Eclipse Magazine - Produced by NABVETS 2015 First Edition | Page 12

Veterans Upward Bound
UW-Milwaukee Veterans Upward Bound Makes House Calls:
A Novel Approach to Providing Veterans with Access to On-Line
Educational Programs, Classroom Didactics and Individual Tutorials.
Since its inception in 1999 UW-Milwaukee (UWM) Veterans Upward
Bound (VUB) has been providing basic skills instruction, tutoring, preGED/HSED preparation, career advising, and assisting Veterans in
enrolling into post-secondary institutions. These services have been
provided solely at the Veteran’s place of residence. “Yeah, we make
house calls…and we don’t leave our wounded behind…If they can’t
come to us, i.e., the university, we go to them,” explained Project
Director, Dr. Charles Allen.
Located on the campus of University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee,
Veterans Upward Bound oversees classroom and computer labs
basic skills instruction at four off campus locations and one additional
classroom/computer lab on the campus. “I think it is absolutely critical
that we provide the framework that can truly impact on how well and
how quickly a Veteran is able to…re-adjust and succeed. Having
classrooms out in the community, especially at the transitional living
facilities, we need to be where the Veteran is…it is nice to sit at the
kitchen table and discuss…school stuff. And when the Veteran feels
that he/she would like to take a trip to the university, we can “do school”
on the campus, as well,” says Dr. Allen. VUB has been providing basic
skills instruction and career advising to over 120 Veterans each year
since 2001.
In 2000 UWM Veterans Upward Bound partnered with the Center
for Veterans Issues (CVI), Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs
(WDVA) located in Veterans Administration Southern Center (VA-SC)
in Union Grove, Wisconsin, and the Zablocki Veterans Administration
in Milwaukee, to bring educational services to their transitiona