[applause] senator goldwaters acceptance speech at the 1964 Republican National convention to move this weekend on american historys tv reel america. On cspan 3. National Governors Association in nashville, tennessee, a session on helping the nations veterans find employment. Speakers include officials from the labor and Defense Departments. This is about an hour and 20 minutes. Losing the battle for talent will lead to diminished homelandair of the nga security and Public Safety committee. I now call this meeting to order. Im honored to serve this year with governor rick snyder. Rick snyder is unable to be with us today. I thank him very much for his work. I want to thank the governor of iowa who is stepping in today as the vice chair, a heartbeat away from the microphone here. Able leader, an will take over and get us to the finish line. I would like to begin with administrative issues. Books were sent ahead of this meeting. The proceedings of this committee are open to the press. Please take a moment to ensure your cell phones are silenced or whatever. If not, if it is a really interesting call, share it with all of us. Seated next to me is the legislative director. Please see him if you need any copies of materials or assistance. Today will focus on strengthening partnerships to provide meaningful and longterm employment for our nations veterans. The session is designed as a structured discussion with the sting was panel of guests offering a diverse set of perspectives on veterans and climate. Our panel will provide governors an opportunity to find out more about improvements in programs, share innovative practices, and discuss ways to strengthen partnerships with employers. In recent years, thousands of men and women who served in uniform have left military service as our commitments overseas are coming to conclusion. As servicemembers return to their communities and civilian lives, many are facing unique in plano challenges that require assistance to reintegrate into the society they fought to defend. Federal data Shows Positive progress is being made in lowering the Unemployment Rate for veterans. Vetsate of post9 11 remains above the national level. Is above the number for average folks. We are about the task of making sure that is a statistic we do not have a year from now. Governors are leading efforts to address the considerable challenges Many Service Members and families face leaving military service. We know our veterans fought for us, and we are going to fight for them. Missouri,s, including have taken action to ease transition to the workforce. We have signed bills in that regard. Many other states have done that. I think everybody for their tremendous work. Governors are dedicating resources to develop programs to improve access to benefits and services, meet the specialized needs of those with disabilities, and expand access to employment and educational opportunities. We have a program in missouri called show me heroes. It got started simply. I was in afghanistan meeting with a Group Getting ready to go out to deal with ieds, very difficult evening shift. I was in a small room with those folks. They were putting on their armor. They were getting their night vision goggles ready. It felt like a High School Locker room as everybody was getting fired up to go deal with the bad guys. I turned to a fellow from his her and says, what i turned to a fellow from missouri and said, what scares you . He said not having a job when i get home. That is what scares me. I think we have all heard stories like that. All of us are trying to do a lot of things. Our program has over 4000 employers involved in the Program Including some you will hear from today. Enterprise rental, express scripts. It is important to note that have already they have already hired more than 6800 veterans in our state. We recognize those employers with the flag of freedom. Rips in service in theater shoulder. G off their employers get something worn in battle for our country and we tremendously appreciate soldiers, veterans, and companies. It has been a winwin for us. We all have a lot to do. It is not a onesizefitsall program. The Unemployment Rate has dropped significantly from its peak. We still have too many unemployed. Trendlines are going in the right direction. They clearly are. That is why we wanted to have the session to share best practices and make sure we were moving forward. Panel,we introduce the return to the governor for any opening comments you would like to have. Our vice chair, the governor from the great state of iowa. Governor nixon, thank you for your leadership on this important issue. I iowa, my top priority announced in the state address was something we call home base your show similar to me Heroes Program. It included illuminating nating the iowai income tax on military retirement. It provides instate tuition for all veterans whether they came from iowa or not. It simplifies the process for them getting professional getting credit for their military training and education. We also have appointed a Bipartisan Group of leaders, former congressman boswell who is a democrat and bob mayer who is the ceo of Caseys General stores, theyre both retired colonels and friends. There working hard. Up. Effort is to line the Lieutenant Governor and i hear all the time for businesses we have good Jobs Available and cannot find people with the right skills. We have people coming out of the military with leadership and Technical Skills that fit with that. We are working hard to make that Information Available and market directly to those. We also have an opportunity for communities to become homebased communities, for businesses to become homebased businesses by setting certain goals. We also extended veterans to give private sector businesses the same opportunities to provide veterans preference that state and local governments do in the state of iowa. This was a very ambitious program. Im proud to say it received bipartisan support. I had the honor of signing it on dodge inday at camp the goldstar museum. I lost 12. 5 pounds and wore my uniform to sign the bill. I am really proud to have had that opportunity. Debbie durham was on the panel. Her department is going to be implement in this, working closely with our outstanding adjutantn general general and workforce people in iowa. We think it is a Great Program and want to do all we can. Stipend wee a 5,000 give to veterans purchasing homes. They can go towards down payment or Closing Costs. We increased funding to make sure there was an adequate amount that every veteran who applies can receive that tax credit. Im excited about it. We are just beginning to implement it. We have two counties already designated as homebased. Council, allness of the major employers in iowa have signed on. The homebased businesses. And we are seeing a lot of interest through the state. I think we will see many other counties and communities participate. With that, i will turn it back to Governor Nixon. Thank you. In iowa, not only iron veterans but a Weight Loss Program also. Usually we get the lecture of the Healthiest State in the nation. Anyway, thank you. Lets get started. I will introduce the panelists and then we want to have engagement between us rather than sitting here listening to an hourlong speech. We have a very good,. It lays see quickly how out. It is an interesting panel. I think we can have a good engaged discussion. First is the Deputy Assistant secretary for policies that the veterans implement and Training Service at the department of labor. Bys office serves veterans preparing them for meaningful careers, providing resources and expertise, and protecting their employment rights. She also is in several Senior Executive positions in the department of defense. A veteran herself, she is a west point graduate, served in a variety of leadership positions during a distinguished 20year career with the u. S. Army. Our next panelist is the director of the transition to Veterans Program office in the department of defense. Dr. Kelly leads the office in charge of implementing the Transition Assistance Program to meet the needs of post9 11 Service Members as a separate from active duty. Dr. Kelly also serves as the cochair for the Senior Steering Group meeting transition assistant efforts for dod in coordination with five different federal agencies. And distinguished career in various offices of the department of defense and hold her doctorate in marriage and family from st. Louis university. Theie durham is director of eye what Economic Development authority and overseas Economic Development programs for the state including veterans related initiatives such as homebased i what iowa. She served as president of the Siouxland Chamber of commerce. Joined my office in 2009. The missourier of house of representatives including serving as House Minority leader from 2004 until 2007. Prior to election to the house, he was an assistant attorney general and attorney in kansas city. The assistant Vice President of Human Resources at enterprise the coolestso wins name contest today. Itdquartered in st. Louis, off rates alamo and National Rental cars as well as the enterprise brand. The Company Offers a rental and Car Sharing Services and retail car sales. He has served with the company for 20 years in various capacities. Jonah as Vice President of Government Affairs for expressed ess scripts. Pris the company coordinates the distribution of Outpatient Pharmaceuticals including retail drug card programs, home delivery, and other Clinical Management programs. He spent several years in Product Development and corporate quality before leading the Public Policy and advocacy efforts. Done with that. A good panel. And private sector folks who have embraced this and hired thousands of veterans through a myriad of programs. I want to thank everybody for being here. Rather than going through the routine of each of our panelists give a presentation, i would like to jump right into an interactive discussion. Our goal is to make sure that everybody has a chance to discuss these issues. Our conversation will focus on three key issues. One, strengthening partnerships. Two, improving the means to identify job opportunities. Three, eliminating barriers to veterans in employment. I would encourage my colleagues to jump in at any time to share any innovative practices or questions for these folks. Generalstart with a question about strengthening partnerships and leveraging resources. States are often in the best situation to provide Employment Support Services and engage with employers. So effectively requires active partnerships with the federal government and the private sector. To our federal panelists, how can states best partner with their military installations, National Guard and federally supported job centers to address veterans employment challenges . Thank you very much. Hit on something important here. It is a partnership. Labor is uniquely positioned to help a friend this partnership. We certainly recognize the significance of full Employment Opportunities and its relationship to the readiness of your National Guard duty. We frequently talk about the fact that many guard and reservists are either unemployed, underemployed or unhappily employed. The job centers offer a great way to connect. Trying are busy doing is to encourage our federally funded state reps in each of your states to work closely with your state workforce agencies to engage, to make sure that that relationship is strong so that we can connect the local jobs in and around your unit with the folks in those units to make sure that we know about them, they are registered in the system, and we can help with the matching opportunities. There are lots of opportunities, and the challenge is often simply connecting that young guardsman to the opportunities out there. That the workforce system and the job centers there close by offer a great way to have individual counseling for that guardsman or reservist, and therect connection through state job banks, the job centers and that personal connection. You go encourage you as back and talk to your labor commissioners that you hook them up with that feedback there in your state and make sure that partnership is strong. Next point i would make is regarding military installations. Not every state has an active military installation. We worked very closely with the. O. D. To develop memorandums of understanding garrisonurage military commanders to actively engage with their local workforce agencies to bring those folks on two bases. Guidanceout to publish to those job Center Directors through your state workforce agencies, encouraging them to be available when that military Installation Commander calls. It is vital to enable what dod has going on in terms of their transition system programming, making sure those Service Members before they transition know about the job center resources. Anynt to make sure you know active Duty Service Member who as separation ordered or separation date is considered a dislocated worker, for the purposes of access within the job center network, the workforce system, and for access to Workforce Innovation Fund training. Service members with etf dates are eligible. Of access to those resources, and that is a critical way to help fill that. Is that automatic . It is automatic. It is in policy documents that the department of labor issued. To 2005. K dislocated workers also finds the spouses, spouses of Service Members who are changing station and Service Members who are separating. Theres a couple of things right off the top that demonstrate the critical partnerships between dod, your guard and reserve unit , and the National Workforce system. Teresa, you said that our veterans are unemployed, underemployed, or unhappily they come home from service and transition into civilian life. Why is that . What are the obstacles for them to be happily employed . Why is anybody underemployed . What is the cause of that unemployment from happiness . Oftentimes it is based in the fact that they may jump into the first job available because they feel the need to find some and may have found a job that does not fit their skills or interests or aptitudes. Knownt to make sure they that the utility of the job centers and counselors that are there to actually do skilled assessments with them, figure out where training gaps are, make sure they get the guidance they need to find jobs that will help them be happily employed with meaningful work. Do they have a higher Unemployment Rate of veterans returning than we have in the general population . The aggregate veterans Unemployment Rate has been below the national Unemployment Rate almost continuously for the last three years. You have to keep in mind that olderteran population is than the average demographic in america. 65 of veterans in america are over the age of 45. Unemployment tends to decrease as age increases. Vets do have a higher Unemployment Rate, but it is closing on the National Average for the equivalent age groups. In may, they were almost statistically equivalent. It is closing. It has a lot to do with dods efforts to introduce folks before separation to really Critical Thinking about their transition. Makeartnership with dod to sure they have access to the resources they need before they develop the right skills and search techniques and identify opportunities. Thats what i wanted to make sure everybody understood so we can structure this conversation, that the Transition Assistance Program has gone through a significant redesign. You see some of that literature in your notebooks at the table. L. ,ave worked with d. O department of Veterans Affairs, department of education, reallyel management, and hammered out what did we want as an end result with the transition preparation that we gave to Service Members. You have now is a set of Career Readiness standards that every Service Member needs to meet before they separate. It just like they need the physical fitness, military training, standards, all of that, they have to meet Career Readiness standards. Monthmple would be a 12 postseparation budget. We get them to look at what they have coming in now and move them to, where do you think you will relocate to. Tools,ome of d. O. L. s finding out what the job market looks like there and what they could be earning. One of the other career is aness standards military occupational code crosswalk so that they take their military occupational code , translate those into the civilian occupational code, go to the labor market in the location to which they think theyre going to relocate, and look at if those skills are in demand. A lot of times are Service Members are thinking, im going to go back home. Market does not have these skills that you want to have as a career, what is your plan b . The post9 11 g. I. Bill connects veterans to that part of their curriculum, which is accessing higher education, which tells them how to select the best universities, Community Colleges , can they get the skills they need for that civilian a careern, or Technical Training track which teaches them all about the institutions that offer Vocational Training in your state, in your communities, and what is the correct course of study they can use to cover and pay for. Part of this entire curriculum, we have moved from a fourhour separation counseling to a mandatory 88 hours of instruction. Brick and mortar, virtual curriculum available to them. To teach them far earlier to start considering how they are going to use this rich skills outtraining after they get of the military and apply those to their lives when they separate. That is the culture change for clearlyarticulating that everyone, whether they serve four years or 40 years, whether you are a firsttermer or four star, everyone if all goes well will separate from active duty. How do you start making wise decisions for you and your family now to embed that kind of thinking that that exercise will start at the First Permanent duty station for every Service Member. In the last 90 days of a military members career, we are embedding that across the military lifecycle. They are going to start looking at the information about your states, your colleges, your marketsties, your labor , and they will be looking for those training opportunities you will be offering at your state towards the careers they want to have. Differentcompletely mindset, a complete change in the system. We are partnering with dol to get that longterm thinking applied across all of the forces. Youre not going to be seeing Service Members hurrying and scurrying at the last 90 days of their military service. Starting in 2015, those coverts will start this longterm thinking and deliberate planning. Of our, we have a lot Service Members coming back from a rack and afghanistan. They are already going iraq and afghanistan. They are already going through that training. , a newers responsibility, commanders have to ensure that they meet Career Readiness. , they get one hand over to the d. Ol. L. Terrific resource for everyone. They make it connected make it connected to Veterans Affairs. It is very much a dovetailed curriculum. I wanted to offer that to you so we are not said in this thinking , short term, last 30, 90 days we will be looking at more deliberate planning so you can also be knowing that Service Members are going to be looking at your state much earlier. Clearly, a lot of work has been done on this, and we are at a point where all of us are going to be in service in one form or another when we break through the barrier. One of the key parts of that is we have twortners. With us, iowa and missouri. Also with you, debbie. And getze partnerships the connections between employers and organizations and the families themselves. Absolutely. Tell you how we are implementing just what you said in the states through homebased iowa. Homebased iowa is a fiveyear initiation. We have a single site portal that comes into workforce development. Workforce development will do the first assessment. We are using that crosswalk assessment. We are using that to say, this is what you did in the military. This is what it means in the marketplace. The we put them through national Career Readiness certificate skills assessment. We say, here is what you came out with an this is what you need, and we connect them with those jobs in our state. We are providing a service for them. This is a privatepublic partnership. He will spend between 750,000 to 1 million a year. Sector is paying for the marketing. We are working with those 25 Top Employers of the state that are creating the same protocol for their hr department. What we have realized is there is a disconnect between those hr departments and trying to hire this population. We are trying to create this continue on that is thatehensive continuum is comprehensive and matching exactly what you are talking about. Then we have said, if you know this, lets drill down into the basics. We have done research to show every base in the company. Those military rankings, and what that means to the marketplace when you do that translational software, and saying, we know you have one base that has an abundance of i. T. And we have to higher x amount of i. T. Because we have predicted with the baby boomers exiting the marketplace how many people we are going to need. Or just jobs today, but two three years from now when they are deploying. Now we are reaching out to try to touch those individuals before they ever think of saying, heres where you need to go. Arehe governor said, we doing instate tuition not just at universities, but arrive at an Community Colleges, and we are about the whole family. We are taking exactly the foundation that you have laid for us, and we are implementing it into the marketplace. Governor, our show me Heroes Program in missouri was started in 2010. It is a basic concept. That is to link veterans, give them a chance at employment once they leave military service. As the governor mentioned, it has been a Successful Program. 4006000 employers have taken the pledge to be show me heroes employers. 6836 military veterans are now gainfully employed in the civilian sector since the inception of this program. If i were another governor in another state and if i were aoking at how to design Successful Program, there are two basic concepts. Our program is pretty straightforward. An employer takes a pledge, signs a pledge to give a veteran a shot at an employment opportunity. Person whoer gets a is trained to standard, who is mission oriented, goal focused. The two basic reasons why we believe this program has been successful are, we kept it simple. Its not complicated during an employer signs a pledge that that employer will give a veteran a shot. An additionald byzantine bureaucracy around this program. It is a single point of contact. Website. Director, a everything works up to and through that director. Is an existing apparatus out there. We did not believe it was in our best interest to make it anymore complicated, but to make it simple and to achieve our goals. The second thing we had done i think this is the other reason it has been a Successful Program we have utilized existing resources that are out there. One of the folks mentioned the levers, which is an acronym for local veterans employment representatives. We have 14 of those across the state of missouri and they are in direct contact with employers , direct contact with military veterans, and we worked with them, complement their efforts, and use their information to funnel up to the top to the show me Heroes Program and with the ourmate goal, and we like success rate. The ultimate goal of giving that veteran the opportunity to succeed and giving that employer express scripts and enterprise, an employee whose skill is going to make their company even better. Lets move to those employers real quickly, then we will open up again. Representative of express scripts and enterprise said that we are already doing a lot in these areas and have really embraced these programs. I would like to let them talk about their experience and what and tothey would have other employers out there, what they have discovered, from embracing this these have been two of the organizations in our state that have been incredibly involved at every level to assist folks that are transitioning out of the military to get into the economic sector. We will start from the express scripts gentlemen. You made my mothers day. She can see me on cspan today. Saturday afternoon audience cspan, it spikes to unknown levels as she joins the two librarians in boise. [laughter] hello, mom. She may be disappointed i did not win the naming contest. We can revisit that later. Thent to talk about some of partnerships that express scripts has built, at the federal and state level, and give some of the measures of success and things that we have learned through this process. Express scripts has been committed to hiring veterans since we began the company in the mid1980s. What that meant in the 1980s was visiting military installations in missouri and across the river in illinois, participating in mock interviews and Transition Assistance Programs. People seek employment so differently today than they did then. Those programs have changed, and we do have more things on the internet, and we do more things through social media to connect with these groups. Four organizations in particular the we have had successful partnerships. I will start with show me heroes, the program jeff described. He really did not make it sound so simple, but it is the simplicity of asking employers to make a promise and make a commitment. It is a public commitment that has really driven its success. Since we signed on. Signed on is how we think about it. We have added 300 veterans to our employment in st. Louis, missouri. A few other organizations, the military Spouses Employment Partnership this is a department of Defense Program that allows for the better facilitation of job postings and listings to be shared with people who are actively seeking employment. To get thesei mean opportunities in front of current, active job seekers. Which0,000 jobs mission , withinbeen involved in three years they exceeded the mission. It has been a very Successful Organization in that way. And then the employer support, refocusing our reserve. Those are external partners. The mosthave had success is building a partnership with our workforce. Hire au recruit and veteran employee, you want to retain that employee as well. Being committed to veterans is not a recruitment issue. It is a cultural issue. We have some reservists in our company who were sent overseas, both to afghanistan, one in 2012 and one last year. Toking with them, we decided dash through the use of our internet, allow them to write posts for the workforce to see, sharing what was coming on in afghanistan, one being a who wast, one marine working to stand up the Afghan National army. Our workforce of more than 30,000 nationwide, we are able to see and read about and see photographs of and what does this mean. It will do patriotic feeling inside the company about the workforce, and that commitment. Express express scripts is meeting all of its obligations in supporting our reservist employees. It also serves to increase the visibility of how important it is to disclose veteran status. There are critical measurement problems. Room, you mayhe not go back and update your profile in your hr system after the day you are hired. Perhaps you did not disclose you are a veteran on day one because you did not want to or you thought there might be a bias or there was an error. You may have been with your company for 10 years and they would never know you were a veteran. When you share with your workforce that you are committed and here is what you are doing and you want employees to see it, they start disclosing and sharing. It helps solve for one of the pitfalls we have seen. You, governor. Its a pleasure to be here, representing our state. I cant thank you enough for your leadership in this area. Im going to talk about simplicity. Im not going to tell you anything you have not heard yet. Theres a clear message in that great simplicity when it comes to the issue of employing people, vitally important. There are a lot of institutions, employers, methodologies of finding the aptitudes of our veterans. If we overcomplicate things, connections are lost. The more simple we can keep it, the Better Things are going to be. A few areas where we have found tremendous success are the following. The first is the 100,000 jobs mission. This is a Large Organization of over 160 private employers where we get together on a quarterly basis and have an opportunity to share best practices about things that have worked for us, things we are struggling with, and looking for ideas in which we can implement success stories. They surpassed the first goal and they are on their way to the second goal. The current goal is to hire 200,000 veterans by the year 2020 and as of the end of 2014, they have hired over 140,000 veterans. Idea sharing, of the simplicity of identifying resources were successful employers are finding those candidates is an easy place to begin. The second is the pride of our show me Heroes Program. Has beenicity there great. When you make a commitment to hire veterans, it is not just signing your name on the dotted line. Its a commitment to your effort and activities on a daily basis. Thets not truly woven into culture and fabric of who you are as an organization, it will come and go. Overpany our size of 66,000 u. S. Employees, we have a constant need to hire individuals. Today we have 10 of our workforce that are veterans. Programs like to show me Heroes Program is vitally important to us in being able to exceed the goals we have. Thank you for your leadership there. Partnered with an Organization Called direct employers. We have been working with them since 2004. Direct employers allow us to post our jobs on the job Central National labor exchange. They take our opportunities and post them on popular internet sites you are familiar with, the googles, the simply hired. In addition to those large sites, they also post on over 1000 unique sites that are attracting individuals under topics like diversity, military, veterans, state Workforce Centers and the like. We are trying to attack this from a National Scale of the more popular specs, and the unique sites that somebody may not be familiar with unless you are part of that the citigroup. Those two approaches have yielded a tremendous amount of success for us. Specifically for veterans, we partner with 12 unique veteran sites, where we post all of our opportunities. Recruit military. Com and that success. Vetsuccess. Gov jobs. Pilotrated naval fighter in world war ii flew off the uss enterprise hence our name. When you have a name like that, your commitment cannot be to come to Something Like this today and talk about it. Relationships established. Any active Service Member today called to duty, enterprise steps up and we will pay the salary differential while theyre in service so that their family at home still trying to make ends meet does not have to suffer if there is differential pay that will be reduced. Our commitment goes beyond what we normally think about when it comes to hiring veterans. Im looking forward to sharing more ideas today and i think you. Thank you. This panel has got it from the beginning to the end. Lets look at this for a second and talk about some impediments. With the successes we have seen with the realignment and coordination of federal with specific programs, with employers with the will and specifics to move forward, what things are out there that can be improved . What impediments are there . One of the things we see as a state is that oftentimes folks will serve in the military and live 10 different places, and you think coming home coming home is not necessarily you will go where the jobs are. It is a National Search sometimes for folks and consequently we run into mechanical issues when you have someone who has served in a number of places and is not even going back to where they were born. As one of our challenges we have had a number of things we have had to work through. Ask each one of you what sort of challenges are out there. To make sure that everybody who serves our country has an opportunity to continue to involve themselves and be economically independent. We feel a broader responsibility to those that have served for us, especially in a time of war. Significant progress and now we want to continue to accelerate that progress with finish line such that in the future we as a country try to meet recruitment goals. Folks can understand that with that Service Comes an opportunity to continue to improve themselves after they are out of service. As you sit here today, what continuing impediments do you see and what advice do you have to governor sandoval and i and others about what the punch list should be for us to continue to move forward. Effectivethe most steps you can take and we can it look at is to recognize is the military training that our Service Members go through, and the skills they are in during their active duty, and to recognize those in your certification for different job skills. To also recognize that sometimes colleges and universities, the Technical Training institutions dont recognize that training in the coursework or in the credit that they give to our Service Members when they are coming to use our post9 11 g. I. Bill, and perhaps to reconsider that. Sometimes there is a small gap between skills. The corpsman and the medics, as a perfect example, trying to fill the gap in health care. Our Service Members, medics and for men who have had significant experience in the field and gain field, when in the they do return to their states, that experience is not recognized. Fillhave to go back and those gaps even though they might be small gaps in some of the skills, so that in the coursework and the certification that the universities of the different associations required, that you could please look at that and acknowledge and recognize and give credit for those level of skills are Service Members have. The National Governments to expandn is working some of that recognition and acknowledgment. Tell you thing i would is that it has been highlighted here very quickly that there are lots of websites for Service Members to go to to find jobs, and it has been one of their concerns to us and for veterans is that there are so many websites out there that they are confused. Which ones are reputable, which ones can really lead to a good job for me. It is a federal effort now to develop one single portal to direct our Service Members and veterans towards, where they can go to get translate their skills into civilian occupations, and find employment. We are currently working on refining the Veterans Employment Center, which will be based on the ebay benefits portal of Veterans Affairs. We are engaged ebenefits portal of Veterans Affairs. We are engaged trying to bring that to fruition. I would tell you that if we are our servicep members, you may want to look at making the best use of that Veterans Employment Center and make use of that portal. Do you want to add to that . Since we are talking military, i would say the biggest challenge we find is that there is a tremendous corporate commitment, but a lot of times we have trouble implement in that into hiring cactus. Tactics. Obviously, enterprise and express scripts have figured it out. A lot of companies have not. We take a lot of time to work with especially nationwide companies or Regional Companies and walk them through the process of saying, i want to hire vets to actually getting hired. That means figuring out who their local hiring managers are, where the opportunities are, writing descriptions that fit military skills, connecting them through the job centers with a local veteran happy laois and, introducing to each other and making sure that hiring happens. One of the big pieces is getting from strategy to tactics. Along with that goes a companion issue, which is people will say, i want to hire vets. The total set of descriptions gets you down to perhaps one veteran that fits that skill. I had one Financial Corporation [indiscernible] we dont have a lot of veterans who are cpas. And those who do are not unemployed. [laughter] there is typically a tight description around Technical Skills. As dr. Kelly said, the dod is doing a lot to help Service Members track the growth of their Technical Skills to be enrolled in credentialing programs while on active duty. Typically they are going to separate without having final credentials. What i would like to encourage you all to think about is really remembering that veterans have Priority Service for all programs. Use that and their individual training accounts to help fill that training cap for them. A lot of corporations are not willing to front that training. You have the grant that you can use to skilled bridge skilled training. If i can pick up on what dr. Kelly said, as part of our comprehensive legislative package, we are dealing with the streamlining of the licensing and credentialing. The governor has given a directive to all the licensing boards and commissions that they have to have a plan into us by the end of december of how theyre going to make that work. In addition to that, the governor has also tripled funding for apprenticeships. We are looking at apprenticeships in a broad context. We are also looking at manufacturing and i. T. , and working with the trade groups to also expedite their apprenticeships programs to say, how are you if someone comes out there doing Electrical Work in the military, they should not have have to go through a fiveyear process in the trade unions. We are working in partnership with them to make sure they are also doing that. We feel really good about that connection we are making. Million of 100 grants scheduled for firstquarter fy 15. [indiscernible] [laughter] governor, when it comes to military veterans and some of the challenges we probably all heard about at some point and theyre getting civilian employment we have tried to address those through legislation since you have been in office. One is the licensure issue. In missouri we now have a law in place that we passed in 2013. Board approvesg it, a military veteran gets credit towards licensure for work related to that perfection and occupation during military service. Talk about military families, given the transitory as Governor Nixon mentioned, of military families moving from state to state. We also have a law in missouri that provides for temporary licensure for the relocated spouse of an active duty military member. That is one way we feel like we can support military families in what they do when they relocate to our state to help the spouse smooth that transition back to missouri, if that spouse is redeployed to missouri. We have passed a law in missouri that allows for assuming it meets appropriate standards a military veteran to apply towards college credit, a college degree, training, education that veteran has received in the military. We have attempted to address some of the impediments to civilian employment through these two measures. One of the things shifting over to show me heroes, we have benefited as would every state from the centralized command structure of the National Guard. The tag is appointed by the governor. There is an instate command structure. The director of our show me were bothgram National Guard members. Clearly an easy way to reach out to those folks when they are not deployed. Have military installations in the state of missouri. Its easy to go to those basis and make sure that folks are aware of the show me Heroes Program. We have found it more challenging to find reservists recently separated, to locate them and match them with employers like enterprise and express scripts. Guardve to the national is active duty veterans, it been more difficult. We all have to try harder, work with our veterans organizations. You may have a commander of a reserve unit in missouri who is in nevada, for example. Without that centralized command structure entire within a state, it makes it more challenging to bring reservists into the show me Heroes Program here in p rogram. Thank you, jay. You have heard it called the see of goodwill. Sea of goodwill. I guess this question is you got my attention when you said 100 million. [laughter] we have been doing a lot with not a lot of resources. , being nevada, have sought to tap into an ocean of goodwill. Is there a place where we can go to see why those grant requirements are and see what opportunities are there . To use that as a multiplier to what we are doing in my state. Absolutely. Grants. Gov. Look under the employment and training agency. Most of these grants are coming out through them. It is a small brother to the eta organization. They are the ones putting out all of these job driven grants, National Emergency grants, workforce innovation grants. Your folks will find those listed. Put out overwell 1 billion in job training over 1 dol put out billion in job training grants. If Vice President biden spoke about yesterday, but his office is getting ready to publish a report on how the administration is doing on job driven training. It complements what we are all trying to do, what we have been talking about. Love the competition between the states. I want to be the most veteran friendly state in the country. That benefits one very important group. I look forward to having another conversation with you and following up. Absolutely. John, could you give us a sense about these workers, these veterans who come in . Now that were making progress in making it smoother, there is not as long a time for someone to be unemployed as well as family issues, what not. What have you all found at your organizations about these veterans who work for you . Anybody stand out as trades or challenges are things we should all be aware of that are unique, at least in a Transition Area phase of these workers . We have not, which is not to say we dont recognize that they dont or could not exist or it will be are doing is creating a Veterans Employee Resource Group to let them self identify and network with each other and share the concerns collaboratively across the entire enterprise. I dont know that anyone sitting in a nature office or Corporate Headquarters can say aregorically that there unique issues here that they could or could not see them. We are wondering how employees are able to do this themselves. Your first answer is what i was seeking. There are a number of employers who are concerned about posttraumatic stress syndrome, a number of issues that get a lot of attention. Rightfully so. The bottom line is in your alls experience, you have found these to be great resources. Outstanding. As was mentioned before, as we try to take the significant progress of larger employers and filter that down into one or two employed, it is really important that we break through barriers. Founded as the name, and you have had this eagles for a long time before any of these programs or whatnot trade anything about these particular workers . Aside from our founder and his connection to the military, one of the primary reasons we are so interested in hiring veterans is because they bring a level of loyalty, a level of ,ommitment, dedication teamwork, strong ethic that really helps us drive our success as an organization. Understand there is a hierarchy that exists in the company, and we have individuals who come in and work a variety of capacities. We have positions which require a fouryear degree. We have multiple positions that do not require fouryear degrees. We are able to provide them opportunities regardless. The skill set can be taught. One of the things we are known for as an organization is having a strong training program. Whether you are at the rental counter, or someone moving vehicles across states for us, or working in administrative capacity and helping with behindthescenes call centers or what have you, we provide all of that training. I go back to the strong work ethic and loyalty and commitment trade those are powerful things for us that we can capitalize on. We have found very positive results. Occasionally we come across a challenging situation. 6600you have got over veterans, you will find the occasional challenge. We are committed to working through those challenges. We have benefit programs to support our employees. We understand the value to them and to us. There has been a great deal of attention nationwide over the last number of months about challenges with the v. A. And whatnot. We are all concerned to make sure that any agencies work. In this area, folks have kept their eyes on the ball pretty closely in the last four or five years. At the state level, private sector, federal level. Come into the final lap of todays committee hearing, i would like to go to the panel and see if there is any positive final points you would like to make. Clearly the numbers are going to get bigger. As the military downsizes, we will see a push numbers wise. To have a structure that is bigger in the short run is very important for us over the next year or two years and three both the warsee coming to an end and the forces being drawn down, as well as the force and the the entirety of dod drops, the demand of what we need to help provide, these connectors, will get larger. Give us a second as we went through one more time positive things that you think you are accomplishing and are having practical effects for families, businesses and communities around our country. While many programs in the government are experiencing reduced funding, the fed Program Within dol has had increased funding for the last two years. That means we are pushing increased funding to the states. We got a 15 increase in 2014, and we pushed that out to you for the purpose of hiring additional disabled veteran outreach programs. We want to make sure you know that you got more money, and you them in the places geographically where your veteran population is concentrated. Who need the folks extra help, who may have significant barriers to employment, and are the ones who can walk that through. As an example, in florida, you may be familiar with allied burton. They do a lot of Security Guard contracts. They have a charm and to hiring veterans. The trust is so great that they are reaching out to our homeless grantees and making specific efforts to hire Homeless Veterans into their Security Guard program. This partnership works. Example of a company that is so comfortable using the job centers to staff their veteran objective that they are going beyond that and reaching really special veterans populations. It is a tremendous opportunity and we are happy to export that practice. The good news on our end is that we have an Interagency Partnership at the federal level which is actually working. We came together, we decided what it was that we needed to do, we have all committed resources, staffing, millions of dollars into the Transition Assistance Program, the new curriculum, as well as getting staffed on the installations and in the communities to address the needs of the transitioning Service Members. We have put the pieces of the curriculum together that leads our servicemembers to your community. We built this on the principle that you go back to your communities and our bridging that. We are doing that by bringing them very visibly to the department of labor, v. A. , as well as to the schools, universities, Technical Training institutions in your state, and letting them decide what is the best course of action for them. One thing i want to highlight is that while we are focused on the iraqafghanistan servicemembers coming back, nearly 200,000 servicemembers separate every year. Every year. 200,000 . Yes. Usual. Business as 70 of the marines serve one term, four years, and they turn that over every year. Half of our armed soldiers served one term, four years. That turnover is constant. When you are talking about the need for talent so that you can compete in the National Economy and the interNational Economy, this population has already shown that they are trainable. They survived basic training, they survived our academy. They are highly trained. You have a handout in your notebook. Military training leadership, organization, decision making, problem solving, teamwork and team building. They are coming back to your communities ready made. Thatis a Talent Pipeline institutionalized year after year after year. Ready for you. You have to make the training opportunities for your state identify all by them. Just as iowa has done and other states have done, there is lots of good work going on. Staff aboutchairman to publish a bunch of best practices state by state by state. Are all beings very creative and innovative and bringing best actresses to the practices to the fore. It cannot be onesizefitsall. In reference to the Talent Pipeline, this nation has it. It is in their transitioning Service Members. 200,000 a year. Putting veterans on the path to career success is a mission embraced by your entire enterprise. Home based iowa is a mission embraced by our entire statewide enterprise. Homebased iowa pledge, much like you have your misery business pledge. We also have homebased iowa communities. I want to tell you an example of what they are doing to go on and above the legislative package that we passed creating a Value Proposition for the recruitment of veterans, and this county is giving a 2000 relocation support package to anyone moving to their county, 100 threeyear and the tax abatement, county banks got together and said we will eliminate Closing Costs for veterans applying for v. A. Financing. We are trying to create an environment to say, the only limits on being a homebased Iowa Community is yourself. Use your imagination, partner with the state and to really make sure this is a statewide initiative embraced from the topdown, from our executives all the way to our community. For missouriews and veterans and reserve businesses is based on a conversation you had in the middle east, you came back and that conversation, we went to work. Later, over 4000 missouri employers have signed up for the show me heroes. I cant say this enough. In theterans have jobs civilian sector since we started that program. Mes very moving to personally to think about that, and your dedication to achieving that goal. We have been successful because we have rented the program with a memorable name. We are the show me state. These people are heroes. Show me heroes. We have kept it simple for employers and veterans. We have done a good job of communicating with employers. I cannot emphasize enough the need to communicate in person and through social media, communicate with employers and our federal partners. Its important to track the progress of both the veterans who are seeking employment, but also employers. After they take the pledge, to continue to monitor their progress, stay in touch with them, offer that onestop shop for them if they have any questions. And as a result, all these veterans who are employed butot just large employers, also small employers, mom and pop businesses have taken the show me heroes pledge. And you can see the results. Ive us a little cents asse what can you do Corporate Leaders who have been successful in your organizations , embracing to lead other organizations what confidence can you give them, what best practices have you learned . What advice can you give to other organizations out there . Havee advice that we would one, measurement and self identification of veterans. ,o expect low disclosure rates either because of understanding the tools, not willing to share that information, but always a challenge. The second recommendation would be that not every partner out there that can or claims to help to veteran hiring is someone do business with. You need to choose partners carefully. There is probably more information sharing that could and should be going on there. Third, everything we are talking about here is not going to happen overnight. The companies that have been committed to veterans for decades or even since before their inception are going to be in a different place. There is flexibility and patience that public and private federal and state sector have. I would like to comment on that last question. Athink what you were getting was that the federal and State Government andt have a lot l State Governments dont have a lot of money. What could they do to be really impactful . There is something that is free. It is recognition. I dont say this in a selfcongratulatory way. Show me heroes just awarded the flag of freedom. Scripts thexpress flag of freedom. We are proud of that. It is the community who hears about it, including our workforce and people around us across the state who learn that there is a company committed to doing this. It is raising awareness. Lastly, this is something governor sandoval touched on, it engenders competition. Express scripts got the flag of freedom award. What do they need to do to get it . It is the same reason why if my neighbor bought four boxes of girl scout cookies, im going to buy five. We want to be able to one up one another. We should be competing as private sector employers who dont even do the same thing. Because there is recognition on the table, like i said, it is nearly free. What a great base to end. Great place to end. The folks from enterprise, got the flag of freedom the folks from enterprise that the flag of freedom about 9 1 2 months before you all did. [laughter] ofnow the Senior Leadership both of your organizations talk to each other. At a meeting when they were talking about it it is the kind of thing that resonates through a deeper sense of competitiveness and both organizations that was my fault. Moon, bring us to the finish line on this panel about what sort of summations or ideas you might have. The first question asked was about positives. I think the greatest positive i can take away from our efforts is that there is a strong willingness everywhere we go. 100 75 towne acquisition Talent Acquisition professionals trying to a push the same thing when you have 175 Talent Acquisition professionals trying to accomplish the same thing we visited the medical center, the thirdlargest me a center in the u. S. The thirdlargest the a center the Third Largest v. A. Center in the u. S. We got together and shared ideas. They didnt realize they were all doing three Different Things trying to get to the same place. We have offered to coordinate efforts in involving other Community Organizations to be part of simple things like how can we as employers help veterans be prepared to transition their services . Resources andr help with developing resumes, mock interviews, negotiating salaries. Transferable skills they will need just to get a job. The willingness and the excitement that those individuals scared shared across the table is empowering. It got us very excited that not only it could make a difference with that one location, but with people like everybody in this room. The willingness is really strong and exciting. I think that is the greatest thing. If we can harness that together and continue to collaborate and share information across organizations like the 100,000 jobs mission and the show me Heroes Program, we get great things will happen. What a great panel. [applause] we have a little bit of committee business. You only have to watch for like 4 00 four minutes. We have a couple of nga reports. The nga center of best practices and the director of policy here we go. Thank you. Whichever order you want to go. Thank you, governor. I want to provide a quick overview of the project that nga is implementing. It is on veterans licensing and certification at the policy academy. It is supported by the department of labors employment and Training Administration and the veterans employment and Training Service, in partnership with the department of defense and the veterans administration. Terry and susan have provided their expertise in support of the project. It was authorized under the veterans opportunity to work act that was passed in 2011 and the is assisting six states, both iowa and nevada are part of that project in creating accelerated pathways to licensure and certification for veterans and servicemembers with relevant employment or military training and experience in high demand occupations. The other states are illinois, minnesota, virginia, and wisconsin. The department of defense carried out a similar effort prior to this in which they identified 10 occupational areas that have high likelihood of having transferability between the skill sets gained in the military and the civilian workforce. We were asked to choose from that list of 10 occupational areas to focus on in this areas, andur or five the states were asked to choose three occupational areas as part of that. The states are focusing on commercials drivers licenses, bus drivers and truck drivers. The emergency medical technician and paramedics, licensed practical nurses, registered nurses, physical therapy assistants, and Police Patrol officers. Those are the occupational areas. Asked to focus on an area where they saw growth or need in their state and where there was likelihood to be employment. The state teams that were appointed by the governors in the states are working to remove red tape, any duplication across , to reduce unemployment of veterans, to increase the post secondary credential attainment, and also to reduce associated costs. Those are the primary objectives of this initiative. In may oft started 2013 and will conclude in may of 2015. Of the Major Projects products out of it will be a blueprint based on the successful strategies that these six states are improving, as well as the cost study. What are the costs that can be saved by accelerating the process to licensure and credentials . There are a couple of barriers that these states have identified that are worth noting. Probably the largest one is getting the various systems that are servicing veterans to share information, to be able to identify, first, starting with the discharge papers that a veteran receives and are given over to the Veterans Affairs officers in the state. For the most part, those are. Ard copy and not digitized it is very difficult to be able to compare information that is available in those discharge papers. The military occupational specialties and personal information there are privacy constraints across all the different programs. In the six states, they are working to integrate across the data systems, first starting with those discharge papers, then if it is an unemployed veteran receiving unemployment insurance, to be able to get those systems to talk to each other, and then you have the educational institutions that keepingir own record process. Thats probably the number one challenge that these states have identified. It is hard to identify who the unemployed veterans are in the states. Iowa and nevada, where you are doing work in this area over the past few years, that barrier still exists. If there is a way to bring together those systems and better integrate those data systems, that will be a major step towards improving the services. The Second Barrier is getting institutionsndary thatt up bridge programs will allow the military inerience to be recognized any of the training and of theon and any training and education that was received in the military can be recognized so this these programs can be shortened for veterans. There is an effort by Community Colleges, the main educational institutions that are working in this area part of the problem is they are concerned there wont be enough demand for program once it is put up to the other is theres a lot of complexity found once it is put up. The other is there is a lot of complexity. Another one is raising Awareness Among licensing boards. This is of particular concern in the health area because of concerns about making sure the quality standards are met, loosening requirements may lower the quality standards and, in the medical area, that is a major concern. It is also looking at options for training programs. Partnership is one. In iowa, you are trying to increase the apprenticeship programs across different and raising awareness with the licensing. Oards the fourth one is measuring costs. Because of the data comparison issues, it is difficult to track costs and to be able to identify where there can be cost savings or where there are duplicate of costs in the systems. Those are four major challenges that these six states have identified. Im going to stop there been because the governors have already talked about some of the innovations in their states. I will turn it over to you. Be very brief. This was a great session. Pleased to serve on the advisory committee. We are able to take a lot of the states innovations directly into the administration. This is not about legislation. It is about working together. , theepartment of Defense Department of education at the federal level, they are working hard to break down their silos, just as the states have done. From the state standpoint, it is about telling the story you are telling here and making sure it. Ranslates the most important thing over the next six months is that nga, through both the center for best practice and the office of federal relations, will do a survey of all the states, the benefits being provided to veterans, and tried again and inventory of all these programs, put them in one place, so our eral and state parties partners have them, our Business Partners have them. Everybody is interested. This is a win, win, win. Information is king. Our federal advocacy will be about putting that information together so we can act. Thank you very much. We appreciate everybodys efforts. We should also note that we are getting done early. Unless you want ash are you ok . Understand of all governor sandoval, on behalf of nga, we represent we thank the states for being here. We want to successfully compete. This is one of the areas where the demand is high and the challenge is real but our successes are also measurable and very real for the families involved and our country. Thank you for your involvement today. [applause] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2014] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] next, your call them comments live on washington journal. Then, newsmakers. Joe biden is speaking at the summer meeting of the national Governors Association. [audio deleted] withou can keep in touch Current Events from the Nations Capital using any phone at any time. Cspan radio is on audio now. Call to hear congressional coverage of Public Affairs forums and washington journal. And listen to a recap of the day;s events. You can also hear audio of sunday Public Affairs programs. Cspan radio on audio now. 268888. 6 longdistance or phone charges may apply. This morning, Foreign Policy magazine staff writer shane harris discusses hotspots in the middle east. And continued violence in iraq and syria. Then, the president of rock the vote talks about the groups relaunch and the goal in registering voters for the midterm election. On a president ial historian, the 50th anniversary of the 1964 Republican National convention, the president ial nomination of barry goldwater, and the risk to the gop. We will take your calls and you can join the conversation on facebook and twitter. Washington journal is host good morning. Congress is back this week. He senate expected to vote on the democraticsponsored bill that would try to overcome the supreme courts 54 ruling on the hobby lobby case that essentially would exempt the Affordable Care act from the freedom restoration act. Meanwhile, the nations governors continue their summer meeting in nashville today. The president begins his week at the white house, but he is back on the road thursday raising money in nor your city. It is sunday morning, july 13, and the president using his weekly address to go after republicans