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You've been sent a story from New Voices (http://www.j-newvoices.org/): Voices for Veterans Dee Albritton, Executive Director, Fast Forward http://www.j-newvoices.org/582/ A community technology center in Columbia, S.C., will create a social network and information Web site for returning veterans. CONTACT INFO Dee Albritton Fast Forward 3223 Devine St. Suite 3 Columbia, SC 29205 (803) 343-2577 E-mail Web site VetVenue is a technology based information site for veterans that includes a blog, newsletter, website and webcasts.  Veterans communicate daily with each other on the blog and determine the subjects that are featured in the interactive monthly webcasts.  The site has a primary focus on employment readiness and available jobs. Veterans share information about job openings, veterans’ discounts, and their employment needs.  VetVenue is maintained by Fast Forward, a community technology center in Columbia, South Carolina. Check back for future news and updates. • November 2008     A New Venue for VetsNovember 2008 Giving veterans the tools to improve their lives is the mission of Fast Forward, a technology training center in the military community of Columbia, S.C.  And now, the center has something new in its arsenal:  A Web site that provides veterans access to information, resources and support. As of October 2008, VetVenue.org has hosted two live audio Webcasts, mainly to find out from vets what they need from the site and what they most want to learn. The site’s blog has generated 415 visits, including posts about job openings in the region. “We are really focusing on vets talking to vets right now. And we’re taking away some of the preconceptions about who vets are,“ said Dee Albritton, the executive director and project leader. “They aren’t all 24-year-old men. They don’t all know how to use Skype. One of our vets, Laura, is 50, and she deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq.“ Simplicity and functionality weighed heavily in the design of the black-and-white site. “We are tech nerds here but we had to pare down the site to meet the needs of our clientele. Once they are not afraid of it, they will be more inclined to use it. We are facing the digital divide. We have some people in their late 20s who have never owned computer.“ Plus, Albritton said the site needed to be fully handicapped accessible. “We’re seeing a lot of vets with vision problems from TBI (traumatic brain injury) and they respond more to a simpler format.“ FastForward has hired a tech-savvy college student to manage the site in-house. Albritton said the next big step for the site is to incorporate video. Her team has learned how to use closed captioning software to make those videos more accessible, too. Promotion is also on the agenda. Albritton had the opportunity to talk the project up on a local radio showcalled “UNeed2Know” and in a keynote address she delivered at a recent Combined Federal Campaign/United Way event. She also said the new service is mentioned on a lot of military e-lists around the country. “What happens with military - they stay in contact with each other,“ says Albritton. “We are hopeful that [VetVenue.org] will market itself.“  With five military bases within a 45-minute radius and a Veteran Affairs Hospital, the outreach possibilities are endless. “I’m hopeful that people will begin using the site as a means of communication to share employment information. Finding employment, transitioning from military life into civilian life, developing a supportive community” are the key goals, Albritton said.  “The news part is going to come later.“