Department Spotlight: New Jersey assisting in transition process

Editor’s note: This is a weekly series of Department Spotlight stories featuring unique programs and initiatives of departments throughout The American Legion. Department adjutants are invited to recommend subjects for their departments by emailing magazine@legion.org.

Taking care of “our brothers and sisters” is a focus of Department of New Jersey Legionnaire Bob Looby. He calls it one of the key components of the Legion’s Four Pillars.

One of the ways Looby and the department have fulfilled that mission is by providing transition assistance to veterans that initially involved employment opportunities but has since expanded to much more.

In 2010, the department was approached about conducting a job fair for veterans, military personnel and their spouses. Since then, New Jersey Legion officials have conducted 35 job and resource fairs and have received multiple national awards for their efforts.

“This is what we signed up to do,” said Looby, a past department commander and chairman of the department’s Employment and Education Committee. “We walk the walk. It’s part of our mission to help these guys returning home.”

The department initially worked with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Hiring Our Heroes program to put on multiple job fairs within the state. Wanting to expand the program, the department began conducting their own hiring fairs, partnering with state agencies that include New Jersey’s Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, the State Parole Board and housing experts, along with prospective employers. The events went from hiring fairs to job and resource fairs.

“We realized there was more to it than just employment,” Looby said. “There was the criminal justice side, women veterans providers, homeless experts and the mental health aspect. There’s a cause and effect with all of those, so we wanted to provide a setting to address all of them.”

Looby and department Legionnaires developed a set of standard operating procedures for their job fair events that has started being used in other areas of the country. “That’s something we’re definitely proud of,” Looby said. “This is something that probably every other (Legion) department has the expertise to do if they have some good project managers.”

Sensing a shift in where returning veterans were focusing their energies, the Department of New Jersey has also teamed up with the Small Business Administration and other entities to conduct three Boots to Business workshops since last spring; two more are scheduled for this fall and another in January. The workshops provide entrepreneurship training for veterans who want to start, expand or purchase a small business.

“A lot of younger veterans were going back to college,” Looby said. “That was demonstrated by our state college Rutgers, which has more than 2,000 veterans on campus. Some of them are looking at starting their own businesses, so these workshops were an opportunity to expand our employment services. It’s really a natural supplement to our job fairs.”

The Department of New Jersey has also paired up the State Parole Board with local Legion posts to provide an opportunity for parolees to volunteer so they can say on their résumé that they’ve been doing work for the community. And in recent years the department has raised more than $600,000 to purchase furniture and vehicles for homeless veterans facilities within the state.

Department of New Jersey Assistant Adjutant Vincent Mento has helped cultivate a relationship with New Jersey developer Edgewood Properties, which regularly advertises employment opportunities on the site. The Department of New Jersey’s website also advertises additional job openings for such employers as the Department of Veterans Affairs and Verizon.

“All veterans want to do is earn a living,” Mento said. “They don’t want a handout. They need our help, and that’s what we’re doing. It’s the whole idea of veterans helping veterans. That’s the approach we take.”