Hiring Our Heroes job fair set for Houston

The American Legion will host a Hiring Our Heroes job fair Aug. 27 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the George R. Brown Convention Center during the National Convention in Houston. The venue has been changed because of the overwhelming interest among employers.

The career fair is open to veterans, active-duty military, National Guard and Reserve members, and spouses.

Participating companies include General Electric, Direct Energy, Boeing and Home Depot. Veteran employment representatives from the Texas Veterans Commission have already started working with jobseekers to match resumes with vacant positions listed by the attending employers, while contacting the employers to set-up interviews during the job fair. Our goal is to create a site where employers can interview veteran jobseekers that are ready to be hired.

Additionally, the Legion’s National Economic Commission is working with the Small Business Administration (SBA), Department of Labor (DOL), Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Department of Defense (DOD), Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (USCC) and major companies such as GE, Home Depot, Humana, SAP and Sallie Mae with veteran-hiring programs to provide information and opportunities free of charge to veterans in transition.

Besides the career fair, Economic Commission-sponsored events to be held Aug. 26-27 include:

• A two-day Women’s Small Business Development Workshop with SBA at the Hilton Americas Houston Hotel. The session is specifically designed to help women veterans identify opportunities, write business plans and launch their new enterprises.

• An Employment Transition Workshop will be held at the Hilton Americas Houston Hotel, featuring expert insights from such companies as GE, First Command Bank, SAP, Sallie Mae and Nexstar. These companies will provide information and opportunities for training in a variety of career areas to include job openings at their respective companies. A resume writing and interview workshop will be held Aug. 26.

• The first American Legion Empowering Conference will be at the Hilton Americas Houston Hotel. The conference will provide veterans with information they need to obtain gainful employment in a variety of industries as well as discuss relevant benefits that veterans have earned through their military service. Also, this two-day conference will provide veterans and spouses with empowerment strategies to reach and control their own destinies, and enhance their abilities to affect positive change in their lives/communities.

To sign up for these events, click here.

In other news:

Sexual assault: The National Guard Bureau has launched a comprehensive campaign designed to assist National Guard units in combating sexual assault as part of a militarywide effort to protect victims and eradicate the crime from the ranks.

The campaign plan, part of a DOD-wide effort, has three phases, beginning with implementation. The first phase focuses on the defense secretary’s five lines of effort: prevention, investigation, accountability, advocacy/victim assistance and assessment. The second phase is a sustainment campaign, while the third phase is aimed at improving the program through tracking, analysis, assessment and program adjustments.

The Legion has a formal resolution calling for a zero-tolerance policy on military sexual assault.

Immigration reform: The Congressional Budget Office concluded that the Senate-approved immigration bill, which would double the number of federal agents along the border and complete the 700 miles of fencing, would reduce the number of people entering the United States from Mexico without documentation by one-third to one-half.

The Democratic-led Senate passed the sweeping immigration bill at the end of June, but the legislation’s fate is unclear in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives. Some House Republicans have complained that the Senate bill’s border security provisions are not strong enough and the majority do not want to provide a path to citizenship for the 11 million illegal immigrants, which is at the heart of the Senate bill.

House Republicans are due to meet this week to discuss how to proceed on immigration policy. (related resolution)

Job fair: A Hiring our Heroes Hiring job fair was held in early June in Buffalo, N.Y. There were 70 employers and 444 jobseekers at this event. Overall there were 1,078 resumes accepted, 284 interviews conducted, five tentative job offers and six hires.

Claims: For the week ending July 5, the Board of Veterans’ Appeals reached dispositions on 137 American Legion represented appeals. Of those dispositions, 62.8 percent of the denials were overturned with outcomes favorable to the veteran. In 28 cases, the board granted benefits outright after considering The American Legion’s arguments. In 58 cases, The American Legion was able to point out errors in the development of the veteran’s claims that mandated corrective action under the law. Of the total number of dispositions, 45 (32.8 percent) were outright denials.

POW/MIA update: Army Staff Sgt. James M. McKain, 31st Regimental Combat Team (RCT) was lost on May 7, 1944 in Nadzab, New Guinea. His remains were buried at Arlington National Cemetery in 1974 and accounted for in 2013.