When military members leave the service, many struggle to find a job — often having to study for a new degree or certification in order to qualify for a position, all the while not being able to rely on consistent income.
To help solve this problem before it even arises, Microsoft is working with Marines at Camp Pendleton in California (and two other U.S. military bases), offering a 16-week certification program in Information Technology to soldiers planning to leave the service in the near future.
Sergeant Taylor Harris, one of the participants in the Microsoft Systems and Software Academy, told Bob Lawrence of ABC 10 News, “It’s great to be able to do this while we are transitioning because we still get a stable paycheck because we’re on active duty.”
Although none of the veterans are guaranteed a job with Microsoft, part of the academy is an interview training session that helps many of them secure an IT position. And at the end of the course, each of them is flown to Redmond, Washington to interview with the tech giant. Navy veteran Sean Kelley, Microsoft’s Senior Staffing Director of Cloud and Enterprise Group, told Lawrence, “70 percent of those who go through the program are working in the tech industry.”
In January, Kelley testified before Congress about what Microsoft has learned from its veteran recruiting efforts, and how the company believes that training veterans in IT can help solve the industry’s problem with finding enough people with technical skills to hire.
“Economic projections point to a need for approximately one million more STEM professionals than the United States will produce at the current rate over the next decade,” he told the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs. “The United States graduates about 300,000 bachelor and associate degrees in STEM fields annually. Fewer than 40 percent who enter college intending a major in a STEM field complete a STEM degree. It is clear that many people, including veterans, lack the technology skills and industry certifications employers look for to fill the tens of thousands of available IT jobs across a broad range of industries. Eight years ago when we started exploring how Microsoft could be helpful to our transitioning veterans, we were surprised to learn there were very few opportunities for veterans to acquire these in-demand skills.”
Classes like this one are helping many veterans find not only a job, but a high-paying and satisfying career. Tuition for the class costs about $3,000 on Camp Pendleton, compared to $10,000 to $20,000 for a similar certification course off base. Corporal Joseph Priest told Lawrence, “As soon as I heard about this opportunity, I jumped on it…you put a little bit aside for tuition costs, and might get a job that lands you between 60 to 80k. I think it’s worth it.”
MORE: Here’s A New Website Bringing Unemployed Veterans and Understaffed Tech Companies Together
Tag: the American West
When Veterans Need to Let Loose, These Volunteers Help Them Ride the Waves
When you picture a surfer dude, you probably think of Hawaiian shirts, beach bonfires, ukuleles and a carefree attitude toward life. All of which is the opposite of the image that comes to mind when you think of a brave veteran wounded while serving our country. But the recent Waves of Valor Surf Camp proved that both vets and surfers can hang 10 together.
Sponsored by Team Red, White & Blue and the Veterans Affairs Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, the event took place at the Bolsa Chica State Beach in Huntington Beach, California on July 19. In total, four surf camps are scheduled for this summer, and this is the second year that volunteers have offered surfing lessons to veterans.
How do veterans learn how to surf? Each is teamed with four volunteers: a surf captain and three others on duty to fetch boards, help the service members mount the surfboards and assist with swimming when needed.
During the Huntington Beach event, the 17th Street Surf Shop closed for business for the day so its employees could volunteer — helping people such as Navy veteran Goldie Nwachuku catch a wave.
At first, Nwachuku was afraid but managed to stand up on a surf board for the first time. “It’s really good to have a smile on my face. I haven’t smiled in a long time,” Nwachuku told Ethan Hawkes of the Orange County Register.
Ryan Lee, Air Force vet, told Hawkes that surfing, “really helps relieve my stress, and it also helps me connect with the veteran community here and with the other volunteers.”
The program has proved so successful that for next year, organizers are planning a three-day surf event that will bring former soldiers from across the country to participate.
Whether the surfers can get any of the vets to yell “kowabunga,” however, remains to be seen.
MORE: How Does Running Coast to Coast Help Veterans?
How L.A. Plans to End Veteran Homelessness by 2016
It’s virtually unanimous: Most of us believe that all veterans who have served this country deserve to have roofs over their heads. As a result, cities across the country are working toward the goal of housing all the homeless vets in their communities. (Special props to Phoenix for already accomplishing this.) And now, the mayor of the city with the biggest veteran homelessness problem has pledged to join this quest.
In total, Los Angeles County has 6,300 homeless veterans — more than any other county in the United States. So on July 16, L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti pledged to end veteran homelessness, at least for the 2,600 living within city limits by 2015.
Garcetti made this vow during the Unite for Veterans Summit, which included First Lady Michelle Obama. “The image of even one of these heroes sleeping out in the cold, huddled up next to an overpass—that should horrify all of us,” Obama said, according to Gale Holland of the Los Angeles Times. “Because that’s not who we are. And the truth is, we know that there are simple steps that we can take — whether that’s in business or government or in our communities — to prevent and solve these kinds of problems,” she said.
Los Angeles has 17 months to fulfill its promise, and it’s already working towards achieving it. The pipe fitters, elevator construction, painters and sheet metal worker unions are lending a hand by giving veterans first priority in their apprenticeship programs. And, earlier this year, construction began on renovating a Los Angeles County VA building into housing and supportive services for homeless veterans.
According to the Los Angeles Times, mayors from 40 states have already committed to the Obama administration’s challenge to end veteran homelessness. So hopefully the country is well on its way to meeting that goal.
MORE: Phoenix Just Became the First City to End Chronic Veteran Homelessness. Here’s How.
This Program Has Been Keeping Low-Income Babies and Their Moms Healthy for Decades
As the endless supply of child-rearing advice books suggest, having a trusted source to help you face the challenges of motherhood certainly helps.
Back in the 1970s, University of Colorado pediatrics professor David Olds worked at an inner-city daycare center and was struck by the enormous odds faced by low-income babies and their mothers. They died far more often than babies from higher income families, and it was difficult for their mothers to travel to clinics that might offer them assistance. Olds wondered if sending nurses out to educate low-income mothers and socialize with the families in their homes would help. Out of this notion, the Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP) was born.
Dr. Olds began testing his program in Elmira, New York; Memphis and Denver to see if it worked in different populations of low-income mothers and babies. The resounding answer? Yes. So in 1996, after testing and adjusting the program, Dr. Olds began to share it with communities across the country. Then in 2003, the Nurse-Family Partnership National Service Office opened its doors.
A recent 20-year study confirms that participation in NFP among low-income families in Memphis reduced the mortality rate from preventable deaths such as SIDS, injuries, and homicides from 1.6 percent to zero. Meanwhile, mothers in the control group who didn’t receive visits from nurses were three times more likely to die than those who did talk regularly with nurses from NFP.
“Death among mothers and children in these age ranges in the U.S. general population is rare but of enormous consequence,” Dr. Olds told Ana B. Ibarra of the Merced Sun Star. “The high rates of death among mothers and children not receiving nurse-home visits reflect the toxic conditions faced by too many low-income parents and children in our society.”
NFP nurse visits begin during pregnancy, educating mothers-to-be about how to stay healthy before and after their babies are born. Studies suggest that this engagement reduces doctor and hospital visits due to injury in kids under age 2 by 56 percent, reduces smoking in mothers by 25 percent, brings child abuse down by 48 percent and even lowers the number of convictions when these children grow up — bringing that rate down by a whopping 69 percent.
In California, NFP currently serves 21 counties, targeting first-time low-income mothers (especially teen mothers), and the program works so well that the California Department of Public Health hopes to expand it to all 58 counties in the state.
Clearly, for those mothers with the fewest financial resources and very little emotional support, visits from a caring, knowledgable nurse can make all the difference — in not only their health, but the wellness of their children, too.
MORE: How Jobs Give Low-Income Mothers More Than A Financial Boost
This Innovative Car Company Makes Employing Veterans Part of Its Mission
Remember how Tesla recently made headlines when its founder Elon Musk announced his plan to share the design for Superchargers, the quick recharging stations for its electric cars, with other auto makers? Well, Tesla is back in the news with another forward-thinking plan: To hire more veterans as they expand their product lines and workforce.
Arnnon Geshuri, Tesla’s vice president of human resources, told Dana Hull of San Jose Mercury News, “We want to be known throughout the veteran community as a great place to work. Veterans are a great source of talent for Tesla, and we’re going after it.”
Tesla already does an exceptional job of hiring vets: Of its 6,000 current employees, 300 are veterans. Ted Daywalt, president and CEO of the job board VetJobs told Hull, “[Tesla has] a good reputation. They hire veterans who can talk to other veterans. There is a language in the military, and having someone who can speak the lingo is important.”
While some employers have difficulty understanding that military skills can translate into a civilian jobs, Tesla seeks veterans for their technical and mechanical expertise and their ability to work as a part of a team. Veterans employed in Tesla’s human resources department know just what jobs soldiers would be a natural fit for.
Monthly, the company hosts meetings for its veteran employees to talk and suggest ways to improve operations, and it’s more than understanding when employees who are on active military duty need to deploy. Jason Deming, a vehicle test technician for Tesla who is also a member of the Air National Guard said, “HR was phenomenal with my deployment. I can serve my country and save lives but also work on the forefront of technology.”
Greg Reichow, Tesla’s vice president of production, told Hull that the vet-friendly approach aligns perfectly with the company’s goals. “At Tesla we’re not just building cars. We’re trying to transform transportation,” he said. “[Veterans] also know how to lead teams, focus teams and function on teams, and they have incredible integrity and discipline.”
If only other companies would follow Tesla’s lead, the jobless rate amongst veterans could certainly reach the same (lower) level as non-veteran unemployment.
MORE: Here’s A New Website Bringing Unemployed Veterans and Understaffed Tech Companies Together
This Veteran is Building Better Futures for Other Service Members
It takes someone special to have not only a vision, but be able to implement it, too. And that’s exactly what Patrick Clark has done.
When Clark retired from the Marines, he struggled for a while to determine what he would do for the rest of his life. He found his calling by starting a home renovation company — REIG Construction — in San Diego. Now that he’s found success in his civilian life, he wants to help other veterans through a program his company is launching called Operation: Renovation.
Clark told Bob Lawrence of ABC 10 that when he left the military in 2005, he wasn’t sure what to do next. “It’s the great unknown, [that question of] what are you going to do out there is looming. There were times when I contemplated going back to where I grew up.” He ended up staying in southern California and co-founding the construction company that buys dilapidated homes and renovates them. REIG Construction now employ 43 workers, including several other veterans. After just three years in business, Clark and the others in REIG are ready to give back.
Ryan Yahner, a Marine sergeant who served three tours of combat duty before receiving a Purple Heart and being medically discharged, volunteers with REIG and is overseeing Operation: Renovation. “It gives me a chance to help another Marine out, like I used to do for so many years. So it kind of gives me that pride back.”
REIG Construction is inviting active duty military and veterans to apply by July 31 for the chance to receive a complimentary home renovation, which will be completed by Veterans Day 2014. According to REIG’s website, “Our goal with Operation: Renovation is to celebrate, honor, and change the life of one local military family in need through a passionate and purposed home renovation.”
MORE: Here’s An Idea to Stabilize Neighborhoods and Help Veterans
When America’s Heroes Can’t Find Employment, This Program Trains Them to be Wilderness Firefighters
After serving in the military, many veterans can use three things: a job, fellow service members to talk to about their experiences, and some time spent in nature to decompress. The Veterans Fire Corps (VFC) provides all this and more.
Stephen Cooper, an Air Force veteran now doing logging work with the Fire Corps in the San Juan National Forest of western Colorado, told Jim Mimiaga of the Cortez Journal, “I was slipping, not doing well in school, abusing alcohol, basically not adjusting.” Then he joined VFC. “It changed my life and helped me get back on track. Now I’m a supervisor for other veterans that had the same issues I had, and I’m in my final semester at Fort Lewis College.”
The veterans train in all aspects of forestry and engage in fire mitigation, thinning trees to prevent forest fires. They also train as wilderness firefighters, a career that many of them pursue after their stints in the corps.
Cooper said the structure of the program and the physical outdoor work helps former soldiers find their way after serving in war. “It is therapeutic for veterans, many who are disabled and have witnessed horrific things in war,” Cooper said. “When we get out of the military, what’s missing is other vets to talk to. Civilians don’t understand what we’ve been through, and it can lead to more suffering in the form of isolation, depression and alcohol abuse.”
Veteran Ross Schumaker writes on the VFC website, “With the combination of all the classes, contacts, and me being a badass, I have landed a job on a fire engine for the upcoming season and plan on making wildland firefighting my career.”
MORE: Believe it Or Not, This Vet Tells Fellow Service Members to Take A Hike
How 3D Printing Can Teach Blind Kids to Read
It goes without saying that reading to kids is vitally important. So much so, in fact, that a couple of weeks ago, the American Society of Pediatrics issued a policy statement urging parents to read to their children every single day — starting in infancy and continuing through kindergarten at least. The organization also advised pediatricians to stress the importance of this during appointments and to hand out books to their patients, especially those from low-income households.
But what about visually-impaired children who face special challenges when it comes to reading? Not only do they have a hard time seeing the words, but they also miss out on all the colorful drawings in picture books, which go a long way towards helping young kids connect with a story.
For those youngsters, researchers at the University of Colorado have come up with a solution: They’re using 3-D printers to create tactile picture books.
Tom Yeh, an assistant professor of computer science, has been leading the team on this project for two years. They’ve created three-dimensional versions of classic picture books, such as “Harold and the Purple Crayon,” “Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?” and “Goodnight Moon.”
One happy user, Michelle Bateson, who reads the books with her three-year-old visually impaired daughter Elodie, told Sarah Kuta of the Boulder Daily Camera, “Elodie loves exploring the tiniest details. Her tiny fingers are so sensitive, she finds marks and lines I can’t see.”
According to Kuta, individual artists and the American Printing House for the Blind have been producing tactile picture books for years, but the process is labor-intensive and expensive. The University of Colorado team’s efforts to produce them with 3-D printers could give all blind kids access to these books. As the price of 3-D printers decrease, the researchers hope that families can use the online library they are creating to print books for themselves.
If you’re curious about what tactile books look like and you’re in Colorado, you can see several examples of “Harold and the Purple Crayon” created by students in Yeh’s upper-level computer sciences classes. The pages are on display at the University of Colorado’s Gemmill Library of Engineering, Mathematics and Physics.
“There’s not too many projects where you can see a very clear combination of engineering, societal impact and art,” Yeh told Kuta. “It gives all students an option to communicate through design and 3-D models.”
MORE: Meet the Generous Boy Who Collects Books for Homeless Kids
Here’s An Idea to Stabilize Neighborhoods and Help Veterans
It’s a simple idea: Why not revitalize blighted communities by housing heroes in vacant homes?
In Pittsburg, California, a Bay Area town that’s come upon some hard times recently, disabled veteran J.R. Wilson is rallying the community by attempting to solve the problems of homelessness among local service members and neighborhoods full of abandoned houses.
Wilson, the executive director of the nonprofit Delta Veterans Group, told Angela Hart of the Contra Costa Times, “We are working with local leaders and the community to bring veterans into our neighborhoods and to fill our vacant houses. This will not only help fight our blight problems, but it’ll help veterans who are transitioning into civilian life and who may be facing homelessness or who could have suicidal thoughts.”
On June 28, the American Legion Post in Antioch, California hosted a “Veterans Home-Buying Triage” event, bringing together local veterans with real estate professionals, mortgage lenders, and city officials. Wilson helped organize a similar event in Pittsburg a few weeks earlier.
Wilson’s goal is to bring the area back to its former glory. “Growing up here, we never used to see this much vacancy or homelessness,” he said. “We really want to get the attention of asset managers and city officials, then work with code enforcement and get those houses on the market.”
The new programs come just in the nick of time for Army veteran Alan Johnson, who told Hart, “We just got married, and we found out we’re expecting.” After meeting with a local mortgage consultant at the Pittsburg event, Johnson is now well on his way to finding an affordable home for his growing family.
MORE: Minnesota Looks to a Historic Structure to Help End Veteran Homelessness
What’s Helping More Refugees Than Ever Build Businesses in Colorado?
In many states across the country, the economy is picking up after the long recession, making aspiring entrepreneurs eager to launch their small businesses. The only problem? Requirements for loans from traditional banks are still strict, leaving potential business owners, including many immigrants who may not have the credentials banks are looking for, with no capital to start their ventures.
In Colorado, the solution to this crunch has come through several microloan nonprofits that are able to lend smaller amounts than commercial banks do, and serve a wider variety of people, including refugees who want to open shops, home childcare businesses and restaurants.
Denver-based Somali refugee Abdullahi Shongolo was one beneficiary of these programs. Three years ago, a microloan enabled him to buy an international grocery store, leaving him with a rosy view of his adopted country. “If you try, this is America—you can,” Shongolo told Thad Moore of the Denver Post. “This is the country that went to the moon, man.”
According to Moore, microlending is booming in Colorado. Community Enterprise Development Services, a lender specializing in helping immigrants and refugees, increased the number of borrowers in the most recent fiscal year by 150 percent. None of the 51 loans the nonprofit has made since it opened in 2010 has defaulted.
“Refugees do not only bring a few bags of clothes and a few belongings,” Suleyman Abbgero, who used a microloan to open a coffee kiosk in an Aurora mall, told Moore. “They also bring a lot of ideas. If they are given the opportunity, they can do much more.”
MORE: From Field Hands to Farmers: This Program Helps Latino Immigrants Become Land Owners