CLAY COUNTY – Northeast Florida Women Veterans is looking to return to Clay County following the COVID-19 pandemic.
The organization provides tools for women veterans such as housing assistance, …
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CLAY COUNTY – Northeast Florida Women Veterans is looking to return to Clay County following the COVID-19 pandemic.
The organization provides tools for women veterans such as housing assistance, mental health counseling or career help. Northeast Florida Women Veterans currently hosts the virtual “Space to Breathe: A Women Veteran Caregiver Support Group.” It covers eight weekly sessions and is open to Clay residents. It’s supported by grants from Baptist Health and the Delores Barr Weaver Legacy Fund.
Northeast Florida Women Veterans wants to return to physical spaces, Founder and CEO Dee Quaranta said. She said women veterans from Clay and other counties can have a voice.
“We get all branches of service here, right now the only branch we don’t have is (U.S.) Space Command because it’s new,” Quaranta said. Women can face childcare, domestic violence, homelessness or gender discrimination during or when they leave the service, Quaranta said.
“They could go back to the same issues,” Quaranta added. “We deal with all the barriers that come up in a woman’s life.”
Before she founded the organization in 2012, Quaranta noticed the needs of women veterans weren’t being met. What started as a shelter, now on Beach Boulevard in Jacksonville, morphed into financial assistance and entrepreneur courses that made the 20-plus-year veteran of the U.S. Air Force proud. “The workshops are for personal and professional development, some are six weeks and some are six months long,” Quaranta said. “It’s called ‘Her Wellness.’ It focuses on the mind, body and economic success. There’s something for everyone.”
The program is available for women veterans, active duty women or daughters of veterans between the ages of 18-25. That includes a push into Clay County and assisting its women veterans in the future, she said.
“We do have women vets in Clay County at risk who live there that participate, they visit the (Veteran Service Officer) in the county,” Quaranta said.
The organization also will participate in the Florida Women’s Veterans Conference June 4 at the Southbank Hotel in Jacksonville.