Today the President announced new details of his Veterans Jobs Corps initiative which will help put veterans back to work on a range of projects that leverage skills developed in the military.
"Our veterans return to civilian life with the skills, training and education we need in the private and public sector to build and fill the jobs of the future. Our veterans put their lives on the line day in and day out to serve our country and fight for our freedom. It is our obligation to ensure they have access to the best resources available when they return home to help them transition from military to civilian life," said Perlmutter.
Following are details of the President's initiative:
Supporting veteran entrepreneurship by building our next generation of small business leaders: Expand entrepreneurship training opportunities for separating service members and veterans. As part of the VA-DOD Task Force for a Career Ready Military that the President established in August of last year, the Departments of Defense and Veteran Affairs, working with the Small Business Administration, are developing a two-day entrepreneurship program as part of the Transition Assistance Program that will be available to all service members. In addition, once service members separate, SBA will offer veterans more in-depth entrepreneurial training through an 8-week online training program that will teach the fundamentals of small business ownership to over 10,000 veterans annually, as well as an expansion of the existing suite of programs and public-private partnerships supporting entrepreneurship and small business development opportunities for veterans and veterans’ families, including an intensive entrepreneurship boot camp.
New incentives to hire veterans as first responders: $166 million in 2012 Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Hiring Grant funding and $320 million in 2012 Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grants. Preference for these grants will be given to communities recruiting and hiring post-9/11 veterans to serve as police officers and firefighters. The COPS funding preserves law enforcement jobs and spurs new ones by making grant awards to communities across the country. SAFER grants provide funding directly to fire departments and volunteer firefighter interest organizations in order to help them increase and retain the number of trained firefighters available in their communities, enhancing the local fire departments' abilities to comply with staffing, response, and operational standards.
Hiring veterans to protect Americans as first responders and law enforcement officers: The President will include in his FY13 Budget the $4 billion in COPS funding first proposed in the American Jobs Act to spur police officer hiring in 2012. The Budget will include $1 billion for SAFER grants, as proposed in the American Jobs Act, to encourage firefighter hiring. Preference for these grants will also be given to communities that hire post-9/11 veterans.
Putting veterans to work preserving and restoring America’s land and resources: Proposed $1 billion to develop a Veterans Job Corps conservation program that will put up to 20,000 veterans back to work over the next five years protecting and rebuilding America. Veterans will restore our great outdoors by providing visitor programs, restoring habitat, protecting cultural resources, eradicating invasive species, and operating facilities. Additionally, our veterans will help make a significant dent in the deferred maintenance of our Federal, State, local, and tribal lands including jobs that will repair and rehabilitate trails, roads, levees, recreation facilities and other assets. The program will serve all veterans, but will have a particular focus on post-9/11 veterans.
