The Dog Tag Bakery in Washington D.C. may look like a normal coffee and pastry shop from the outside, but it is actually so much more than that!
Located in the Georgetown neighborhood of D.C., the bakery is actually a business school for wounded veterans. The bakery aims to help these veterans navigate the extremely difficult transition back to civilian life.
Dog Tag Inc. CEO Meghan Ogilvie explained that the goal of the bakery is to “ignite the human spirit” in vets who feel disillusioned about what to do next once the service uniform comes off for good.
“It’s not just about a job or just about going back into education,” Ogilvie said of her bakery’s mission. “It’s really about helping our fellows to find purpose again and find a mission.”
Sharod Wade, a Marine veteran who graduated from the Dog Tag program in 2017, said that job training programs and resources aren’t always available to veterans.
“For so long, we just followed the orders of the nation,” Wade said. “So now, I wake up one day and I get to do whatever it is I want to do. (You ask yourself), ‘What is it that I like?’ You have to kind of find yourself all over again.”
Dog Tag fellows, as they are called, work in the front of the bakery while also taking courses like accounting and marketing so that they can learn how to run a small business. They are also given courses in public speaking.
After completing the six month fellowship, graduates get a certificate in business administration from Georgetown University’s School of Continuing Studies.
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