According to last year’s report on agriculture from the U.S. Census, the American farmer is aging. The percentage of farmers and ranchers over the age of 75 grew by 15.1 percent between 2007 and 2012, while the number of farmers and ranchers under the age of 54 decreased by 16.1 percent during the same time period.
Several programs are trying to entice veterans into the agricultural field, while the AgrAbility Project, which helps older and disabled farmers gain various forms of assistance, is helping existing farmers to plant, shepherd and harvest longer.
In Colorado, the program enables Dean Wierth to tend to his herd of goats in Park County, despite his declining balance and vision. Using an electric cart, he is able to feed and tend to the livestock living on the 40 acres he owns, plus the additional 40 acres he leases.
“It’s been a godsend. My balance was just about gone,” he tells the Denver Post about the AgrAbility program.
For 16 years, Goodwill Industries and Colorado State University have run the AgrAbility program in Colorado, helping 538 farming and ranching families during that time. Recently, the federal government kicked in $720,000 to fund the program for four more years.
Wierth, a disabled Vietnam veteran himself, is now pitching in to start a facility that will teach veterans how to farm and ranch. South Park Heritage Association and the Wounded Warrior USA Outreach Program are currently raising funds to purchase land for the program.
Robert Fetsch, co-director of the Colorado AgrAbility Project says, “Most farmers and ranchers don’t retire; they just keep on keeping on as long as they can. Our best course for now is to help them stay active and working, so they can continue to thrive, remain independent and be loyal taxpayers in their communities.”
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Tag: Jobs for Veterans
Wanted: A Few Good Veterans to Keep the Roads Clear of Snow
Every year, the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) has to hire dozens of seasonal workers to drive plows and operate heavy machinery to keep the roads clear once the snow starts flying. This winter, they have a special group of people in mind to fill 60 vacant positions: veterans.
“Veterans often finish their military service with the types of skills we’re looking for,” CDOT deputy executive director Scot Cuthbertson tells CBS Denver in a statement. “We encourage veterans to make appointments and talk to us about our seasonal openings. We think we may have some good matches out there.”
CDOT held three open houses just for veterans to answer questions and make hires — including snowplow drivers, heavy equipment mechanics and communications experts — before Colorado’s heavy snow season hits.
This winter, you may have an extra reason to thank a veteran.
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This Bakery Offers More Than Muffins; It Gives Veterans a New Career Path
Step inside the new Dog Tag Bakery in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C., and your nose might tell you it’s just a place to buy some delicious scones, muffins and bread. But while it does sell freshly-baked goods, the bakery’s actual mission is to train wounded veterans how run a small business.
Ten wounded veterans comprise Dog Tag Bakery’s initial class of “fellows,” who take classes in baking, business management, marketing, inventory and more; the former soldiers work 15 hours a week in the bakery to gain hands-on business experience. Bakery general manager Justin Ford tells WTOP, “The bakery is a conduit to teach our fellows small business management.”
Phil Cassidy, board chair of Dog Tag Inc., adds, “At the end of the six month period, ideally, they’ve learned the skills to get on with their lives.”
Dog Tag Inc. has partnered with the Georgetown School of Continuing Studies to allow the vets to earn a certificate of business administration through the program.
Rebecca Sheir of WAMU spoke to some of the veterans participating in the program. Maurice Jones spent 22 years in the Army, working in I.T. and telecommunications before he was injured. He tells WAMU, “I want to start my own I.T. consulting firm,” and says of Dog Tag Bakery, “They treat us like adults, professionals. They don’t look at our disability as a hindrance or a disability at all. They’re looking to provide us with the skills and knowledge to progress and succeed in any endeavor we’ve got going on.”
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The Coordinated Rescue Team That Saved a Disabled Veteran from Homelessness
You’ve heard the sad stories of veterans falling through the social service cracks and ending up homeless.
This is not that.
Instead, it’s a happy tale about a group in South Carolina that united to patch those cracks in the system and efficiently coordinate resources available to help veterans.
Disabled U.S. Army Veteran Herbert Frink of Beaufort, S.C., hit upon hard times recently. He lost his job and went through an expensive divorce, both of which put him behind on his rent, utility and car payments. Frink gained custody of his two young children, but he knew he might lose them, too, if he lost his housing, so he asked for help at the American Red Cross.
His simple request set off a united effort to keep a roof over his head, made possible by the new Military and Veterans Service Alliance of the Lowcountry (MAVSA). The service, which began this year in the southern state, maintains a database of more than 40 organizations eager to help vets. Representatives from the nonprofits meet once a month to coordinate their efforts.
In Frink’s case, the Red Cross picked up the tab for his overdue electric bills, the Savannah chapter of Wounded Warriors got him up to date on his car payments and One80 Place, a Charleston, S.C.-based nonprofit that aims to prevent homelessness, paid for his rent and even found him a new job with a trucking company. They also found a daycare that would accept Frink’s kids and accommodate his job hours.
“They have done so much for me,” Frink tells the Beaufort Gazette. “The resources started pouring in once I contacted them, and they have not stopped.”
Frink isn’t the only veteran MAVSA has helped. In its first few months of operation, members have also connected a suicidal veteran with psychiatric care and helped others get back on their feet financially. The coalition hopes to expand their scope in the future, updating their website and partnering with law enforcement to initiate special veterans courts.
“As a veteran, it makes me feel so good to know that organizations in my hometown are helping veterans,” Frink says. “I never thought I’d experience it. Now that someone’s helping me, I need to give back. I owe a million thanks to them. They saved me and my children.”
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This Convenience Store is Giving a Veteran a Free Franchise
After serving in combat, how difficult could it be to keep a Slurpee machine operating and a hot dog cooker twirling?
The 7-Eleven convenience store chain thinks that veterans make perfect franchise owners, so they’ve announced a contest — Operation: Take Command — that will award a free 7-Eleven franchise to one lucky veteran.
Service members have until January 26 to apply for the giveaway. Contestants should have three years of experience in leadership, restaurant or retail. 7-Eleven will select finalists, who will be asked to make videos explaining why they are the most deserving owners. Then, everyone will be invited to vote for a winner.
Beyond the obvious boon to one lucky winner, the contest serves to draw attention to the convenience store’s vet-friendly policies, which include incentives — such as a 20 percent discount on the franchise fee (up to $50,000) and up to 65 percent financing through 7-Eleven — for veterans interested in purchasing a franchise.
7-Eleven CEO Joe DePinto, an Army vet and West Point graduate, tells Entrepreneur, “I can think of no one more deserving of this extraordinary opportunity to win a 7-Eleven franchise than one of our military veterans who has given so much for our country. 7-Eleven is a winner, too, because veterans bring top-notch leadership skills, a can-do attitude and mission-oriented focus to their business.”
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This Desert Storm Veteran Is Recruiting 5,000 Comrades to Be MVPs
After graduating from West Point, Mike Minogue served in the military during the Gulf War. He then made a successful transition into the civilian world, now serving as the chairman and chief executive of Abiomed, a Danvers, Massachusetts-based company that manufactures what it calls “the world’s smallest heart pump” — but his fellow veterans are never far from his mind.
According to Shirley Leung of the Boston Globe, he’s on a mission to recruit 5,000 veterans into the field of life sciences by 2018.
Minogue isn’t just hoping veterans will join his industry on their own; he’s helped organize the MedTech and BioTech Veterans Program (MVP), which leads life science boot camps for veterans across the country, lines up corporate sponsors and connects former service members to mentors in the field. Minogue thinks veterans are especially qualified to work in the field because, “This industry is very mission focused,” he tells Leung. “It’s a mission to help patients. It’s global, it’s intense. There is a service element to it.”
The people at Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, an organization that oversees a 10-year, $1 billon-state funded investment in life sciences, think Minogue has a bright idea. Which is why they gave MVP a $50,000 grant to get started and another $50,000 to help them reach 1,000 veterans with the program.
Susan Windham-Bannister, president of the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, tells Leung that MVP, “really creates pathways into the life sciences. We really saw this an opportunity to promote access and address a supply and demand issue.”
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The Wireless Industry Looks to Train and Hire Veterans
The Labor Department calculated the unemployment rate among post-9/11 veterans to be 9 percent in 2013, a number that represents a drop from the 9.9 percent rate in 2012, but that’s still much higher than the rate among non-veterans—5.9 percent according to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics’ most recent calculations.
A number of businesses and industries have stepped up their efforts to offer assistance in reducing the veteran unemployment rate, including companies such as Uber, Tesla, and Microsoft. The wireless industry is also joining the crusade, seeking to train veterans to take jobs in the field. Warriors4Wireless is a nonprofit helping connect veterans to employment in wireless companies that are always seeking new qualified technicians.
On Veteran’s Day, Warriors4Wireless will host the event “Wireless Warriors Lead the Pack” at GrayWolves Telecom in Carrollton, Texas. It’s designed to highlight a joint program between the business and the nonprofit that’s training vets to start careers in the wireless industry and invite more vets and business leaders to participate.
Lisa Hanlon, CEO of GrayWolves Telecom, told the Carrolton Leader, “Far too many of our veteran-heroes in Texas and across the country are struggling to find work once they leave military service. The goal of the program is to repay part of the debt we owe the brave men and women who have eminently sacrificed for our freedom. Simultaneously, the program will help these veterans acquire skills they need to pursue careers in wireless facility construction and maintenance.”
Kelley Dunne, the Executive Director of Warriors4Wireless, hopes the collaboration between the nonprofit and GrayWolves Telecom can be replicated across the country. “The workforce is the backbone of wireless expansion and economic growth in this country,” Dunne said. “The GrayWolves’ program helps veterans find meaningful careers in an industry that’s growing exponentially.”
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For Female Veterans Experiencing Employment Woes, This Organization Offers Strong Advice
It’s no secret that since the recession hit, post-9/11 veterans have faced a greater rate of unemployment and underemployment than the civilian population. But what many Americans may not know is how difficult it is for female veterans, in particular, to find employment.
Based on July’s unemployment numbers, 11 percent of post-9/11 vets that are women didn’t have jobs, compared with 9 percent of male vets and 7 percent of female civilians.
Once they’re out of the military, many female veterans struggle to find a job that pays them anything near the salary they earned while serving their country. Adding to the problem is that 20 percent of them have husbands in the military (compared with 4 percent of servicemen whose wives are in the military), making them vulnerable to losing a job due to reassignments.
All these factors have led to an increase in the number of female veterans struggling with the ability to provide housing for their families.
The Business and Professional Women’s Foundation (BPW) aims to turn this trend around through a mentoring program focused on helping female veterans get on a promising career track.
Deborah L. Frett, CEO of BPW, tells Sandy M. Fernández of Redbook magazine, “People say, ‘What’s the big deal? They’re just like male vets.’ But they’re not. They’re women, they’re veterans, they’re often the family caretaker, they may be single moms — these are all groups with their own employment challenges, and they come together in female vets.”
One such woman is Dawn Smith. After her military service, Smith, an Air Force veteran and mother of four, struggled to find job that paid well and made use of her experience. All she could find was a job at a federal agency, earning a salary that was substantially lower than the one she received from the Air Force — so much so that she sometimes had to forego dinner so her children could eat.
Smith joined the BPW mentoring program and through her mentor, learned how to retool her resume so that it aligned with her career aspirations. It worked. Smith tells Fernández, “Soon I was hired by another federal agency at twice the pay.” From there, Smith went on to start her own business. “Everything feels more doable when someone has your back,” she says.
On Nov. 10, BPW and Redbook will hold a career readiness event for about 200 unemployed female veterans — covering everything from finding mentors to what to wear for interviews. Hopefully, the seminar is just the first step in launching many fruitful careers for female veterans.
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The Start-Up That’s Recruiting 50,000 Military and Veteran Drivers
Uber, the ride-sharing company founded in San Francisco in 2009, noticed something interesting about the ratings its drivers received: Those earning the most accolades were often military members or veterans. Additionally, current and former military member drivers tended to make more trips than civilian drivers through Uber.
These findings sparked a new initiative announced last week: UberMILITARY, an effort to recruit 50,000 veterans, military members and their spouses to become Uber drivers over the next 18 months. Representatives from the company will visit veteran job fairs, offer recruitment bonuses and waive city fees and deposits for veterans.
Uber runs a background check on its driver applicants, and then if they pass, puts them through an online training course. Additionally, it provides financing to its drivers to buy a new car or lets them drive their own car. Uber takes a 20 percent cut of the driver’s gross earnings (the drivers pay for gas, insurance, and maintenance themselves).
Some have pointed out that earning a lot of money through Uber requires working a very long week, but the benefit for military members might be the flexibility. Drivers can work when they want and as much or as little as they want — making it a reasonable gig for someone who is attending school, has a spotty job record (as some military spouses do due to multiple moves) or might be called up to active duty with little notice.
Robert Gates, former Secretary of Defense, is serving as the volunteer chairman of the Ubermilitary advisory board. He and Travis Kalanick, Uber’s CEO, write in Politico, “Too often, businesses do not have a clear understanding of how service members’ skills might translate to the civilian workplace. UberMILITARY is a reflection that high-quality service, an unparalleled commitment to safety and the leadership potential inherent to small business entrepreneurship are values shared by those who have selflessly served our country.”
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How to Ease the Move from Battlefield to Boardroom
Retired Lt. Col. John Phillips of Atlanta, Ga. knows a few things about making the transition from a military career to a civilian one. After he served for more than 20 years in the Army, he began to work for Coca-Cola, where he is currently a mid-level finance executive and the founder of the beverage company’s Military Veterans Business Resource Group. Earlier this year, he published a book, Boots To Loafers: Finding Your New True North, to help those recently retired from the service make a similar career move.
Phillips discussed with Bill Hendrick of the Atlanta Journal Constitution some of the tips he shares in the book. “Always remember you know more than you think you do,” he says. “Also, if you’ve been the service a long time and been successful, you’ll likely have to work at first for someone half your age and who has no idea what you’ve done, and doesn’t care.”
Phillips outlines the three phases he believes each veteran will experience as he or she leaves military life: Transition, transformation, and integration.
One goal of the book is to build veterans’ confidence in their abilities to solve the less-than-dire problems they will face in the corporate world. Phillips writes on his website, “Many times in my civilian career I have come across a crisis, or what others perceived as a crisis, that did not compare to the catastrophes I experienced while in uniform. For example, no one has yelled at me, shot at me, or tried to blow me up since leaving the military. Instead, someone has simply spent too much money and is over budget or someone has not served the kind of soup expected in the company cafeteria and that turns into an instant crisis for some in the private sector.”
Phillips advises vets seeking jobs to start their job searches with vet-friendly companies, study the corporate culture of the business they are applying to and learn how to explain that the skills they built in the military will be useful in a civilian job.
“The people listening may not have a clue,” Phillips tells Hendrick. “And they might look at a resume for about three seconds. So you’ve got to spell out what you can do for them.”
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