Read Ranch & Coast Virtually Anywhere
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years after they graduate — numbers we could use internally to justify our existence and mission," says Brown. But then the organization received a grant from the City of San Diego, part of which was to implement a plan to evaluate qualitative data as well. " at was a real eye-opener," says Brown, who lives in Alpine. "We learned the greatest thing we brought to the table was not our financial training, though that was important. Instead, we found our greatest impact was that e Rosie Network offered a sense of purpose, community, and collaboration. Spouses reported it improved their marriages; parents reported it improved relationships with their children by providing a sense of accomplishment and personal pride." e information was an epiphany for Brown. "We were mainly looking at the bottom line," she says. "But as I learned from my dad, who opened a music store after serving two tours in Vietnam, if you are just focused on money, you have a bad business model. e greatest lesson my father taught me is that success should be based on the impact you make in your community." When e Rosie Network started in 2012, its focus was on in-person training, and they opened the first shared-office incubator in San Deigo for military families, where veterans, active-duty personnel, and military spouses had access to office space, computers, printers, and conference rooms. e pandemic, however, forced the organization to shift its model. Still headquartered in San Diego, e Rosie Network began offering courses online, and the program exploded, attracting students from 40 states and six countries. Most of the entrepreneurs e Rosie Network works with come with either an idea for a new business or an existing business in the early stages of development. ese days, many are in the service and consulting industries such as cybersecurity or health and wellness. But they also work with inventors, including a veteran who designed protection for Navy SEAL breachers who use explosives to enter secure buildings. Working together with a wide variety of corporate, government, and educational partners including the Wounded Warrior Project and the Elizabeth Dole Foundation for caregivers, e Rosie Network serves an average of 5,000 participants a year, more than 70 percent of whom are disabled veterans, and more than 60 percent are women. In addition, the organization publishes a holiday buying guide for those looking to patronize businesses owned by those in the region's vast military community. info@therosienetwork.org therosienetwork.org @ranchandcoast ABOVE Thomas L. Brown II, Stephanie Brown's late husband, was a United States Navy officer and the first Navy officer to command Special Operations Command South