Veterans around the globe are one step closer to having a mobile app that will assist them in finding critically needed transitional services. Jerome Hardaway, Co-founder and CEO of
Frago, recently won the Microsoft Opportunity award, and he will spend the next three months in New York City finishing up his app with help of a dazzling array of top-tier companies.
“Before Frago was even around, I was a part of a project and I was in the running with 184,000 other veterans to help to create programs to help diversify the tech industry, putting more people of color and veterans into that industry,” says Hardaway, who ended up being one of four recipients of the Microsoft Opportunity award following a series of challenges.
The program, which will occur simultaneously in three countries and nine cities, will take place at the General Assembly accelerator and incubator in NYC.
“The goal is to build programs while there and network with CEO’s in charge of companies like
Indiegogo and Netflix, and they will help us build our product and make it sustainable,” he says.
Hardaway started the Frago non-profit with veterans Lex Brown, Frago Chief Financial Officer, who handled explosive ordinace disposal while serving with the U.S. Navy, and Adrian Friday, Frago Chief Operations Officer, who handled tactical communication while serving in the U.S. Air Force (and was also injured in the line of duty). Frago is a military term for “fragmentary order,” or a change in the mission plan when on combat detail.
Third-party studies show that that if veterans services honed in on the first 24 months to 48 months of a veteran’s transition from military to civilian life, issues like substance abuse, homelessness, chronic homelessness, underemployment, unemployment and combat stress could be reduced by up to 85 percent.
Hardaway expects the app to launch during his final week in New York.
“Then transitioning veterans will be able to find the resources within a 150-mile radius regardless of where they are,” Hardaway says.
By Michael Waddell
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