During the next few weeks, we will be profiling the winners of the 2012 Service Impact Awards. Look for their stories and videos here on the blog.

 

Recently discharged veterans shouldn't have to struggle to find work when they return home from service, but they often do. AmeriCorps VISTA Heather Hays is helping vets make the most of a program that lets them serve their country in a new way while placing them on a pathway to permanent employment.

The California Conservation Corps (CCC), a program to preserve natural resources and provide emergency response services, in partnership with the United States Forest Service, runs the Veterans Green Corps (VGC) as a way to help former military members make the transition to civilian work. The program places vets in an instructional work environment, and connects them with support services and career development resources.

Hays gets involved with veterans even before they enter the VGC as she sits in on recruitment sessions to assess their individual needs. She then follows the vets throughout their term to determine career goals, perfect resumes and cover letters, and navigate the application and interview process as they prepare to leave the VGC.

In the time Hays has worked with veterans, she has seen one promoted to crew leader at the CCC, three work through the hiring process with the U.S. Forest Service, and 15 land civilian jobs at the California State Parks, the Bureau of Land Management, and the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Heather Hays was selected as one of the winners in the Veterans and Military Familes category in the 2012 National Service Impact Awards. 

Earlier this summer, I had the incredible opportunity to attend the graduation of 22 Green City Force AmeriCorpsmembers in New York City. Green City Force recruits young adults, ages 18-24, who are currently unemployed or underemployed high school graduates or GED-holders from low-income neighborhoods.
 

Many years ago, I stepped off a plane from Iraq and onto the tarmac at Pope Airfield in Fort Bragg, NC. The scene was filled with open arms, cheers, the sound of muffled grunts of joy as weeping kids jumped into the arms of their parents, and spouses' soft cries of love and longing. The sounds of reunions were deafening as they bounced off the high walls of the hangar -- it was a sound that I welcomed, and remember to this day.
 

As America's heroes return from deployments abroad and transition back into civilian life, many are facing challenges in finding employment. With the unemployment rate among recently returned veterans hovering around 12 percent, these men and women who volunteered to courageously serve our country should not have to return home with bleak opportunities in sight.