VA Introduces VOW to Hire Heroes Act Web Site

The VA today launched a new Web site, highlighting the latest programs implemented through last year's VOW to Hire Heroes Act, the comprehensive veterans' employment bill that VFW helped sign into law.

The new site, benefits.va.gov/VOW,  focuses on four specific improvements to VA programs designed to help veterans find quality careers or hone the skills necessary to compete in a cut-throat civilian job market. Each section describes new programs in detail, offering specific eligibility information and policy changes that will allow veterans to more easily access available employment and job training resources.

Two of the most significant programs are the extension of additional G.I. Bill-style education benefits for unemployed veterans between the ages of 35-60 through the Veterans Retraining Assistance Program, or VRAP, and the extension of additional Vocational Rehabilitation benefits for unemployed disabled veterans.

Unemployed veterans who qualify for VRAP will be offered an additional 12 months of education benefits to help develop new job skills. Program enrollment is limited to 45,000 veterans during fiscal year 2012, and to 54,000 participants from October 1, 2012, through March 31, 2014.

Department of Labor and VA will begin to accept applications for VRAP starting on May 12, 2012. Your VFW will keep you posted with details on how to apply.

Unemployed disabled veterans who have already completed Vocational Rehabilitation will also be eligible for an additional year of Voc Rehab benefits starting June 1, 2012, and VA is already accepting applications to participate in the new program.

The VFW has made veterans' employment a top priority for the last few years and scored a major victory for veterans with last year's passage of the VOW to Hire Heroes Act. With this in mind, we encourage all eligible veterans to learn about the new programs included in the law and take full advantage of the benefits and programs you have earned.

Watch Live: House to Address Unemployment in the National Guard

*Update: The hearing adjourned shortly before 1 p.m. 
*Update: The hearing was delayed and came to order at 10:24 a.m. The live stream is now available. 

The House Veterans Affairs Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity will host a hearing this morning to address growing concerns of unemployment among members of the National Guard. The hearing will come to order at 10 a.m. in room 334 of the Cannon House Office Building. To view the archived webcast from the proceedings, click here.

This morning’s hearing comes in the wake of persistent reports from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics indicating that military men and women serving in the National Guard and Reserve face unemployment at rates of up to 30 percent in certain states. The VFW, which has been vocal on the issue of unemployment in the Guard, will be on hand for the hearing and plans to submit testimony for the record.

Ted Daywalt, president and founder of the VFW-supported employment resource VetJobs, will testify before the subcommittee alongside National Guard leaders from the across the country and Acting Assistant Secretary of Labor for Veterans Employment and Training Service Ismael “Junior” Ortiz. To view a full list of participants, click here.

The VFW is concerned that unemployment among the Guard and Reserve not only threatens the immediate readiness of the military’s operational reserve force, but also threatens the future viability of the all-volunteer force, which has relied heavily on the reserve component over the last decade.

Veterans’ employment remains a top priority for the VFW in the current Congressional session. VFW leaders hope to build on the success of last session’s passage of the VOW to Hire Heroes Act by ensuring that reserve component service members also have the kinds of job opportunities they deserve.

Updates and VFW reaction from today’s hearing will be available later today on this blog.