. they are moving people and community forward in new innovated and committed ways because of their innovation and commitment they're the winners of the nbc universal foundation's 21st century grant challenge. my guests are kelly jones, executive director of dress for success, washington, d.c. debra schneider is a retired army lieutenant colonel also president and ceo of the operation renewed hope foundation. lauren beal is executive director of d.c. greens. welcome all of you. >> thank you. >> congratulations to all of you. you all are doing wonderful work in your own ways, but with a shared motivation.

debra, would you say that's true? >> i think that's true. i think all of us have the motivation to make our communities better. that's what we're working hard to do. >> you've been working with operation renewed hope for the past three years. >> yes founded three years ago to help homeless veterans. we have many homeless veterans across the nation. we're starting with the ones here in the d.c. metro area. >> kelly you're working with dress for success. it seems dress for success has been around for a long long time, for decades. >> we've been around here in the washington, d.c. area for 12 years, helping women get back into the workforce supporting them and their families to self sufficiency. yes, it seems like we've been around for a long time and still working the do the work of providing for families, providing for women so we can get back into the work for and be able to provide for their families. >> one of the things those women have to do is provide food for their jgnfamilies. lauren, you have an interesting

story which we'll get into in detail, but the work you're doing is a marriage collaboration of healthy food and education, access and education. >> that's right. d.c. greens connects communities to healthy foods in the nation ice capital through food education, food access and food poll seechlt we're thrilled to be a recipient this year. >> you're recipients of grants, of dollars, money. debra ochings renewed hope won first place and a $50,000 grant. that must feel really good. >> it's an awesome feeling to be up here with these ladies and among the other competitors for this grant. we are very fortunate to be able to use that money for our homeless veterans in the d.c. area. >> you're working to end homelessness in america among veterans. that's a goal that has been set by theand the head of the va. advocates say the country is on target to meet the goal in the next 12 months.

is that your assessment? is it a realis¤0z goal? >> it's a great goal. i'm not sure that we'll get to zero by the end of 2015. i'm a little bess mystic on that point. but the fact is from three years ago there were 68,000 homeless veterans nationwide and the most recent count in january put it at 49,000 plus. so they're coming down in great numbers. but to get to zero by the end of 2015 is going to take a greatly concerted effort across the nation. we're here to help with that. >> we've seen the numbers come down in the district, too, we should say. >> yes, yes. >> while the number of homeless vets has gone down, one number that hasn't gone down is the number of female homeless vets, and there are numbers of es that are increasingly experiencing homelessness. is that what you're willing seeing? >> we're seeing more women and many of them are single parents and families that are among

those that are homeless. some of it has to do with -- we had more women in the military. as they exit the military, that number stays alongside that. be are doing everything we can to help the families. we focus on the families and getting them housed as quickly as possible. >> okay. we'll talk a little more about your specific programs, but kelly, i want to get to dress for success. you've won a $25,000 grant. >> that's fantastic yes. we're very excited about it. we want to do more in the community. we have job readiness programs that we do in house. this grant is going to allow us to go outside of our own walls and partner with other organizations to bring our job readiness program to them so we can again support more women this year in 2015 than we did in 2014. >> so your suiting program has two components. >> yes. we really go beyond the suit. we provide suiting for women that need clothing fordgop

interviews, who need clothing who have gotten new jobs. we've gone beyond that. we support them in getting back into the workforce. we have a professional women's group that supports women as they're in the workforce with different tools like if they want to revamp their resume or if they want to learn houd to get a promotion, then we provide a lot of volunteers that are career coaches that are in human resources, that can help our women as they go back into the workforce and help them not only to get a job but to maintain and retain that job. >> lauren, many women struggle to feed their families. many are struggling in this economy. your story is very interesting. you also have won a $25,000 grand. >> that's right that's right. >> for starting -- well, you started with a -- >> a farmer's market. >> that you actually began in your own neighborhood because you saw a need. >> that's right that's right. i started this farmer's market. i had just had a baby and i

thought how hard could bit to start a farmer's market. i started a farmer's market. through starting the farmer's market got really involved in the d.c. farmer's market collaborative and,

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welcome back to "viewpoint." we were talking about your wonderful program lauren at d.c. greens. let's pick up with you. you have a fruit and vegetable prescription program? >> we run a lot of programs that try and leave vag that infrastructures of 45 farmer's markets and 108 school gardens. one of the programs we run is a fruit and vegetable prescription program where we partner with clinics and doctors are writing prescriptions for fresh fruits and vegetables that can be taken and redeemed for free at any of the farmer's markets in the city. that's been incredible. we track redemption rates. we're able to see not only incredible gains in health among the patient populations, all of whom are low income and at high risk for obesity related chronic illnesses. we're also seeing a dramatic increase in well patient visits

as people are coming to see their doctors to get this prescription and getting all the other important interventions those doctors can provide. >> deborah, many homeless vets and families and single mothers need the very same things that lauren is providing. they not only need a roof over their heads, they need fresh food job training that kelli is providing. >> we .vep÷do. dress for success we've sent many female veterans to them already. just before the show i was talking with lauren about partnering up to get our veterans healthy food. when you are low income, you don't eat well typically. that's what we've seen across the board that there's not enough resources for them to get to the fresh fruit and vegetables like they need. that's what we're going to partner up and make sure our veterans can get to housing itself there are veterans who are

homeless and then there are those who are about to become or at risk of becoming homeless. how do# you approach those two problems? >> well at the same time, most of the calls we get are for prevention for homeless. the nationwide numbers, we have 1.2 million or more veterans living at or below poverty level. those are the folks teetering on homelessness and another 49,000 plus that are actually homeless. we work with both of them to make sure they stay in homes with giving them e grants or even loans to stay in their homes or security deposits and first month's rent to give them a hand up. that's what we are all about is a handup. we're taking familiesiññ living in vehicles twins, 2 years owed. it's a shame that we see this in our nation that is so we shouldn't have homeless people anywhere in the united

states, but certainly not veterans who have fought for their country and put their country first. when we get deployed, we often sleep in vehicles or tents, but we shouldn't come home and have these veterans sleeps in tents or vehicles on a permanent basis. >> you mentioned the homeless problem in general which is something the district of columbia is struggling with. some believe it's easier to eradicate homelessness among veterans if it's possible to do so because there's the political will to do it, because there isn't so much political backlash or blowback. do you agree with that? >> i do enjoy the support we have for veterans. i think we also have to look at it as an economic issue. whenkñ these folks no longer are homeless and they're getting jobs because of organizations like these, they're putting that money back into the system. so it is benefiting all of us if

we eradicate homelessness. >> kelli the women who come to you are often in need of suits and homes. how do you help them mentally make the transition from lives that have been very difficult and lives where they have not the basics? >> well, i think one of the things we do is we provide them with the support that they need through our volunteers our mentors.tìáhp &hc% we match them with someone that they are looking to be and we make sure that every time they cross our threshold, that they know that they are valued, that they're important and that, even though they've had some struggles in the past their future is bright. >> do you start with building them up from the outside or dressing them from the outside? >> i think it's a combination of both. certainly they come to us first for the outside and as they're there at the suiting appointment we have volunteers that are matched with them saying you know, that looks great. do you realize you're going to do well on that interview?

do you know the five questions you should ask? are you prepared? are you ready? >> by the time they're finished with their suiting appointment and walk out the door, they're confident, they look great, but they have an opportunity to come back and get any support that they need. yes, there are-ár'gs going on both on the inside and as well on the outside. >> got to take another break. we'll continue our talk in just a minute. stay with us. ring ring! progresso! i can't believe i'm eating bacon and rich creamy cheese before my sister's weddingwell it's only 100 calories, so you'll be ready for that dress uh-huh...

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welcome back. we're talking about dress for success, kelli jones. in the past 12 years, how many women would you say your organization has dressed? >> about 15,000. we do probably about 1,200 to 1,500 a year. they come in either for employment suiting or job training and then of course, we have other wrap-around services

that we support them once they become a part. once they become a part of dress for success, they're always a part. >> where do the women come from? >> we have 138 partners, referral agencies that refer women to us. just like debra's organization refer's women to us. >> have you found in the recentg years with the down durns in the economy that your women come from all walks of life. has that changed? >> absolutely. we have women that have advanced degrees that come in that because of the economic downturn have lost their job and trying to get back in the workforce. we have women who have been home makers, never been in the workforce at all and then because of divorce or loss of a husband have to be the breadwinner of the family. we have people coming from welfare to work and those types of situations as well.

>> lauren, do you encounter and have to deal directly with the mothers t women, the parents of the children that you are ed educateing and exposing to information about good healthy foods? >> we work most frequentl© with the parents in that fruit and i do think there's a need for more parent engagement across the city. i think in d.c., as sort of a sector, we've done a very good job of reaching children. we have wonderful legislation such as healthy schools act. the city council put a lot in place in the district in support of healthy schools and communities. i think that nkt step needs to be the parent engagement people. martha's table does some wonderful work with family markets as schools to try to bring families in. the exciting thing is that in d.c., all of the non-profits working in this sector are really working collaboratively and trying to synchronize our efforts so that we can really

address some of these horrifying andía shameful statistics we have in the nation's capital. >> the first lady has gotten a lot of praise and credit for the -- her focus on childhood obesity and healthy eating and feeding kids and teaching them in the white house garden. she's also taken a lot of criticism. what do you think about that? >> i think she has done wonderful things for making this a key part of the conversation. i think when you go and talk to people about these issues, they understand what the issues are from the get-go. you don't have to waste a lot of time tryingazz0ñ to convince them obesity is an issue. we see it as a national security issue now. we understand really the breadth of the epidemic this country is facing. i think so many corporate partners are realizing that it's understanding that it's their responsibility. in my mind the work that she's

done to elevate the conversation and bring so many people to the table has been transformational for our work and certainly for the country. >> the kids certainly have a lot of fun, don't they? when they get a chance to dig in the dirt and learn what theproduce? >> the thing we forget is it is a miracle to put a seed in the ground and have it turn into food. that is amazing. kids get that. if you give them a chance to do that, they understand that. when you plant a seed and watch it grow, you want to try it and taste it. once you've tasted it you're more likely to taste it again. we have better food in the school cafeterias in d.c. because of the healthy schools act. making sure we're bridging the gap between education and access so kids aren't just throwing it away, they have an relationship with that food when it lands on their plate. >> we'll be right back. stay with us.

we'rea talking with our 21st century grantees. deborah, how will operation home front will help with that? >> operation reneed hope we'll be able to house many families with that grant, probably at least 25 forgetting into housing or staying in housing. the other thing we do, too, we hope we can get foreclosed or donated homes that we can renovate and help put families into as well. >> that means you'd purchase them? >> well, greatly be appreciative of folks that want to donate any homes to us as well. >> kelli, how will you use your 25 thousand dollar grant? >> we are going to expand our going places network job readiness program a ten-week program tha we've done in-house, but we would like to be ableqp÷ to offer it to more people in the country.

we partnered with aet an organization that works with populations we have not worked with 234 the past. we're going to bring our job readiness program to them and we're going to be able to double the number of people that will be able to go through the job readiness program and be ready to go back into the workforce. >> how long does it generally take you to train one of your clients? >> so if they come through our program, each program, each session is about two hours and it's a ten-week program. each program builds on the other. so we start with an assessment of your skills. then we build your resume. then we talk about interviewing skills. this program has been sponsored by walmart. so walmart has guaranteed every person that's in the program an interview at the end of the program. so they can't guarantee a job, but certainly getting:our foot in the door would be helpful. we do mock interviews and all those things to prepare them as they go back into the workforce. >> lauren, you got $25,000, too, to spend.

>> yes. we'll focus that gift on our school garden market program which i joke, it's like move over bake sale. kids are selling produce from school gardens at pickup time. we augment it with produce from a local grower and several local farmers. kids are transforming their schools intog? healthy food access points. we've given each of the schools a snap terminal so they're able to accept food stamps. they're becoming ambassadors for healthy food in their communities. we'll be able to scale that from ten schools to 20 schools and go to this proof of concept, we're seeing it works and be able to go city wide in the coming years. >> they're also becoming young entrepreneurs? >> exactly. math and marketing skills. it does so many things at once. it's been a really exciting program. >> deborah what is the one tling o help eradicate homelessness? >> i think the first thing is to

educate yourself about it. even when i started i didn't know how many homeless veterans there were. they're all around our area. you don't know untilo) you start looking. beyond that is doing something, whether it be volunteering your time time, your talent or donating to a cause like ours to help eradicate veteran homelessness. >> you're doing wonderful work. congratulations on your grantsz. deborah schneider retired army lieutenant colonel and president and ceo of operation home. kelli jones director of dress for success washington d.c. and lauren biel, executive director of greens. >> thank you. >> thank you that's "viewpoint." have a great sunday.

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january showers to start you out this morning on storm team 4 radar, but it's going to feel like spring for about a little while. whoa ear collecting all that and when arctic air will settle back in. >> new this morning, two teens in the wrong place at the wrong time. what we're learning about a shooting near a synagogue. good morning and welcome the "news 4 today." i'm adam tuss. >> i'm angie goff. not liking the rain so much but liking the fact that that mild air is working its way back in. >> i will take any mild temperatures in january we can get. storm team 4 meteorologist chuck bell to check on it for us. >> hey, adam and angie. you