Admiral Mullen and his wife Deborah both received awards for their work with the families of our fallen heroes. In his acceptance he simply stated that when it comes to remembrance of these ultimate sacrifices we need to be ever vigilant and more creative in finding new ways to honor those Veterans who made the ultimate sacrifice and their Survivors.

The “Elephant in the Room” for me is that one day is not enough to honor these brave souls!

While serving the Veterans Corporation this past year, I have had the privilege to interact with many Veterans and Survivors who have already subscribed to the Admiral’s suggestion. When it comes to commitment, how about Donna Kiernan, a Gold Star Wife, who is trying to build a new life, but yet voiced her strong need to share her strength and experience simultaneously with other survivors to be really successful; or how about Steve Campos who struggled for years with PTSD but now shares his pain in his book “Charlie Doesn’t Live Here Any More”, a work that honors all Veterans; and let me not forget Barry McCrum who was the first Veteran to volunteer to help remake the Veterans Corporation while simultaneously trying to balance his many responsibilities and a father’s pride and worry for his hero son still facing danger in Afghanistan.

These are extraordinary Americans who have borne the brunt of war yet still volunteer in a New York minute to assist other Veterans and their Survivors. I call these wonderful individuals “Minuteman Mentors” and submit we need to enlist a larger army of them to properly honor our Veterans and their Survivors every day.

All Veterans and citizens of this great Nation need to volunteer to create new ways to honor these heroic Veterans every day. Memorial Day should of course be a day of remembrance of the fallen, but taking the Admiral’s lead, I agree it should also be a day of promoting the creative ways of those who honored their memories with their daily deeds. My fervent hope for next year’s Memorial Day is that more Americans will have seen the “Elephant in the Room” and decide they too want to become “Minuteman Mentors”.

God bless all of the fallen heroes and their survivors.

God bless the United States of America.

An Open Letter to all the Honorable people who serve in Congress

RE: Help our country accelerate small business growth now by making the Treasury’s annual $5 Billion Dollar New Markets Tax Credit (“NMTC”) Program more specifically apply to small business creation, especially businesses driven by Veterans and Service Disabled Veterans under the SBA Patriot Express Loan Program.

Dear Representatives, Senators and Staffers:

Although I appreciate and applaud the great work the Community Development Financials Institutions have accomplished so far, it’s well past time to begin making the NMTC Program work for small business transactions rather than for a preponderance of larger commercial real estate transactions. If NMTC are meant to be the extra fuel of a $5,000,000 real estate transaction which eventually creates only five maintenance jobs in a deteriorating commercial real estate market, then I’m against it and Congress should be against it too. If, on the other hand, NMTC are meant to be the extra fuel of a $150,000 SBA Patriot Express Loan for a Veteran or Service Disabled Veteran small business; who then, in turn, will create five jobs in a venture with the potential for growth, then, I’m for them. Congress should honor the Veterans by emphasizing to Treasury and the SBA to support these ventures with the existing NMTC Program. In fact, Congress should support any $150,000 small business transaction trying to create jobs with NMTC! As you all know, our country now needs to get very good at small business incubation as quickly as possible. One way we can do this with existing resources is to make NMTC more effective and more equitable for small business, especially for Veterans. Congress can accomplish this goal by simply urging Treasury to change their “definition” of small business under the NMTC Program. Congress should urge the adoption of standards which would require that at least 20% of all NMTC allocations be designated for transactions not greater than $1,000,000 and that at least 5% of all NMTC allocations be available to Patriot Express Loans not greater than $150,000, the latter currently being a standard acceptable under other existing SBA Loan Programs but not the SBA Patriot Express Program. These new standards are formally supported by the American Legion Resolution 363, the Veterans Task Force for Entrepreneurship and many Veterans and non-Veterans in small business. I have written to Treasury asking for their leadership in helping Veterans access the potential opportunities presented by NMTC. If they would simply allocate a portion of 2010 $5 Billion of NMTC to small business as suggested, there will be an Army of Veterans in small business that would then will seek NMTC allocations and use them wisely with their Patriot Express Loans to create jobs. Small business, Veteran or not, isn’t looking for a hand out here, or even a special allocation of NMTC; they simply want an opportunity to compete with the larger players or least get these larger players themselves to entertain smaller transactions. Veterans should simply be eligible for NMTC in conjunction with any SBA Patriot Express Loan, like other SBA Programs.Times are certainly difficult and even our Veterans Corporation has been forced to live off less resources yet serve more Veterans in need. With commitment and innovation on the part of Service Disabled Veterans partners, we have successfully developed new resources and a better Veteran community development model to serve more Veteran small businesses and create jobs (see attached). Now, we’ll be sharing our story with many others in hopes of encouraging other Veteran small businesses to keep trying. We appeal to you now to help us help more Veteran small businesses by supporting a change in the direction of the NMTC Program to serve all small businesses. With greater access to the NMTC Program for small business, especially Veterans, we can both accelerate our country’s goals for the economy and help more Veterans. Please help!

Thank you for your attention.

Sincerely,

James F. Mingey
RA 11869427
Combat Veteran, Classified Disable

The Veterans Corporation (“TVC”), through its Service Disabled Veteran Owned Business (SDVOB”) affiliate, NEOF Technologies, Inc, (“NEOF”) has just been awarded a contract to develop and market the first in a series of Veteran sponsored call centers.  The contract will enable TVC to now reach self-sufficiency as required under its authorizing legislation, Public Law 106-50.

The National Veterans Business Development Corporation (www.veteranscorp.org), doing business as The Veterans Corporation (“TVC”, is a Federally-chartered 501(c)(3) organization that was created by Public Law 106-50, the Veterans Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development Act of 1999. This Act recognized that America “has done too little to assist Veterans…in playing a greater role in the economy of the United States”. The Corporation is charged with creating and enhancing entrepreneurial business opportunities for Veterans, including Service-Disabled Veterans.

NEOF (www.neof.com) is an affiliate of TVC which has developed a specialized, public-private model focused on accelerating economic development by working primarily through Service Disabled Veteran Owned businesses. To accomplish this goal, NEOF has aligned local community development interests with the forces of national advocates such as the Business Roundtable, the Minority Business Roundtable, and the National Community Reinvestment Coalition. For more information about the Veterans Corporation and NEOF, please contact:

Jim Mingey

901-301-3085

Or info@veteranscorp.org

Sometimes, maybe once in a lifetime, a person gets to drive their advocacy with a new mission that blends heart, head and passion. 

This is my time! I now get to help a bunch of Veteran entrepreneurs help their communities.  It doesn’t get any better than this. 

Thanks to all that have helped me build the NEOF concept.   Happy New Year! 

The broad coalition that has built the NMTC Program had it annual meeting and are now moving to expand the NMTC program (16 billion in 39% tax credits) in light of its perceived value for the coming new economic stimulus package. I was pleased that several NMTC players have figured out ways to prove that NMTC can work for small businesses too.  Now Veterans just have to get the SBA and Congress on board to make sure Veteran-owned businesses get a fair shot at these resources.

Sometimes you get to meet  a family that that has paid a terrible price for their patriotism and you want to somehow reach out, but you feel awkward. That’s how I first felt when I went to visit Joe Briseno and his son Jay, one of the most severely wounded veterans of the Iraq War. Joe is a veteran too, but his mission for the past several years has been to assure the best 24/7 care for his hero son. It’s been tough for the Briseno family, but they exude love and take an ISO 9000 approach to Jay’s nursing care.  Joe is such an expert now that he’s developed a plan with his family to build the first specialized nursing service for other severely disabled veterans. I plan to  do what it takes to help Joe and to keep experiencing the broad smiles and determined attitudes of the Brisneo family. 

In West Virginia it’s all about M.E, not “me”, it’s about M.E. Gamble who runs the West Virginia Small Business Development Center for Governor Joe Manchin.  I had the opportunity to work with M.E. to help address Access to Capital needs for Veterans in West Virginia. If you’re a Veteran Entrepreneur in WV you’ll miss utilizing a tremendous asset if you don’t check out what M.E. has to offer. Check out her website at http://www.sbdcwv.org/ . Complemented by great franchise professionals, surety bonding experts and the SBA folks, I got to participate in a well balanced seminar organized by the Veterans Corporation at the Armory in Charleston, WV.  It was a great day!  I got to help some Veteran small business people and then got to drive through some of the most beautiful scenery in the country.  Thanks M.E.! 

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Taking the “help desk” back to Washington, D.C., I had the opportunity to voice my opinions to the Committee which was completing its annual report on Veterans small business issues. They were very responsive to ideas for expanding and standardizing our help desk concept and using New Markets Tax Credits for Patriot Express Loans. They were also receptive to the idea of pointing out to Congress the sad fact that recent legislation requiring to establishment of a new Task Force to examine gaps in service to Veteran Small Businesses has already been ignored. The report will go to Congress and the SBA Administrator in October. Hopefully, Congress will pay attention to this important work.

Got to go to the Department of Treasury Building and view their beautiful and unique triple domes. My visit took place the day after announcement of the details of the major meltdown in the US financial system. Expecting a lot of angst, I was relieved to be welcomed by Deputy Treasury Robert Kimmitt who exhibited a calm and confident demeanor. I learned that he was a decorated Vietnam Veteran himself. Most importantly, I learned he was open to suggestions and listened to our quest for New Markets Tax Credits for small business. He readily agreed to put our issue on his agenda to advance Treasury’s goals for helping Veteran owned businesses.