West Michigan Veteran Employment

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1 West Michigan Veteran Employment 30 Planned Followers Trained Members Visits 1, ,300 WHAT WE VE DONE IN THE LAST 6 MONTHS Established website for West Michigan Veteran Coalition, Set up Team RWB Chapter in Grand Rapids, engaging veterans in the community Worked with Kent County Jail to get veterans the resources they need to get help Partnered with MI Works for employment referrals and resources Represented West Michigan on the Michigan Veteran Affairs Agency (MVAA) Private Sector and create a Council for Veteran Employment issues affinity group. Veteran Explorer Program (May) Spectrum Health launched the Veteran Explorer Program in This year the program will include Gordon Food Service and Haworth. Unemployed and underemployed veterans who participate in this paid program rotate through three courses at one of these businesses, spending 10 weeks in each. Along with work experience. The veterans attend resume writing and interviewing workshops. The initial pilot program included four veterans Veteran Networking Job Club (May) This job club is a collaboration of veteran and community organizations working to connect veterans to resources and improve employment networking. Held at Michigan Works! Every first and third Thursday at 10 am. LinkedIN Michigan Veterans Employment Solutions fosters communication, partnerships, and initiatives that will close the gap between veterans and employers. Michigan Veterans Employment Solutions is dedicated to break down these and other barriers that employers face in their onboarding efforts and veterans recruitment initiatives. Employer/Veteran Networking Event (June) This event is a pilot project to bring together a small group of talent acquisition reps and/or hiring managers with unemployed/underemployed veteran looking for the best fit in employment. This first event will be sponsored by Haworth and hosted by Amerikam, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Goodwill Industries of Greater Grand Rapids, and Rockford Construction. The goal of this event is to provide connections and networking opportunities for veterans looking for work in West Michigan and for employers to learn more about military occupations and experiences. WHERE WE RE HEADED Partnership with the State The West Michigan Veteran Coalition was the first group piloted by the Michigan Veteran Affairs Agency to be a Veteran Community Action Team (VCAT). Following the Governor s direction, the MVAA is creating VCATs in each prosperity region. Region 4 and 9 were the first to be established. There will be four more throughout the state this year. Partners 200+

2 METRICS By October 2015 the following metrics will be accessible: 1. Number of Veteran employees at TALENT 2025 companies 2. Number of job placements from Veteran Explorer Program 3. Number of webpage visits 4. Number of networking connections from Networking Job Club 5. Number of networking connections from Employer/Veteran Networking Event 6. Represented West Michigan in Lansing on the Private Sector Council for Veteran Employment with the MVAA WHERE WE NEED YOUR HELP SUPPORT The idea is to establish a first-of-its-kind collaborative location. ASCET, Michigan Works! and Goodwill Industries have supported and collaborated on veteran employment issues by sharing a space that would be identified as a Veteran Employment Center. Region 4 has taken the lead in the state for Veteran Employment issues; they have been followed by the MVAA for their best practices since This is a real opportunity to try something new in the region to try and increase veteran employment. IDENTIFY A point of contact for your company that will be the connection between TALENT 2025 and the Verteran Employment Working Group. These individuals will be responsible to: 1. Apply for Certified Veteran-Friendly Employer status throught the MVAA 2. Identify company representative to participate in the Veteran Networking Job Club 3. Assist in planning for Employer/Veteran networking event when appropriate 4. Engage with the Veteran Explorer Program when they expand to more companies 5. Identify veteran employees within the company and creating a system to communicate information to them (bulletin board, information on website, affinity group).

3 State of West Michigan Veteran Employment (2013)

4 State of Michigan Veteran Employment (2015)

5 JUNE P.M. VETERAN/EMPLOYER NETWORKING EVENT SPONSORED BY: Herman Miller HOSTED BY: Amerikam, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Goodwill Industries of Greater Grand Rapids, Rockford Construction, TALENT 2025 About Event Employers will have an opportunity to gain a better understanding of transitioning military members what experiences they ve had, what kinds of jobs they ve had in the past and what skillsets they have for future jobs in the civilian workplace. Veterans will have a chance to pick employers brains on what they re looking for in new hires and what kind of civilian jobs might be a good match for what they re interested in. This is a closed event to keep the group small and to make some solid meaningful connections. GR Meet Veterans looking for work Talk to employers about what they re looking for Make some connections Drinks and snacks provided Learn about what Grand Rapids has to offer LOCATION Grand Rapids Art Museum 101 Monrœ Center Street NW Grand Rapids, MI CONTACT INFO Any questions contact: Brandi McBride bmcbride@goodwillgr.org or