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By Erin Voirol
Public Private Partnership Highlight:
Providing Support to Military and Veteran Communities
Public Private Partnerships have increased recently as government budget reductions lead to funding cuts for various programs.
These partnerships solve the problem of monetary shortfalls by developing new strategic alliances that improve public services while reducing government costs.
Work for Warriors (WFW) is a State and Federally funded, free Direct Placement Program in California. The “Work for Warriors” employment initiative’s goal is to reduce the unemployment rate among service members in the National Guard and Reserve by directly placing them into gainful full-time employment. WFW is open to all currently serving Guard and Reserve personnel, and Post 9/11 Veterans, as well as Spouses and Gold Star family members.
In February 2012, The Adjutant General (TAG) of the California National Guard, Major General David S. Baldwin, worked with his Staff and the Speaker of the Assembly, John A. Perez, to tackle the California National Guard’s unemployment concerns and the goal of reducing unemployment by 25% in a year, which they not only met, but also exceeded.
WFW helped place over 2400 Service Members and spouses into gainful employment by their two year anniversary. WFW has partnered with over 300 businesses across the State.
A team of 18 Service Members and Veterans operate Work for Warriors where they match the skill sets of highly qualified Service Members, Veterans, and Spouses with the needs of civilian employers.
In May of 2015 CASY & MSCCN will bring their IBM i2 Analyst’s Notebook Training to Work for Warrior’s program candidates in Los Alamitos. This class will provide 20 veterans from the program with a top-notch analyst certification and employer backing from companies including Citi, JP Morgan Chase, and IBM.