Happy 230th Birthday to the U.S. Coast Guard

August 4 is Coast Guard Day, also known as the U.S. Coast Guard’s (USCG) birthday. This year, the USCG will be recognizing 230 years of service and as their motto says, being Semper Paratus, which means always ready.

The Coast Guard is one of five armed forces that serve and protect the United States, but the only military organization under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. It was first established in 1790 following Alexander Hamilton’s request to Congress and President George Washington’s subsequent approval to enforce tariffs and prevent smuggling. Today, the USCG supports a wide variety of missions. They’re responsible for saving lives through maritime search and rescue operations, protecting the environment through oil spill responses to our nation’s waterways, and helping to defend these waterways along our coasts, inland, and in international waters. They're a unique organization that combines elements of military, law enforcement, humanitarian, regulatory and diplomatic capabilities.

Fun facts

In honor of Coast Guard Day, we'd like to share a few fun facts about the work SourceAmerica^® does with the Coast Guard:

• Our projects with the Coast Guard span 20 states and territories
• Our grounds maintenance project at the USCG Novato Housing Site in Novato, California, is our oldest active Coast Guard project, dating back to May 1992
• As of late July of this year, SourceAmerica has 40 active projects with the Coast Guard on the Procurement List
• Custodial projects are our largest line of business with the Coast Guard, followed by our total facility management activities (TFM); followed by food service
• We currently have 28 member nonprofit agencies working on active Coast Guard projects

Recent project highlights​

SourceAmerica has successfully partnered with its member nonprofit agencies and the USCG at many locations throughout country. At the United States Coast Guard Yard in Curtis Bay, Maryland, three of our member nonprofit agencies, Melwood, Skookum and Goodwill Industries of the Chesapeake, are supporting several valuable projects that cover custodial work, TFM and mail services.

Member nonprofit agency The DePaul Group is also working at the Coast Guard Yard on fire watch. It's part of a unique operations support service project. Several professionals with disabilities have been trained to serve as lookouts while welders build ships. The fire watch team works to keep the welders safe from any unintended fires that might occur while welding.

Additionally, this past September, SourceAmerica added a facilities maintenance services requirement to the AbilityOne^® Procurement List at the U.S. Coast Guard's historic training center in Yorktown, Virginia. A contract was awarded to member nonprofit agency Skookum. They did a great job developing the project and impressing the Coast Guard with their experience, which was similar to the TFM requirement at Curtis Bay.

If you have any questions about SourceAmerica, please contact customerservice@sourceamerica.org.