Talking Service

FAIN: AH-50003-14

Great Books Foundation (Chicago, IL 60601-2205)
Donald H. Whitfield (Project Director: February 2014 to December 2016)

Funding details:
Original grant (2014) $74,000.00
Supplement (2015) $690.00

A series of workshops for American veterans to discuss their service experience in the light of key humanities texts.

Talking Service is a national outreach initiative of the Great Books Foundation to create and sustain discussion groups for veterans of the United States Armed Forces, using written works of literature in the humanities from the anthology, Standing Down: From Warrior to Civilian. In order to establish and grow Talking Service discussions, a well-planned and executed pilot program is necessary to develop a strong, replicable model. The proposed project will identify-through an application vetting process-20 host sites (organizations) for Talking Service discussions; identify and train discussion facilitators for each site; conduct 4,5, or 6 session series of discussions at each site; and provide copies of Standing Down for all discussion participants. Each site will receive a stipend to compensate the facilitators. In addition, the project will provide funding to cover 50% of the salary of the Great Books Foundation administrator of Talking Service to allow him to dedicate his time to the project.