Department of LaborAmerica’s Heroes at WorkApril 9, 2010

Ronald Drach

U.S. Department of Labor

Veterans’ Employment & Training Service

Natache Muschette

U.S. Department of Labor

Gretchen Martens

Founder and CEO, Homeward Deployed, Inc.

Chair, Veterans Task Force at the Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce

1. Introduce the Veterans Task Force at the programs designed to put America’s veterans and military spouses on the road to economic self-sustainability.

2. Explore ways to partner with the Department of Labor to put America’s veterans to work.

Depression

Suicide

Unemployment

Homelessness

Violent Crimes

Divorce

Child Maltreatment

SubstanceAbuse

To welcome and support veterans and their families, connecting them to the Greater Springfield Business

Community.

To produce a Blueprint for Success that can be nationally replicated in any of the 3500+ community

Chambers in the U.S.

in 2011

1. Supporting veterans and military spouses in starting, relocating, and/or expanding businesses in Greater Springfield

2. Educating and supporting Chamber businesses about hiring veterans, especially wounded veterans, and military spouses

Supporting Veteran

Business Owners

1. Educating and connecting veterans with critical resources

◦ The community Chamber is often where entrepreneurs first seek information on how to start businesses, especially in rural areas

◦ It can be daunting and time consuming to wade through the myriad websites and books to figure out the steps to starting a business

2. Mentoring veteran entrepreneurs starting businesses or business owners growing their businesses.

◦ Community chambers are a safe place to get your feet wet in the business world

◦ Chamber members are well-connected and can make personal introductions to key constituencies

◦ Established business owners have a tremendous wealth of common sense knowledge to share

◦ May: Recruitment of mentors

◦ June: Outreach to veteran business owners

◦ September: Brown Bag Seminar on becoming certified as a veteran-owned or service-disabled veteran owned small business (VOSB or SDVOSB)

◦ October: Follow up workshop intensive that walks veterans through the paperwork and process.

Educating Community Businesses

About

Hiring Veterans

“Cool, you jumped out of helicopters! But how will you help my printing business?

Overlooking

◦ Leadership

◦ Work Ethic

◦ Integrity

◦ Self-Responsibility

When you can’t see past the wheelchair……you miss resilience, problem-solving,determination, and flexibility.

If you think you know what PTSD is because you’ve been to the movies…

…you miss courage, risk-taking,

loyalty, and perseverance.

Providing resources for community business owners who hire a service-disabled veteran.

Coaching veterans returning to the civilian workforce, and the caregiver networks of service-disabled veterans who make that transition possible.

◦ April: Outreach to Wounded Warrior Units

◦ May: Outreach to Other Chambers

◦ October: Brown Bag Seminar

◦ November: Networking Breakfast

◦ November: Luncheon Symposium

A $30,000 One-time Seed Money Grant Covering

◦ 25-30% FTE Contract Consultant to administer the rollout for eight months and prepare the Blueprint for Success

◦ Extra administrative time and costs incurred by the Greater Springfield Chamber

◦ Sponsorship of our November Luncheon on Hiring America’s Heroes in the Community

May: Social Media Campaign sharing our progress

July: A series of webinars or tele-conferences for other Chambers interested in starting their own Veterans Task Force

September: A series of group coaching calls for Chambers gearing up to launch a Veterans Task Force

Early 2011: Initial Open Source Blueprint for Success documenting a step-by-step plan for launching a Veterans Task Force, including all outreach strategies, marketing materials, programs, best practices,

Seed money to create a Blueprint For Success that can be distributed to every community Chamber by early 2011

Endorsement of the Veterans Task Force

A Point of Contact to serve as a resource

Gretchen Martens, M.A.Founder and CEO, Homeward Deployedwww.HomewardDeployed.org

Chair, Veterans Task Force, Greater Springfield Chamber of Commercewww.SpringfieldChamber.org

Phone: (703) 622-0919

Email: Gretchen@HomewardDeployed.org