Legion ‘front and center on the job front’
The American Legion’s Economic Division is highly visible these days in its campaign to achieve full employment for job seeking veterans. “A look at our schedule for the week of March 26 shows that we’re front and center on the job front,” said division director Joe Sharpe.
During the week – which was not atypical, according to Sharpe – assistant director Steve Gonzalez spent two days in North Carolina at a Queens University of Charlotte educational conference. While there, he schooled attendees on Legion advocacy and legislative lobbying efforts on behalf of unemployed and underemployed veterans, Guard members and reservists, as well as on the Legion’s work for the benefit of those pursuing higher education.
“It was a privilege to address faculty and talk with students about not only the Legion’s many programs that benefit student veterans and those embarking on civilian career paths, but the work we do on Capitol Hill, too,” Gonzalez said. “It feels good to be out there telling our story.”
Noting that Queens University is his alma mater – he attended on the G.I. Bill – Gonzalez said, “I think they invited me back to campus to show how a returning servicemember, with educational benefits pioneered by The American Legion, can succeed.”
Meanwhile, fellow Economic Division Assistant Director Davy Leghorn was in New York City representing the Legion in a veterans career fair that drew upwards of 1,000 job seekers. The big event aboard the U.S.S. Intrepid was staged by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and NBC’s Today Show as part of the Chamber’s ongoing Hiring Our Heroes campaign.
Leghorn joined Legionnaires from the Department of New York at the fair. Speaking of the Legion’s involvement, NBC News Vice President Val Nicholas – who announced his company’s support of the Hiring Our Heroes campaign at the Legion’s 2011 national convention – said, “Your folks looked great there… They did us all proud.” A Hiring Our Heroes job fair in Chicago during the week drew a similar crowd.
At week’s end, Leghorn traveled to Green Bay, Wis., to address a veterans’ small business summit. He, along with Department of Wisconsin Legionnaires, briefed attendees on the Legion’s ongoing series of small-business development workshops for veterans and the work of its small business task force.
In the nation’s capital, Economic Deputy Director Mark Walker reported meeting “with local community service providers regarding veteran homelessness issues such as funding, affordable housing and advocacy.” Walker also conferred with leaders of the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans (NCHV) on the same issues, and the Legion’s planned participation in the NCHV’s upcoming conference.
Gonzalez also attended a House Veterans Affairs subcommittee hearing on several pieces of vet-related legislation, including one that would, if enacted, improve contracting opportunities for veteran-owned small businesses; another called for improvements in the Department of Defense’s Transition Assistance Program (TAP) for soon-to-be discharged servicemembers. Gonzalez also appeared at the Senate Veterans’ Job Caucus Kick-Off event, the launch of a series of discussions among senators concerning the plight of the nation’s 777,000 unemployed veterans. Gonzalez said the Economic Division also assisted in the U.S. Senate introduction of legislation designed to streamline civilian credentialing and licensing procedures for appropriately qualified and experienced transitioning servicemembers.
The Economic Division’s ambitious efforts have not gone unnoticed by colleagues. On March 29, VET-Force, a prominent Washington-based veterans’ advocacy group, presented Sharpe with an award “in recognition of your strong and intrepid support of veteran-owned small business.”