Employment

LVMAC Tidbit: NCC provides free truck driver training to veterans and their families

U.S Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) helps NCC provide free Class A CDL training programs to veterans and their families. 

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This August, Northampton Community College (NCC) received a $163,200 grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) to provide free Class A truck driving training to 40 current or former members of the United States Armed Forces, their spouses and adult children.  NCC will recruit qualified students, provide them with superior safety-focused training, support them through successful program completion, and provide placement services to assist them in becoming employed in the transportation industry. (more…)

By LVMAC, ago

LVMAC Tidbit:  CSOR Veteran Survey May Improve Occupational Licensing in Pennsylvania

The Knee Center for the Study of Occupational Regulation is conducting a project with the U.S. Department of Labor which is studying the effects occupational licensing has on military veterans and military spouses.  If affected, participate now.  The survey is set to end December 2020.  [Editor’s Note: The survey may be extended as a result of the novel coronavirus pandemic, as intended outreach events have been cancelled.]

The survey, being distributed throughout the Commonwealth, asks questions about barriers of employment. The goal of the survey is to help the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania distinguish the needs of servicemen and servicewomen, and their spouses, as it pertains to occupational licensing. (more…)

By LVMAC, ago

Forward Observer: Another Plug for Helping the Census Bureau

LVMAC Poster Art 2005We have already written about the need to participate in the 2020 census, individually or by working as a census taker.   The Lehigh Valley did phenomenally poorly last census to its detriment, we have been told.

So, here comes a little more information for those veterans and their friends who have the ability to stand up and assist as temporary employees of the U.S. Census Bureau — and it is not a bad deal financially for the hours worked, either. (more…)

By LVMAC, ago

LVMAC News: Businesses! We Need Your Help and Thinking

The Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce, working with the Lehigh Valley Military Affairs Council and others, intends to create a formal Veterans and Military Affairs Council.  More immediately, it is in the process of making a baseline assessment of those chamber of commerce initiatives most needed.   It realizes it must get beyond anecdotal experiences to have informed efforts.  Therefore, as part of the assessment, it must conduct a short survey to uncover what problems — if any — local employers are facing in finding, hiring and retaining veterans as employees. (more…)

By LVMAC, ago

LVMAC Tidbit: Veterans Employment Representative Position Opens in the Valley

DLI LogoFinally, after months and months of delay, the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry is advertising openly for someone to replace the Disabled Veterans Opportunity Program Counselor lost at the Lehigh Valley CareerLink in August 2018, due to retirement.  If you are a veteran and wish to help our community’s veterans, and their spouses in certain instances, in gaining secure and good-paying employment upon return from service and for other reasons, this may be one of the best ways to do it.   These civil service positions are federally funded under the U.S. Department of Labor’s US VETS program.  Below are the details provided by Doug Monroe, the remaining veterans employment representative at the CareerLink: (more…)

By LVMAC, ago

LVMAC Tidbit: VR&E Program Now Offers “Tele-Counseling” to Improve Its Service

On 30 November, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment Program (VR&E) announced its ability to provide “Tele-counseling” to those disabled veterans desiring it.

The VA’s Tele-counseling, or virtual communication system, allows the use of any device with a webcam and microphone to communicate with one of its 1,000-plus Vocational Rehabilitation Counselors (VRC).  This capability reduces travel costs and time for both veterans and VRCs, thereby potentially improving a veteran’s access to necessary VR&E services.  “VR&E’s Tele-counseling service is another example of how VA continually modernizes in support of Veterans’ needs … [It provides] personalized, interactive face-to-face services regardless of location”, according to the Secretary of the VA, Robert Wilkie.
(more…)

By LVMAC, ago