August 4th and come join us for a wonderful night of art. This week, we are focusing in on Veteran artist, Kristy Kaburopulos.

For week two of our Artist Spotlight series, we bring you the work of Andrew DeJesse. Andrew served one tour in Iraq, and two tours in Afghanistan. During these tours, Andrew worked with local populaces on education, infrastructure, governance, and cultural heritage projects. Andrew now serves as a Civil Affairs Officer for the military here in the United States, specializing as a Cultural Heritage Preservation Officer. 

Challenge America is proud to announce that we will post a weekly Artist Spotlight to feature the talented artists that submitted works to our National Exhibit of Veteran Art.

With your generous support, Veterans in the Nashville area recently completed a three-day music therapy retreat. Each participant received a free guitar courtesy of Two Old Hippies Lifestyle Store in Nashville, a delicious BBQ dinner courtesy of Jim-N-Nicks of Nashville, and of course three days on the farm courtesy of Vince Gill and Amy Grant.

Challenge America is thrilled to announce its plans to host a National Exhibit of Veteran Art, August 5-31, 2017.

Motorcycle riding is inherently dangerous. According to a 2014 study by the federal government, motorcycle fatalities occur 27 times more frequently than passenger car fatalities. There were 4,693 motorcycle deaths in 2015, accounting for 13 percent of all motor vehicle crash deaths that year.

The team at Challenge America is excited to announce its plans to attend the VETCON Conference in Redwood City, CA - the heart of Silicon Valley - March 23-25. VETCON is a conference built by veteran entrepreneurs for veteran entrepreneurs as well as veterans who want to launch their own businesses. 

Although it is increasingly the case that medium to large companies actively recruit Veterans to fill their workforce needs, many Veterans continue to struggle with the transition to civilian employment. For those who cope with service related injuries, including post-traumatic stress, the strain of this transition piles on their other challenges.

Are you interested in doing more for the Veterans in your local community but don't know what to do or how to get started? There is no doubt that service members, Veterans, and their families often need your support.

A great deal of blood and sacrifice has been expended to protect America freedoms and the America way of life, both of which are now threatened by the most mundane sources imaginable: fresh water. Water resource scarcity is a severe challenge and one that grows worse by the day.

At Challenge America we understand it can be tempting to spend beyond your means during the holidays, but we also know that the most meaningful gifts are often the ones that come from the heart, not the pocketbook. It is in this spirit that we decided to share a few suggestions for creating your own heartfelt homemade gifts this holiday season.

The transition to civilian life can be difficult even under the best of conditions, but it is particularly hard for those who are the victims of military sexual trauma (MST). In the most basic terms, MST is the result of sexual harassment or sexual assault during the course of military service.

Military families often struggle to reconnect as they navigate the transition to civilian life. In these situations, it is sometimes best to escape from the distractions and drudgery of daily life, load up the family car, and take a trip to our National Parks.

Veteran-related nonprofit organizations face growing competition for increasingly scarce financial resources. The vast majority have annual operating budgets of less than $100,000, with revenues that have remained more or less constant since 2001.

If you run a national nonprofit organization, how do you reach the individuals and organizations you want to serve? Online marketing offers one possible solution. However, given the dramatic growth in online content, an organization has to produce a professional website if it hopes to compete and succeed in this virtual space.

Nine out of ten military spouses want to work yet are either unemployed or underemployed. Challenge America is endeavoring to solve this problem by providing these spouses free aptitude testing and career counseling services.

Student Veterans often say their first year of college is the most difficult part of the transition back to civilian life. Veterans enter college with advanced skills, including a solid work ethic and motivation, yet often struggle to succeed.