10,000 STRONG VETERANS HIRING INITIATIVE NEAR HALFWAY MARK AHEAD OF SCHEDULE

10,000 STRONG VETERANS HIRING INITIATIVE NEAR HALFWAY MARK AHEAD OF SCHEDULE

With nearly 5,000 local veterans hired, 10,000 Strong is on pace to hit Mayor Garcetti’s three-year veterans hiring goal by 2017

LOS ANGELES–Today, at the 10,000 Strong Veterans Career Summit, Mayor Eric Garcetti announced that his 10,000 Strong Coalition of over 200 public and private sector partners has hired nearly 5,000 veterans in one year. He was joined by more than 1,000 veterans, employers, supporters and military family members.

The initiative, formed to help connect veterans and military community members to gainful employment, aims to employ 10,000 Veterans over a three year period. The initiative links veterans to employers, training, and job resources to help transition military skills to the civilian workforce.

“As the home to the highest number of unemployed veterans in the country, we have a duty here in Los Angeles to repay the service of our returning heroes with job opportunities,” said Mayor Garcetti. “We owe our veterans more than a handshake and a thank-you– we owe them the help they deserve to transition their valuable skills to support their families and benefit our local employers.”

In addition to celebrating the halfway mark, Mayor Garcetti also announced new efforts to strengthen the local veterans workforce, focusing on improving veteran access to career and supportive services, strengthening efforts to help companies hire veterans, and developing long-term strategies to enhance employment opportunities for veterans in Los Angeles.

First, Mayor Garcetti announced Vet2Text, a text messaging application that allows veterans to text directly with a veteran peer support specialist. Veterans simply text “vet” to “LA211” to receive support 24 hours a day, 7 days per week, directly on their mobile phones. Vet2Text was developed in partnership with LA County 211, Volunteers of America Los Angeles, and USC Center for Innovation and Research on Veterans & Military Families (USC-CIR), and created 9 full time jobs for vets.

Mayor Garcetti also announced a 10% veteran hiring goal for all new apprenticeships in the building trades, in partnership with LA County Federation of Labor and United Way Greater LA. This goal will result in more than 500, good-paying jobs for veterans per year.

Lastly, in order to strengthen the pipeline of jobs for veterans, Mayor Garcetti also partnered with the PsychArmor Institute to launch a free call center, which aims to help guide employers through the recruitment and hiring process for veterans. The call center will help employers who want to recruit from the military community by offering free, innovative training and technical support. For assistance in hiring veterans, employers can call (844) PsychArmor.