Sequestration is holding up 11 DOD Education Activity replacement and renovation projects in the fiscal 2013 budget, according to DODEA. Only one of the projects is in the United States, with the remaining ones spread across Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom and South Korea. The U.S. project is at Fort Campbell, Ky.
Veterans in Western New York will find it easier to access an array of services after a Veterans One-stop Center opened Monday in Buffalo. Center services include Department of Veterans Affairs and non-VA benefits counseling, housing and emergency services, case management that integrates services for veterans with multiple needs, employment resources and readjustment counseling services, reports the Buffalo News. The primary benefit of the center is that veterans no longer will need to travel all over town in pursuit of different services, Roger Hoffman, board chairman of Goodwill Industries of Western New York and a founding partner of the center, told the paper. “The idea is to replace a bus ride with a walk down the hall and a soft hand-off,” Hoffman said. Funds for the center are coming from a variety of nonprofit sources.
U.S. employers have hired or trained 290,000 veterans and military spouses since the Joining Forces initiative was created two years ago, nearly tripling the program’s original goal, First Lady Michelle Obama said Tuesday. Businesses now are pledging to hire or train an additional 435,000 individuals over the next five years, Obama said. “We know that today is not the finish line …
A new public-private partnership will enable thousands of service members to earn industry-recognized information technology certifications before they transition from military service, First Lady Michelle Obama announced Monday at the White House Forum on Military Credentialing and Licensing. Obama said that too often, military personnel come home to find that the training and experience they’ve received doesn’t count toward civilian employment, “or they discover that the credits they’ve earned in military courses don’t transfer when they enroll in college, so they’re turned away from jobs that they’re more than qualified to do …
The Connecticut House last week approved legislation requiring all municipalities to designate an employee to coordinate services for veterans unless they already have a veterans services officer or a veterans advisory committee. The contact person would serve as a liaison to federal, state and local agencies offering veterans services and benefits, as well as coordinate public and private facilities offering employment, education and rehabilitation services for veterans …
Public universities would be required to charge, at most, in-state tuition to all veterans regardless of whether they are residents, under legislation approved Thursday by the House Veterans’ Affairs Economic Opportunity Subcommittee. H.R. 357 — introduced by the Veterans’ Affairs Chairman Jeff Miller (R-Fla.) and ranking member Mike Michaud (D-Maine) — is intended to expand the educational choices available to veterans taking advantage of their benefits under the Post-9/11 GI Bill …
Picerne Military Housing, the East Greenwich, R.I.-based firm founded in 1998 to partner with DOD to run military housing, is now Corvias Military Living. The name change announced earlier this month reinforces the corporate re-branding that began last July when the firm launched a student housing division, Corvias Campus Living. Since its founding, the company has partnered with the Army at seven posts to build, renovate and manage more than 21,000 homes. Corvias, which manages 6,500 homes at Fort Bragg, N.C., recently announced plans to expand the pilot program of apartments it built there in 2009 for single enlisted soldiers E6 and above. The company will add 120 units to the existing 312-unit Randolph Pointe complex, reported the Fayetteville Observer.
The Senate last week confirmed Frederick Vollrath to be assistant secretary of defense for readiness and force management. Vollrath, who had been the principal deputy assistant secretary for readiness and force management, already had been serving as the assistant secretary on an interim basis. The position is responsible for policy in the areas of civilian and military personnel, readiness of the force, and military communities and families …
A bipartisan group of lawmakers has introduced a bill to help military spouses more easily re-enter the workforce by offering a tax credit to offset the cost of renewing or transferring a professional license after they move to a new state. “When a military family is asked to move as part of their service to our country, the government should be doing everything possible to make that transition seamless,” said Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.). “This tax credit would reduce one of the burdens military families face when they move …
Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter signed a measure earlier this month making Idaho the 45th state to adopt an interstate agreement designed to smooth the transition for military children transferring to a new school district. “We thank Gov. Otter for signing the interstate compact,” said Kathleen Berg, chair of the Military Interstate Children’s Compact Commission. “This was truly one of the fastest moving pieces of legislation for the commission …