A Naperville nonprofit that trains veterans to become business owners earned a national award for military community service.

Veteran Business Project, headquartered at CityGate Centre, was one of five nonprofits in the country to receive a 2026 Fisher Service Award from the Fisher House Foundation, as WJLA reported in late October. The awards recognize programs that improve the lives of veterans and military families.

The Fisher House Foundation and the Military Times Foundation selected VBP from 340 applications nationwide. The five winning organizations split $400,000 in grants. The top winner received $100,000, with the remaining recipients each receiving $75,000. All winners also receive an advertising package from Military Times valued at $100,000.

The ceremony took place in late October at the Ritz-Carlton in Pentagon City, Virginia. The Chicago Tribune profiled VBP and its participants on Nov. 10.

What VBP does

VBP connects veterans with business coaches who help them learn staff management, finances, customer service and purchasing, the Tribune reported. The organization also runs a Living Business School at Rosie's Home Cookin', a restaurant at CityGate Centre where veterans, military members and their spouses get hands-on practice.

On Nov. 9, Army veteran Devin St. Pierre was behind the grill at Rosie's. St. Pierre, an Aurora resident and former sheet-metal mechanic, spent six years in the Army working in logistics and with an aviation unit that maintained Black Hawk helicopters.

"So I can build Black Hawks from the ground up. Unfortunately, that doesn't translate very well once you leave the military," St. Pierre told the Tribune.

After leaving the Army, St. Pierre worked at a factory for several years before starting his own carpentry and furniture-making business. He came to VBP looking for help expanding it. He told the Tribune he had isolated himself after leaving the service, and that working at Rosie's helped him reconnect with people.

Matching veterans with retiring owners

Dale Eisenberg, VBP's president and co-founder, and co-founder Lynn Lowder, the CEO, launched the organization about 14 years ago. Lowder spent 16 years in the Marine Corps starting with force reconnaissance in Vietnam. He said about 49% of veterans went on to own businesses after World War II. After Sept. 11, 2001, that number dropped to fewer than 5%, according to Lowder.

That gap drives VBP's work.

VBP started its vharmony program to connect veterans with baby boomers looking to sell their businesses and retire. According to VBP's website, the matchmaking service is free to every veteran and military spouse who registers. Each participant receives a business mentor.

"They've historically been able to do business. And there's unprecedented opportunity now," Lowder told the Tribune.

As of September, VBP said it had supported 75 new veteran-owned businesses in the prior four years, according to a CityGate Centre announcement about VBP's Valor to Venture gala. The organization has also formalized partnerships with College of DuPage and Innovation DuPage.

VBP moved its national headquarters from Park Ridge to a suite in the Calamos Investments building at CityGate Centre in 2025. Rosie's Home Cookin' reopened at CityGate Centre earlier in 2026. The restaurant is open seven days a week from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m., with 100% of profits supporting VBP, according to CityGate Centre.