In Michigan, 14 state agencies and about 450 local organizations do something related to veterans.
The new
Michigan Veterans Affairs Agency hopes to institute a coordinated approach to all those services.
"As a veteran, it's easy to become a little bit overwhelmed with everything that's out there," said agency Director Jeff Barnes, formerly Gov. Rick Snyder's deputy director of strategy and a veteran of nearly 10 years in the
U.S. Army, including tours in South Korea, the Balkans and Iraq.
"What the goal is, and the vision I have for the agency, is that we create a no-wrong-door mentality."
That means, for example, a veteran who goes to one service provider, like a secretary of state's office, can be directed to other assistance or benefits through referral to the Veterans Affairs Agency, which would make the connections.
Barnes seeks a "warm handoff" for Michigan's approximately 700,000 veterans that ultimately would unfold through a regional approach, starting with pilot projects expected to launch in August in Kent and Wayne counties.
A request for proposals issued by the state seeks a contractor to assess veterans' services being provided by federal, state and private organizations in those regions, create a coordinated service delivery model and develop a comprehensive communications plan regarding available services.
That model then could be replicated in regions throughout the state.
Patrick Lafferty, state adjutant for the
American Legion Department of Michigan, said the agency's steps to better connect Michigan veterans to available programs and assistance should lead to more people applying for and receiving benefits in areas like health care and education -- and finding jobs.
"We're excited about the new agency. We think it has great potential," said Lafferty, who also is on a planning committee for the agency.
Major focuses of the agency, created by Snyder and launched in March, include talent and workforce initiatives.
One goal is to bridge what can be a communications divide between veterans and employers in determining how the skills and knowledge a veteran developed in the military meet an employer's needs. Employers can find it difficult to understand military language, acronyms and skills and thus may not comprehend a veteran's background and potential fit to a job.
"It's kind of like a ... second-language interview when you're trying to seek employment," Barnes said. "You think you're communicating crystal clear," he said, but the civilian employer doesn't understand.
The state's new budget for the upcoming fiscal year includes $1.5 million to integrate software developed and used by the
U.S. Department of Defense into the state's
Pure Michigan Talent Connect website for Michigan job seekers and employers. The federal program, called
Hero2Hired, translates military occupation codes into comparable skills and career paths in civilian jobs. It will enable veterans to more easily identify where they fit in and connect with potential Michigan employers. Employers, in turn, will get an identified talent pool to which they can query and market themselves, Barnes said.
The Pure Michigan Talent Connect website,
mitalent.org, already contains some military skills translator tools, but Hero2Hired is more detailed and precise.
Barnes said Michigan is the first state to integrate the Hero2Hired software and is being watched as a project that could be "the way forward for connecting veterans and service members back to their communities."
The project will begin by placing 12,000 members of the
Michigan National Guard onto Pure Michigan Talent Connect next spring and will expand into the summer to include veterans and other members of the military, Barnes said.
Brandi McBride, executive assistant and project manager of veteran employment at
Talent 2025, a Grand Rapids-based CEO coalition covering 13 West Michigan counties, said the initiative is valuable. The former
U.S. Air Force captain -- who served eight years in the fields of food, morale, fitness, lodging and mortuary services -- knows from experience.
"My own military code, I couldn't find it on most of the jobs sites. The H2H software found it ... and offers civilian corresponding careers," McBride said.
In addition, she said, the state system provides the advantage of a central site for employers to post job openings.
"I think it will be huge," McBride said.
There's also a state marketing component: Active-duty Marines and others who use the federal Hero2Hired program as they prepare to transition out of the military will see jobs available through Pure Michigan Talent Connect and get exposure to Michigan.
"Even if they enter through H2H, they'll get the entire benefit of being on the MiTalent website," Barnes said.
At the completion of service, the government pays for a service member's move to any location, so exposing that person to Michigan and job opportunities could attract members who might go elsewhere, agency officials said.
The Veterans Affairs Agency also is developing a fall legislative to-do list that will include bills to make it easier for veterans to transition into some areas of employment by allowing their military occupation or training to count toward credentials or licensing. For example, legislation passed in 2012 waives the road test for veterans applying for a commercial driver's license if they have verified proof of heavy-truck driving experience during their military service.
Bills already introduced address some licensing aspects, such as for emergency medical technicians, boiler operators and residential builders.
Lafferty also noted recently signed legislation providing for a veteran's designation on state-issued personal IDs and driver's licenses beginning next May. The designation will mean that veterans will not have to produce their discharge papers to access veterans discounts and offers from retailers and others.
"It sounds small, but it's not," said Lafferty of the American Legion. "It gives a veteran that feeling that I belong."
Barnes said this fall also will bring a conference of C-level executives from around the state to target major employers and "begin the dialogue" on the state's new initiatives, such as Hero2Hired and the value of hiring veterans.
With troop drawdowns from Iraq and Afghanistan expected to return as many as 10,000 veterans annually to Michigan for several years beginning in late 2014 or early 2015, "it's important for us to think about our job market and the supply and demand that we have and how veterans can factor into that," he said.
The idea for the statewide conference came out of the
Detroit Regional Chamber's 2012
Mackinac Policy Conference. The chamber and other groups are working with the Snyder administration to plan the event.
"For businesses, they every day have the challenge of having a successful business, growing their business, and that means making sure that they have the qualified workforce and talent to continue to grow that business" said Tammy Carnrike, COO at the Detroit chamber. "Employers need to experience that veterans bring a skill set, leadership (and) work ethic that can help move that business forward, that can help the business achieve that strategy.
"That's the value proposition that we need our employers to recognize."