Search Engine to Find Scholarships and Financial Help for Veterans and Their Families

On my way to finding out about the new regulations on schools that recruit student veterans, I found a new aid in finding scholarships for veterans and families from the Military Officers Association of America.  It's their scholarship search engine, and it works for veterans and their family members searching for scholarships. 

While it is billed as a scholarship finder, it can also find other forms of financial aid for veterans, too.  Just choose the categories into which you fall--veteran, family member--and the type of aid you are looking for, and what state you live in.  They list scholarships, fellowships, loans, etc., but also grants-in-aid/personal assistance.  That last one will lead you to things like emergency aid and help with living expenses.  It also has search options for race and types of disabilities, and so could be helpful in finding aid for disability assistance. 

For instance, I did a search for someone who was a veteran, living in Ohio, with an orthopedic disability looking for grant-in-aid, and it lead me to the military injury relief grants for the state, the Ohio income tax reduction for military retirement income, (although it only leads you to the tax office.  You have to dig around for the military exemptions), and the medical assistance program from the Fraternal Order of Eagles for the children of FOE members who died in action.  When I changed the hypothetical veteran's location to California, I found the California property tax exemption for veterans,

New Regulations Coming on Recruitment of Veterans to For Profit Schools. Also, Some Student Veteran Scholarships

The president signed an executive order on April 27th aimed at dealing with the high-pressure recruitment of veterans to for-profit colleges.  In the order, colleges will be required to create a transparent document, (something like this one), showing how much you will owe if you sign up for the college, and compare it to the cost of going to another public or private school. Rules would be created barring some schools from doing their high-pressure recruiting right on or near military bases.  And rules will be created to keep private schools from creating government-looking websites that fake out potential students into thinking that they are official sites of the U.S. government or the military.

The stakes are huge: federal law bars private schools eligible for Title IV federal aid from getting more than 90% of their revenue from federal student loans. BUT...the big loophole is that military aid does not count as federal aid, so some colleges have worked hard to get GI benefits.  As shown in this PBS documentary, some of them don't do it in nice, fair ways.

How can veterans protect themselves right now?  They can see that the schools they are considering is accredited.  Here's also a sheet of information from the VA Office on choosing a school. 

And, in related news about bad actors, the Student Veterans of America just ran down a list of its chapters that had their charter revoked.  The SVA is an organization by and about student veterans, but the chapters that got kicked out for having leadership not by the students, but by school officials. 

In better news for scholar veterans, there are some SVA scholarships available, such as the STEM scholarship for those in science and technology, the Google scholarship for those in computer science, and the Yellow Ribbon scholarship for outstanding students in private or out-of-state schools facing financial hardships. 

Ohioans Can Get Free Financial Information This Summer All Around the State (And Lower-Cost Business Loans All Year Long)

Hi, all!  I would have posted earlier if I had not been felled by viruses, but I'm back on line.  Once again, the Ohio State Treasurer's Office will have its FREE half day financial ed courses all over the state, Smart Money Choices.  It includes parts on budgeting, student debt (how to stay away from it, how to deal with it if you're in it), investments and social security.  It takes place in seven cities across the state.   Sign up begins soon.

For years, the Ohio's Treasurers Office has run this program, along with other consumer ed programs.  But, as I've written before, it does some other programs--Agri-link, a linked deposit program that gives farmers and people in agribusiness a way of getting loans at a lower rate than commercially available, GrowNow, a linked deposit loan program for other businesses, and Veteran's Preference, a policy by which veterans are given preferences in these programs.  These are opportunities for businesses to borrow for less. For individual consumers, there's SaveNow, lets private citizens save money with interest rates 3% above commercial rates, and EcoLink, a linked deposit program for homeowners, used to make their homes energy efficient by allowing them to borrow energy efficiency money more cheaply.  If you fall into one of these groups, check it out. 

Sometimes, other states offer deposit-link programs, too.  To see if your state treasury offers one, find your state's office at the National Association of State Treasurer's Site.

More Places for Artists to Find Aid and Work Opportunities, Financial Aid

I've written some previous posts with online resources for artists, but now there are some more to add.  The Pew Charitable Trust has a website with resources for artists.  Since Pew is Philadelphia-based, there is a slant towards Philadelphia and Pennsylvania in some of the entries, but some of them are nationwide.  It includes grants and work opportunities, but also legal, medical and insurance resources, promotional services,emergency help and more.  However, if you click a link to the name of a resource, it will take you to a description of the resource, not the website.  You then need to click the website link on the description page.  My favorite resource listed is Duotrope's Digest,  an interactive list of over 4,000 publishers of novels, short stories, poems, nonfiction articles etc.  You can search for your next publisher by genre, subgenre, pay scale, royalty rate, and more, and sortable by rate of submission acceptance, pay, and response time. 

Another source of help aimed for people new to the arts is Art Emerging.  It has a short section on grants, art shows, how to look out for art show scams, residences, and more. It seems terribly unformed--it's supposed to be created by artists, but there are dead links.  I wouldn't consider it a first place to go, but you might find some little nuggets to help you out.

Find the Truth About Working from Home Schemes in Northwest Ohio

On Monday, April 23, the Heatherdowns Branch of the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library will have a great program on the truth about work at home opportunities.  It sounds good, but how can you be sure you won't be scammed?  Learn the truth from great speakers, including a rep from the Ohio Attorney General's office, the Better Business Bureau and others.  It runs from 6:30 till 8 p.m. at 3265 Glanzman.  If you are thinking about work at home offers you see on the internet, check out this program.

If you can't make it, at least read this list of suggestions from the Ohio Attorney General's office.

Contest for New Food Entrepreneurs in Northwest Ohio. And Help for Food Businesses Elsewhere

A short while back, somebody came across this blog by putting the following query in Google: "a kitchen in Toledo where I can make my soup."  I knew EXACTLY what they needed; unfortunately, they came and went, and this blog did not have the answer at the time.  But I do now.

They were looking for something that is called variously a "cooperative kitchen," a "food incubator," or a "culinary incubator."  What all these names mean in general is a professional-grade kitchen and small scale food manufacturing place that can be rented to get food entrepreneurs started in production without the expense of creating their own kitchen.  In the Toledo/northwest Ohio area, that would be NOCK (the Northwest Ohio Cooperative Kitchen) in Bowling Green. It has a baking and canning license and is approved by the Ohio Department of Agriculture.  It also has a food processing section available.  But to participate, you have to be business-ready: at least $500,000 in product and general liability insurance, and a refundable $200 deposit.  Rent is $20 an hour (minimum 4 hours use), and you must get an orientation and training on using the facility. 

It's affilitated with the Center for Innovative Food Technology, which provides many types of help for small and growing food businesses, like information on marketing, labeling, food safety, etc.  And now they have a contest that can help the winning businesses: The Fifth Annual Food Product Development Contest.  If live in northwest Ohio and have a recipe with great commercial potential, you can submit it by May 25th.  The three winners with the best products will be given one full year's assistance towards making their product commercially viable: they will be allowed to produce it in the kitchen, and get advice from experts in the field.  They will get help with nutritional analysis, tradmark and copyright issues, label design and more.  For more information, visit the website or call Paula Ray at 419 535 6000, extention 117.  There are also contests for central and northeast Ohio.

But Toledo is not the only place in the U.S. with kitchens like this.  This is one directory of cooperative kitchens, though there are many more.  To find more, try googling "cooperative kitchen," or "food incubator," or "culinary incubator" along with the name of your state.  If you are a fledgling food business, or a cook with a great idea, they can be a great help in getting your business off the ground. 

Real Minority Business Help--Where to Find Help in Minority Business Certification

A lot has been made of "grants to minority business."  Often, these are wildly exaggerated. There are NOT grants to start up most businesses--even when grants are targeted for business, it is for businesses that are already up and running, and are given to encourage a business to expand.  However, there are programs targeted to minority businesses with an eye towards increasing their business prospects.

One of these is minority certification.  If a business is certified as minority owned, it may help them get business from contractors, or state and local governments, who are trying to do more business with minority or disadvantaged businesses.  For instance, the state of Ohio has a searchable list of minority-owned businesses, and EDGE-certified (businesses owned by disadvantaged people) that governments and contractors can use to identify such businesses.  The state of Ohio has a webpage showing you how to get that certification for your business as well as contacts throughout the state that can work with you to get it.  Call 1-800-848-1300 for the nearest office.

There are other centers that help minority businesses with certification and government contract readiness throughout the U.S.  For a list of state minority business certification offices, see this site.  There is also a federal site in the Small Business Administration that can tell you about the federal minority, women, and veterans business programs.

Paid Internships for Minorities

Paid internships are tough to find, but a few are out there.  Some organizations have programs especially to develop the leadership skills and career prospects for minority students. One is an internship by Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute for Hispanic undergraduates. It provides 12 weeks (8 for the summer session) serving an internship in Congress, a stipend, and possibly credit for school—depending on which school they attend.  The deadline for application for fall session is April 27^th.

The Asian Pacific American Institute also has a summer internship in Washington that covers eight weeks in either Congress or another government office, such as the White House or cabinet.  Entry is closed for this year, but see their website for next year’s information.

In the hard sciences, the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering has internships in engineering for African American, Latino, and American Indian engineering students.  They also have scholarships and pre-college programs to encourage minorities to enter the field of engineering.

The J. Paul Getty Foundation offers a Multicultural Undergraduate Internship for African-American, Hispanic, American Indian, Asian or Pacific Islander students that allows them to work for ten weeks, forty hours a week, in the arts.  Students need not be art majors.

A lot of books on the topic, sadly, are several years old.  For more up to date information on internships,  go to your local library and try the scholarship series by Gail Ann Schlachter and R. David Weber on scholarships.  There are volumes for African-Americans, Hispanics, women, Asian-Americans, and members of the military and their families.   You can also look in the Foundation Grants to Individuals Online using the term “internships.”  Another newer book is How to Land a Top-Paying Federal Job: Your Complete Guide to Opportunities, Internships, Resumes and Cover Letters, Networking, Interviews, Salaries, Promotions, and More! by Lily Madeleine Whiteman.

Money for Women Athletes to Train and Travel, and other Athletic Training Money

The Women's Sports Foundation has a fund to pay for serious, competitive women athletes to travel and train. It's for individuals and teams (and by teams, they don't mean a community, club or school team, but a group unto themselves), and the deadline for 2012 is June 8th.  The applicants have to have a successful competitive record outside of their region, either nationally or internationally, and have amateur status.  The purpose of the grant is to get the training needed to improve their game.

How to find out other grants for individual athletes?  There's a couple of strategies.  One is to find the governing body of the sport in which you are interested.  These national or international groups may have grants for individual competitors.  Access for Athletes is a fund sponsored by the Challenged Athletes Foundation for equipment and training for disabled athletes.  Often, you have to be a member to be eligible for a grant or scholarship, such as the scholarship by the American Painted Horse Foundation.  You can also go to a library close to you that has the Foundation Center Grants to Individuals Online, and choose the "advanced search" option, using "athletics" in the "field of interest" field. 

Autism Awareness Day Celebrated With Free or Reduced Cost Communication Apps

Today, April 2nd, is World Autism Awareness Day, and many producers of communications apps are offering them free or at reduced cost for today for iphones or ipads.  And while android apps are not in the program, you can see the emerging list of android communications apps at this link.    And if you use the italk widget (available at their website), a percentage of the sales will go towards this great organization that provides communication devices for kids with autism spectrum disorders.