Sierra Delta Inc.

Sierra Delta strives to connect service dogs with veterans through our network of established partner providers. We are a network of service dog organizations who work together to provide an effective resource for our nation's veterans. With the help of community partners, donors, and accredited service dog providers we are building long-term relationships to push the needle to assist veterans. Sierra Delta believes that by offering more ways for a veteran to gain access to dog training and by creating a specialized curriculum around caring for and communicating with a dog, that we can effectively and efficiently provide a wellness program that can provide positive outcomes for veterans and dogs at a scale big enough to solve the "service dogs for veterans" issue before 2030.

1. An Unbiased Source Of Information
We draw upon our expertise and military background to teach veterans about service dogs and the service dog industry. We provide one-on-one guidance to navigate the industry and recommend best-fit scenarios after we review an applicant's needs. We expedite the process of learning where to acquire a service dog and how to apply to help veterans transition quickly and successfully from military to civilian life.

2. Connecting Nonprofits With Veterans
With our partner providers, we have cultivated a network of nonprofit organizations with aligned missions of helping pair service dogs with veterans. From the west coast to the east coast, Sierra Delta has been an advocate for working together to improve our assistance to veteran applicants. We believe that pooling resources and connecting each individual to a partner provider that fits their needs will benefit our nation's heroes.

3. Pairing Service Dogs With Veterans
Many military veterans come home from service wounded, disabled, and with emotional needs. Service dogs are invaluable in providing the support some veterans need to continue productive and healthy lifestyles. By offsetting the costs associated with placing service dogs, we allow our partner providers to focus on what they do best, raising and training high-quality service dogs. As a result, we are able to pair more service dogs with veterans on a yearly basis.

4. A Wellness Program for ALL Veterans
Sierra Delta now allows ALL military veterans verified by IDme to join the Sierra Delta community and get instant access to resources that allow ALL veterans to enhance the relationship with their dog through training and an innovative curriculum that teaches ALL veterans how to care for and communicate with their dog so that more veterans can access the wellness benefits of having a trained dog in their life. We call this the Life Buddy program and ALL veterans whether they have a medical assistance service dog or just a companion service dog, they are ALL Life Buddies in the Sierra Delta community and the veterans can earn rewards by what they do with their dog and it all takes place on a digital platform so that Sierra Delta can provide the best resources and support no matter the public health restrictions being enforced at the time. This way we can help more veterans and more dogs create a more profound bond together giving ALL veterans access to a proven form of therapy with their dog. Sierra Delta believes that the veterans who have more acute issues should receive the more specialized service dogs; however, the bond between humans and dogs has long been proven to help in areas, of depression, anxiety, isolation and more and that many "able bodied" veterans struggle with these issues and it would be impossible to provide each of them a medical assistance service dog, but we can give them all a Life Buddy and a dynamic community of support!

Sierra Delta has a staff with military and veteran transition expertise as well as experts in dog training. We specialize in putting the veterans needs first and work with them on a one-on-one basis to fulfill their needs and improve their lifestyle through the companionship of trained service dogs. Sierra Delta also is the only organization in America with a fully functional digital platform that is also available in a mobile app that allows Sierra Delta to partner with professional dog trainers and veteran organizations to provide this needed wellness program to ALL verified military veterans at scale. Currently in the US, the total output of service dogs for veterans is 1,000 a year; with an estimated need of 150,000 veterans. Sierra Delta provided 1,000 veterans with access to training for a service dog (or what we prefer to call a Life Buddy) in 2021 equalling the total output of all other organizations combined! We are set to triple that amount in 2022 and to continually increase the access and support until the problem is solved and Sierra Delta believes we can solve this issue before 2030!

By creating a digital ecosystem that provides all veterans with the ability to access the training for their dog or a dog specifically trained to their needs and lifestyle, we are able to provide this proven therapy to our worthy veterans at scale for the first time ever. Not only does the Sierra Delta Life Buddy program ensure more veterans and dogs get access to a variety of training and support needed, we have also ensured long term engagement by gamifying the process. Veterans who have joined Sierra Delta earn points by caring for their dog, accomplishing a new training level or teaching their dog a new trick, or by performing community service like volunteering at a homeless shelter, and animal rescue shelter, speaking to schools, civic groups, etc about their service to our country or how their dog helps them with the challenges of transitioning back to society after military service, and more. With those points the veterans can redeem free gear, extreme discount codes, experiences like an a free trip to various vacation spots, a chance to play flag football against NFL Alumni and Celebrities, and so much more! Plus they can connect with other veterans and dog loving civilians who are apart of the Sierra Delta community and it is all focused on achieving better wellness through the love of dogs.

We have currently served over 700 veterans since 2017 and we are on pace to achieve our goal of getting 1,000 veterans into training in 2021 alone. In 2017 Sierra Delta was focused on providing large grants to the service dog academies thinking we could increase output. But what we learned is that the traditional model of providing service dogs for veterans is unsustainable and not what the majority of veterans need. Only 1% of veterans need or want a dog that level of service dog, the other 99% of veterans believe that a dog trained to their needs and lifestyle would greatly improve their ability to overcome the challenges they face in transition from the military and to help with the visible and invisible wounds they may or may not have from service to our country. In fact of the first 600 veterans that joined Sierra Delta 93% opted to for the Life Buddy program that allowed them to choose their dog and training curriculum and challenged them to be a bigger part of the training with guidance and support from the app and professional trainers in their area paid for by Sierra Delta. This is remarkable because by offering these services we can more effectively help more veterans and dogs for 10x less the money being spent in the traditional model. Currently, the average cost of providing a veteran a pre trained dog is $35k per dog and that does not come with the dynamic community and follow on services like that of which Sierra Delta provides. In the Sierra Delta model we are seeing an average of $3,500 for the life of the dog per veteran! No matter which service dog provider the veteran chooses or has already received a dog from they can join Sierra Delta and earn rewards and connect with other dog loving veterans and grateful civilians. By offering ALL veterans access to dog training that best meets their individual needs and lifestyle we can greatly reduce the demand for the specially bred and trained medical assistance dogs being offered by the service dog academies and therefore allow the veterans who need those services the most get into those programs quicker; the average wait time is 2 years currently. Sierra Delta is proud to partner with over 100 service dog academies, professional dog trainers, veteran service organizations, corporations, and more who believe we, as American citizens, can at the very least show our gratitude for ALL who have served by ensuring they have a dog trained to their specific needs and lifestyle.