Archive for » June 20th, 2012«

20 Jun 2012

VA to Increase Mental Health Care Access through 200000 …


WASHINGTON, Jun 20, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) –
In a continuing effort to increase Veterans’ access to mental health
care, the Department of Veterans Affairs has set a goal to conduct more
than 200,000 clinic-based, telemental health consultations for all
mental health specialties in fiscal year 2012. This follows VA’s
announcement last month that it would no longer charge Veterans a
copayment when they receive care in their homes from VA health
professionals using video conferencing.

“Telemental health provides Veterans quicker and more efficient access
to the types of care they seek,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric
K. Shinseki. “We are leveraging technology to reduce the distance they
have to travel, increase the flexibility of the system they use, and
improve their overall quality of life. We are expanding the reach of our
mental health services beyond our major medical centers and treating
Veterans closer to their homes.”

The clinic-based telehealth program involves the more than 800 VA
community-based outpatient clinics (CBOCs) where many Veterans receive
primary care. If the CBOCs do not have a mental health care provider
available, secure video teleconferencing technology is used to connect
the Veteran to a provider within VA’s nationwide system of care.

As a result, Veterans can arrange appointments at times more in synch
with their schedules. The program improves access to general and
specialty services in geographically remote areas where it can be
difficult to recruit mental health professionals.

“As technology is improving people’s lives in many areas, telemental
health is making access to health care and support easier for Veterans
with mental health conditions,” said Dr. Robert A. Petzel, Under
Secretary for Health. “For example, one combat Veteran from Iraq cites
telemental health as a critical factor in rebuilding her life and coping
with the aftermath of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and military sexual
trauma. Telemental health offered her a safe and convenient setting to
receive gender sensitive services that helped her fit back into civilian
life after three months of therapy.”

Since the start of the Telemental Health Program, VA has completed over
550,000 patient encounters. In Fiscal Year 2011 alone, more than 140,000
encounters were conducted with 55,000 Veterans via CBOCs, where
providers at 150 hospitals delivered care to Veterans at more than 500
clinics.

The Telehealth Expansion Initiative launched in May 2011 called for an
additional 21 regional leads, 144 facility coordinators and 1,150
clinical technicians to VA’s workforce. When fully implemented, the
expansion will provide a potential capacity of 1.2 million consultations
annually.

Video to the home is currently projected to grow to 2,000 patients by
the end of fiscal year 2012, with 1,500 using innovative new Internet
Protocol (IP) video connected to Veterans’ personal computers.

In addition to supporting these current programs, the VHA National
Telemental Health Center in West Haven, Conn., has pioneered additional
new programs that delivered 1,000 specialized patient encounters from
mental health experts at multiple VA sites to Veterans throughout the
nation. These include over 100 compensation and pension exams, 700
clinical encounters to over 165 Veterans enrolled in behavioral pain
treatment programs, and 200 clinical-video and telephone encounters to
over 70 Veterans enrolled in a bipolar disorder treatment program.

This campaign is part of VA’s overall mental health program. Last year,
VA provided quality, specialty mental health services to 1.3 million
Veterans. Since 2009, VA has increased the mental health care budget by
39 percent. Since 2007, VA has seen a 35 percent increase in the number
of Veterans receiving mental health services, and a 41 percent increase
in mental health staff.

In April, as part of an ongoing review of mental health operations,
Secretary Shinseki announced VA would add approximately 1,600 mental
health clinicians as well as nearly 300 support staff to its existing
workforce of 20,590 to help meet the increased demand for mental health
services. The additional staff would include nurses, psychiatrists,
psychologists, and social workers.

For more information, on VA’s telemental health, visit the Office of
Telehealth Services at
http://www.telehealth.va.gov/ .

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs


        U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
        Office of Public Affairs
        Media Relations
        202-461-7600

Copyright Business Wire 2012


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20 Jun 2012

Corporate donations in US hold steady, individual gifts up









Angela Gonzales
Senior Reporter- Phoenix Business Journal

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Corporate donations held steady at $14.55 billion in 2011 according to Giving USA’s annual report released today.

The “Giving USA: Annual Report on Philanthropy” showes individual donations rose 3.9 percent in 2011 to $217.79 billion in contributions.

“Charitable giving continues to be a priority for the majority of American households as evidenced here in Giving USA’s report,” said Eileen Heisman, CEO of National Philanthropic Trust. “People were giving even during the lowest points of the recession, but as we make an economic rebound, donors feel more comfortable gifting their dollars—especially when they support a cause or organization that’s important to them.”

This report comes at a time when Valley nonprofits have had a tough time recovering from the recession.

For example, WellCare Foundation closed its doors last week after providing health care assistance for single working mothers and their children in the Valley.

While there is anecdotal evidence of tight donations, Arizona Grantmakers Forum 


, whose members include Piper, Helios and the likes, do not have data on the specific allocation of corporate grants in Arizona.

Angela Gonzales covers health, biotech and education.

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20 Jun 2012

CME resumes charity grants halted after MF Global failure


By Ann Saphir

CHICAGO, June 20 |
Wed Jun 20, 2012 11:48pm IST

CHICAGO, June 20 (Reuters) – CME Group Inc, the biggest
operator of U.S. futures exchanges, has resumed making grants
from its main charitable foundation after a seven-month halt
triggered by the failure of giant futures brokerage MF Global
Holdings Inc.

Charitable giving from the foundation is expected to fall
this year, however, to about $3 million from $3.8 million last
year, a CME spokeswoman told Reuters on Wednesday.

CME Group Foundation suspended new grant-making last
November after the exchange operator decided to empty CME Trust
– the foundation’s sole source of funding — to make payments
to former MF Global customers stung by shortfalls to their
accounts.

About $1.6 billion was found to be missing from customer
trading accounts in the wake of MF Global’s collapse.

As efforts to recover those funds drag on, the $50 million
in CME Trust has remained in limbo. It is scheduled to be paid
out only after the bankruptcy trustee makes his final
distribution of funds to creditors, and only if there is still a
shortfall.

No such finality seems likely in the near term, however;
James Giddens, the trustee tasked with recovering customer
money, is suing MF Global’s British unit for the return of about
$640 million, and that case is not set for trial until next
year.

The whole process of returning funds could take six years, a
top futures industry official said earlier this month.

MF Global customers have so far gotten back about 72 percent
of their money.

Meanwhile the funds in CME Trust continue to generate
interest income that is funneled to CME Group Foundation.

Earlier this month, foundation directors including CME Group
Executive Chairman Terrence Duffy quietly approved close to $1
million in grants to schools and charities, according to a list
provided to Reuters.

Grant recipients included IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law,
which won $240,000, and the Academy of Urban School Leadership,
which received $175,000. The foundation typically funds schools
and other charities with a focus on financial education.

TRUST

CME Trust was established in 1969 to provide financial
assistance to customers if a brokerage became insolvent.

Federal rules requiring brokers to keep client money
separate from their own made the prospect of customers actually
losing money in a broker default seem so remote that the CME’s
board in 2005 voted to channel the Trust’s money to public
charities.

Three years later it established the CME Group Foundation,
funded by annual donations from the Trust.

Then last year, the unthinkable happened: customers lost
money in MF Global’s default after the company improperly mixed
client funds with its own money.

CME operates the Chicago Board of Trade, the Chicago
Mercantile Exchange, and the New York Mercantile Exchange, and
only its own customers will be eligible for reimbursements from
CME Trust.

Once the Trust’s money is paid out, CME will continue to
fund the foundation’s grant-making from corporate coffers, a CME
spokeswoman said. She declined to say how the change may have an
impact on the exchange’s future level of corporate giving.

Two smaller charitable arms, the CME Group Community
Foundation and the CBOT Foundation, were not affected by the MF
Global debacle.

Total charitable giving from all CME charities was about $6
million last year, the same as the previous year, according to
information provided by the exchange operator.

That is in line with the nation as a whole, where corporate
donations nationally were also flat last year compared with the
prior year, a survey from philanthropic research group Giving
USA Foundation showed earlier this week.


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20 Jun 2012

State changing manager of Volusia, Flagler mental health, substance abuse contracts

DAYTONA BEACH — The Florida Department of Children Families is handing over its mental health and substance abuse contracts in Volusia and Flagler counties to a Tampa-based nonprofit organization July 1.

Lutheran Services Florida was awarded a $92.8-million-per-year contract to manage 72 state contracts in 23 counties in northeast Florida, the latest effort to privatize services provided by the government agency.

Sam Sipes, CEO of Lutheran Services Florida, said he hopes to minimize the duplication of services provided to patients and streamline programs offered, a goal that one local provider worries could mean lower levels of care than some patients need.

Sipes’ organization is contracting with the state at a time when agencies are coping with tight budgets. He met with local mental health providers during a Tuesday meeting of the Flagler/Volusia Behavioral Health Consortium.

“I can’t tell you we have a grand plan to turn straw into gold,” he told providers. “I think the challenge is to be prudent stewards of the resources we have and try to get the biggest bang for the buck.”

One of the organization’s main goals will be eliminating waiting lists for mental health and substance services while reducing administrative costs. In many cases, people seeking help for drug addiction and mental health issues are forced to wait for care because of capacity issues.

Sipes said trimming waiting lists could be achieved by doing a better job of identifying the right level of services for patients.

Robert Elkin, executive director of Daytona Beach-based Haven Recovery Center, said about 144 people are on a waiting list for his agency’s roughly 220 residential beds. The average wait time to get a bed is about 40-45 days.

Elkin said he’d like to reduce the waiting time, but patients must be given access to the right level of care. Redirecting people who need residential treatment to outpatient services is not the answer, he said.

“We all share the same goals,” Elkin said. “The devil is in the details and having adequate funding because everyone has waiting lists.”

A 2008 law passed by the Florida Legislature authorized the creation of managing entities to oversee DCF’s mental health and substance abuse contracts.

John Harrell, a DCF spokesman for the northeast Florida region, said the change will lower administrative costs for taxpayers and provide management that is closer to where services are offered.

“This is going to lead to better supervision of contracts that DCF pays for,” he said.

Chet Bell, CEO of Daytona Beach-based Stewart-Marchman-Act Behavioral Healthcare, said clients won’t notice a difference when the contracts change hands. However, mental health providers will have to adjust to interacting with a new entity.

“This is going to be an evolving process,” he said. “Everybody is going to have to figure out what the lay of the land looks like.”

DCF has relinquished other services in recent years to nonprofit entities. In 2005, Florida became the first state to fully privatize its child-welfare programs.



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20 Jun 2012

Diabetes linked with mental decline in elderly adults

The complications that result from diabetes may not just impact a person’s physical health – but their mental health is well.

Published in the Archives of Neurology, a new study has found that over a ten year period, older individuals with diabetes had much lower cognitive test scores than other people of their age without the condition, the New York Times reported.  The results were even more poignant for those with Type 2 diabetes, which is more related with obesity and inactivity.

“What we’ve shown is a clear association with diabetes and cognitive aging in terms of the slope and the rate of decline on these cognitive tests,” Dr. Kristine Yaffe, a professor of psychiatry and neurology at the University of California, San Francisco and the study’s lead author, told the New York Times. “That’s very powerful.”

Yaffe and her colleagues got their results after analyzing data from 3,069 people participating in the Health, Aging and Body Composition project – a long-term study of older adults in living in Pittsburgh and Tennessee.  Over about a decade, participants were repeatedly given cognitive tests that evaluated memorization skills, dexterity, coordination and overall mental state.

At the beginning of the study, those with diabetes had a slightly lower baseline score than those who did not.  But towards the study’s conclusion, the gap in cognitive tests greatly widened, with the diabetic participants scoring much more poorly.  Also, those who did not have diabetes at the start of the research but developed it later on scored much worse at the end of the study.

Click for more from the New York Times.


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20 Jun 2012

Gift Aid donations double to £3.8bn

(UKPA)
–
2 hours ago 

Charity giving using Gift Aid has almost doubled over the past decade, despite the squeeze on consumers’ spending, research has found.

The total annual value of such donations in the UK has risen by 95% in real terms since 2000/01 to reach £3.8 billion donated by around 17 million people in 2010/11, said Halifax.

The average amount given per person using Gift Aid, which allows charities to increase the value of their donations by claiming back basic rate tax on them, has dropped slightly to £223 a year in 2010/11, an 11% fall from a peak of £252 in 2008/09.

However a rise in the number of people making donations has meant that their total value has increased, said the study. Researchers suggested that the growth in giving via the internet over the last decade was a reason behind the overall increase in charitable donations.

Online fundraising business JustGiving, for example, has helped to raise more than £1 billion for good causes since it was set up in 2001 and it automatically reclaims Gift Aid on behalf of charities.

Consumers have faced huge pressures on their household budgets from the high cost of basic goods, low wage rises and high unemployment, although there are signs of the situation improving as inflation eases.

Anthony Warrington, director of current accounts at Halifax, said that charitable giving has proved to be “relatively resilient” in the tough economic climate. He said: “The research indicates, however, that charity donations are likely to be susceptible to an adverse change in household finances.

“Seventy-two per cent of people would stop donating financially to charity if they felt that they could no longer afford it and two in five people who currently donate would not be willing to give up anything to maintain their charity donations.”

The study also found that older people were more likely to give money to charity, with two thirds of people aged 65 and over saying they had donated cash in the last month, compared with just over a third of people aged between 18 and 34.

People in Yorkshire and Humberside were the most likely to give to official collectors, researchers found, while the greatest proportion of people donating monthly through direct debits and standing orders lived in Wales.

Copyright © 2012 The Press Association. All rights reserved.


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20 Jun 2012

The ‘charity’ bike ride where no money goes to charity

Riders signing up for Britain’s newest and most expensive charity cycling sportive could be forgiven for thinking that part of their entry fee goes direct to a good cause.

After all, the official title of the event is the Marie Curie Cancer Care Etape Pennines.

Together with its well established big brother north of the border, the Etape Caledonia, it charges the highest entry fee on the sportive calendar – £61. Yet none of that goes to the charity.

Instead, all profits go to one of the richest showbiz and sport talent agencies in the world, IMG, which includes Rafael Nadal, Justin Timberlake and Tyra Banks among its clients.

5,000 riders took part in May’s Etape Caledonia. Almost 3,000 have signed up for the Etape Pennines, which takes place in County Durham on 7 October. That’s a turnover of nearly £500,000.

Both events are closed-road sportives – yet does this really justify the high entry fee, especially as none of it goes to charity?

IMG certainly thinks so. In response to this question, it emailed me a list of what the entry fee covers. Included were all the things provided by other, cheaper sportives, such as “medical support” and “comprehensive ecommunications before and after the event making the experience as smooth as possible”.

The list also included “paying a large number of stewards and marshals”, even though the websites for both events make it clear these are volunteers who receive only “agreed travel expenses”.

And finally there was this: “Paying for the right to host events in some of the most beautiful locations in the country.”

As the largest independent producer of sports programmes in the world, IMG’s television division may well have to pay for the use of certain locations, but as far as I’m aware, no one has to pay “for the right” to host a cycling event on public roads in the UK, even if they are closed to motorized traffic. Instead, they have to apply to the local council for a road closure order and pay for policing costs.

In the case of the 81-mile Etape Caledonia, Perth and Kinross Council charged IMG their standard rate of £500 for the road closure order. In the case of the 78-mile Etape Pennine, this service was provided free by Durham county council.

The cost of policing such events is a slightly more complex issue. Neither of the two police forces concerned would tell me how much they charge for road-closures of this nature, but a set of official guidelines issued to chief police officers in England and Wales last year might provide a clue as to why IMG chose to share the name of its events with a well-known charity.

Under this “guidance on charging for police services”, forces are encouraged to offer “abatements” of up to 50% for “charitable events”. The Marie Curie Cancer Care Etape Pennines would conceivably qualify as just such an event.

IMG are obviously in the business of making money, whether that be from securing a lucrative endorsement deal for Maria Sharapova or charging “weekend warriors” a high price for their regular endorphin fix. The benefits to them of running Britain’s biggest cycling events are obvious. But what’s in it for the charity?

When I put this question to IMG, they emailed me back:

“We give them a large number of complimentary places (over 500) for them to use for fundraising purposes.”

I read “complimentary” as meaning the entry fees for these places would go directly to the charity or be waived completely. I was wrong. This is what Ali Cameron from Marie Curie told me:

“Once the event sells to the point where there are only 500 places left, the £61 registration fee still goes directly to the organisers but these riders will also be required to commit to raise a minimum of £250 for Marie Curie. They automatically become Daffodil Team members. This is the stage we are currently at.”

Only after these places have sold out do 50 “gold bond” places become available, where the £61 entry fee goes direct to Marie Curie.

To a regular rider and charity supporter such as myself, it seems a shame that IMG can’t be more upfront on their website about the fact none of the entry fee goes to Marie Curie. Several veterans of the Etape Caledonia I spoke to were surprised when I told them this was the case. “None of it went to charity? And all I got was a crappy water bottle?” said one.

It’s also a shame that Marie Curie feel the need to use a pan-global, profit-driven event management group to run their Etapes. Other charities, such as the British Heart Foundation and Action Medical Research, successfully run their own fundraising bike rides in which 100 per cent of the profits goes to them.

Last month, I did the 80-mile Cairn O’Mount Challenge sportive which raises money for development charities in Malawi. It cost me £25. The roads weren’t closed, but the route was so well designed – taking in back roads and part of the National Cycle Route 1 – that we hardly saw any motorised traffic anyway.

Other than that, it offered exactly the same features as the Caledonia and Pennines Etapes, ranging from well-stocked feed stations, marshals, clear signage, timing chips and even a certificate at the end (finishers at the Etape Caledonia received a plastic medal).

But the most satisfying part of it all was the knowledge that, according to the website, “at least £20″ of my entry fee was going direct to a good cause.


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20 Jun 2012

Military affairs beat: VA adds mental health staffers

The Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Medical Center has been authorized to hire up to 24 additional staff to beef up its mental health operations, part of a nationwide effort by the VA to address concerns that veterans are not getting the mental health attention they deserve. Nationally the VA is trying to quickly hire 1,600 mental health professionals.

The Minneapolis VA Health Care System employs 265 mental health clinicians, support staff and trainees and will be adding 21 clinicians and three support staff. The VA said it anticipates the majority will be hired locally within about six months and the most hard-to-fill positions filled by the end of the second quarter of fiscal year 2013.

Veterans seen by the Minneapolis hospital’s mental health unit rose 23 percent in the past five years. Staffing of the unit is up 22 percent. At the state’s other VA hospital in St. Cloud, the number of veterans seen for mental health issues grew by almost 30 percent since 2006.

Figures provided by U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s office show that St. Cloud staffing will grow by seven clinicians and two support staff. The VA’s Fargo facility, where a number of Minnesota veterans in northern Minnesota receive care, will increase by the same amount.

An inspector general’s report released this year faulted the VA for caring more about performance goals than helping veterans in need of care. The report said the VA lacked a reliable and accurate method of determining whether it is providing patients timely mental health care. The VA announced it was adding jobs across the country. But the VA already has about 1,500 vacancies in mental health jobs, mostly in regions whee positions are hard to fill.

Last year, the VA provided mental health services to 1.3 million veterans. Since 2009, the VA has increased the mental health care budget by 39 percent. Since 2007, the VA has seen a 35 percent rise in the number of veterans receiving mental health services, and a 41 percent increase in mental health staff.

Mark Brunswick • 612-673-4434


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20 Jun 2012

VA’s growing mental health commitment in South Texas

CORPUS CHRISTI —
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki often reminds us: as the tide of war recedes we have the opportunity, and the responsibility, to anticipate the needs of returning veterans. As these newest Veterans return home, we must ensure that they have access to quality mental health care in order to successfully make this transition to civilian life.

Last year, the VA provided specialty mental health services to more than 1.3 million veterans — a 35 percent increase since 2007 in the number of veterans who received mental health services at VA.

That’s why we recently announced that the VA will bring on an additional 1,600 mental health staff professionals and 300 support staff members nationwide, including 24 here in the VA Texas Valley Coastal Bend Health Care System, which includes Laredo, McAllen, Harlingen and Corpus Christi.

These efforts to hire more mental health professionals build on our record of service to veterans. President Barack Obama, Secretary Shinseki and the leaders of VATVCBHCS have devoted more people, programs, and resources to Veteran mental health services. The VA has increased the mental health care budget by 39 percent since 2009. What’s more, we’ve increased the number of mental health staff members by 41 percent since 2007.

That means today, we have a team of professionals 20,590 strong — all dedicated to providing much-needed direct mental health treatment to veterans.

While we have made great strides to expand mental health care access, we have much more work to do. The men and women who have had multiple deployments over a decade of combat have carried a tremendous burden for our country.

That’s why Secretary Shinseki has challenged the department to improve upon our progress and identify barriers that prevent Veterans from receiving timely treatment.

As we meet with veterans here in Deep South Texas, we learn firsthand what we need to do to improve access to care. Secretary Shinseki has sought out the hardest-to-reach, most underserved places — from the remote areas of Alaska to inner city Philadelphia — to hear directly from veterans and employees. And we’re taking action to reach out to those who need mental health care instead of waiting for them to come to us.

Our mission is to increase access to our care and services.

We’ve greatly increased the number of Veterans Readjustment Counseling Centers (Vet Centers) throughout the country. We’ve also developed an extensive suicide prevention program that saves lives every day. For example, our team at the Veteran Crisis Line has fielded more than 600,000 calls from veterans in need and helped rescue more than 21,000 veterans who were in immediate crisis. That’s 21,000 veterans who have been saved.

The mental health of America’s Veterans not only touches those of us at VA and the Department of Defense, but also families, friends, co-workers, and people in our communities.

We ask that you urge veterans in your communities to reach out and connect with VA services. To locate the nearest VA facility or Vet Center for enrollment and to get scheduled for care, veterans can visit the VA’s website at www.texasvalley.va.gov, www.facebook.com/VCBHCS, www.twitter.com/VCBHCS, or by calling the Crisis Line at 1-800-273-8255 (push 1) or texting 838255.


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20 Jun 2012

Donate a Suit and Change a Woman’s Life

Tampa, FL, June 20, 2012 –(PR.com)– On Point Executive Center offers a drop off location for suit’s for Dress for Success.

On Point Executive Center announces their partnership with the Tampa chapter of Dress for Success where they will serve as a drop off location for women executives to donate new or nearly new suits for donation.

Katie McGill, Executive Director for the Tampa chapter of Dress for Success is excited to expand their donation territory and their relationship with On Point Executive Center. She shares the non profit’s mission of promoting the economic independence of disadvantaged women by providing professional attire, a network of support and the career development tools to help women thrive in work and in life.

Karen Gillman, VP or Sales Marketing for On Point Executive Center and Co-Founder of Charity Chics is glad for the opportunity to share the need with other female executives who are eager to give back to the community. “We are proud to partner with Dress for Success, which allows our affiliates to provide deserving women with professional clothing that is vital in their job search process,” said Gillman. “This partnership is also an opportunity to introduce Dress for Success to countless individuals while sharing their mission with them.” “One suit per female executive in each of our networks will provide a tremendous supply for the Tampa chapter,” says Gillman.

Suits can be donated at On Point Executive Center located at 3030 N Rocky Point Drive, Suite 150, Tampa FL. Donations are accepted Mon – Fri from 8:30 am – 4 pm. The donations will be given to Dress for Success to be used for local women interviewing to entering the work force. Please deliver your items on hangars and wear ready. Donations are tax deductible.

The women Dress for Success serves:
· Are single mothers (70%), raising an average of 2-3 children.
· Represent all ethnicities and races.
· Range in age from 18-60, with the majority age 18-38.

How Dress For Success works:
Dress for Success provides each woman with a business suit when she has a job interview. When she successfully lands the job, she returns to Dress for Success for up to one week’s worth of business-appropriate separates. She also receives an invitation to join the Professional Women’s Group, our career development and networking group, and participate in other employment retention programs such as the Career Center, mentoring and career fairs.

Dress for Success serves job-ready women by referral only from more than 3,000 non-profit organizations including domestic violence agencies, homeless shelters and job-training programs. Their programs transition women towards self-sufficiency by addressing their social and economic needs in relation to work, home and community. Each woman is a success story: She has gone from unemployment to economic independence.

The results of their programs speak for themselves:
· Dress for Success has suited more than 500,000 women since our inception in 1997.
· In 2009 alone, Dress for Success served nearly 50,000 women.
· 75% of Professional Women’s Group members have retained their jobs after one year.
· 62% of Professional Women’s Group members have been promoted and/or received salary increases.
· 60% of Professional Women’s Group members have improved their credit.
· 57% of Professional Women’s Group members have furthered their education by enrolling in or completing a GED or college program.

About Dress for Success
Dress for Success is an international not-for-profit organization that promotes the economic independence of disadvantaged women by providing professional attire, a network of support and the career development tools to help women thrive in work and in life. Since starting operations in 1997, Dress for Success has expanded to more than 100 cities in the U.S., Australia, Canada, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, the UK and the West Indies. To date, Dress for Success has helped more than 500,000 women work towards self-sufficiency. Visit www.dressforsuccess.org to learn more.

About Karen Gillman and On Point Executive Center
On Point Executive Center provides virtual office services to over 260 local businesses. On Point Executive Center affords small businesses the luxuries of a large corporation on a limited budget. Receptionists, office space on demand, translation services, notaries and more – on demand. For more information on them visit http://www.onpointexecutivecenter. or call the Tampa office at 813-350-7800.

Karen Gillman is Director of Women’s Ministries at Mt. Zion Assembly of God, Co-founder of Charity Chics, a member of Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce, a member of Working Women of Tampa Bay and is involved in a wide variety of local events. She was named one of three finalists for the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce Outstanding Leader of the Year award, named 2011 Fearless Women, finalist in the 2011 Business Woman of the Year Award – TBBJ, and one of the Top 300 Businesses in the South by Business Leader Magazine.

Contact: Karen Gillman
On Point Executive Center, Inc.
(813)350-7800
info@onpointexecutivecenter.com


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