When his father returned from his tour of duty as a U.S. Navy commander in Jordan, first-year Henry Sabo noticed that he experienced difficulty reintegrating into his community. Sabo, who grew up in Minneapolis, Minnesota, felt that part of his father’s struggle was caused by the low number of veterans in the state.
“He didn’t really know where to look for things. Even the [Department of Veterans Affairs] was kind of chaotic and all over the place, and was definitely not a resource,” Sabo told the Maroon.
Inspired by his father’s experience, Sabo launched Veteran Atlas, a website that compiles resources and “helps veterans find community,” last October. The website features an interactive map that allows visitors to find veteran-owned businesses, veteran-specific meetups and events, and counseling and mental health services in their area.
When he began researching resources for the map, Sabo said he “was surprised by the sheer number of resources there are and how scattered they are.”
“They’re all over, and if we’re being honest, I don’t know the capacity of veterans to go out and find those things on their own, especially because [the resources] aren’t advertised very well,” he said.
Sabo hopes Veteran Atlas can act as a “one-stop shop” for veteran-related community resources. While the site is currently focused on resources in the Midwest, he hopes to eventually include the rest of the United States.
The website also allows visitors to submit information about their own veteran-owned businesses to be added to the map and contribute to the network of support.
“I’d like to set up a way for [veterans] t
o communicate, to have it be some kind of network,” Sabo said.
Sabo had no past experience coding but decided to teach himself the skills he needed to make the site. “I am trying to learn data scraping on my own,” he said.
Since its launch, the site has had 2,300 visitors, according to Sabo, and he hopes to expand its reach as he continues developing it.
“At a very basic level, [I hope to have] everything across the U.S. on it,” he said. “That will take time, but I think it’s very accomplishable.”
