Credentialing Summit set for April 28-29 in Washington

Credentialing Summit set for April 28-29 in Washington

The American Legion is hosting its National Credentialing Summit in Washington at the Mayflower Hotel on April 28-29. The invitation-only event will bring together more than 200 key executives and lawmakers from across the country to focus on best practices for helping veterans and transitioning servicemembers get credentials for civilian jobs.

The summit will showcase panels of experts from the private sector, nonprofits, the military, federal agencies and other organizations, and feature guest speakers including Secretary of Labor Tom Perez; Teamsters President James P. Hoffa; Major General Rex Spitler, deputy chief of staff for the U.S. Army’s Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC); and Major General Tim Orr, adjutant general of the Iowa National Guard.

Verna Jones, the Legion’s executive director in Washington, said much progress has been made in the area since the country’s largest organization of wartime veterans held its first credentialing summit in 2012, cosponsored by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

“This summit will be a real learning experience for individuals who are committed to our military community, but may not know what specific steps need to be taken to provide veterans and their spouses with the credentials they need for the civilian work force,” Jones said.

“We want this event to have a ripple effect, so that each person who attends will go back to his or her company, college, legislature or association and effect real changes to help veterans get jobs.”

Panel topics include credentialing best practices in health care and in transportation, assessing the quality and value of credentials, credentialing of spouses, and tracking the outcomes of credentialing.

The event will also examine best credentialing practices in the private sector that recognize the military training and experience of veterans in the job market.

“Credentialing in the civilian job market needs to take into account all the skills and training that veterans bring with them from the military,” said Joe Sharpe, director of the Legion’s Veterans Employment & Education Division (VEED). “But the Department of Defense also stands to benefit by providing its forces with more credentials from the private sector – it boosts the level of professionalism.”

Sharpe said DoD’s readiness level could be boosted in many areas by issuing credentials available to civilian workers; for example, providing aircraft mechanics with A & P (airframe and power plant) licenses issued by the Federal Aviation Administration.

About 30 experts on several panels will share best practices for credentialing veterans and servicemembers – practices that recognize military training and experience for civilian job requirements. They will discuss specific strategies as to how attendees can emulate those best practices.

“We want all of our attendees to go back to their communities and lead local efforts to break down barriers that are stopping our veterans from joining the civilian work force,” Sharp said.

“We don’t want this to be a summit where people show up, take some notes, say how great it was, then go jump back into their silos,” said Steve Gonzalez, VEED’s assistant director. “We want attendees to collaborate together to make specific changes in laws, regulations, college courses – whatever it takes to make things easier for veterans who want to earn a living.”

Sponsors for the summit are CBS Broadcasting, Inc.; Colorado State University Global Campus; Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA); International Brotherhood of Teamsters; Microsoft and Pearson VUE.

The summit will be held in the Mayflower Renaissance Hotel at 1127 Connecticut Ave. NW in Washington.