LACKAWANNA, N.Y. - The New York National Guard is one of several agencies and groups partnering with the United States Chamber of Commerce and the Buffalo –Niagara Partnership for a "Hire our Heroes" job fair at the American Legion's Matthew Glab Post 1477 in Lackawana on Wednesday, May 2.
The job fair, which begins at 12:45 p.m. and will run to 5 p.m. is designed to help employers interested in recruiting serving members of the National Guard or Reserve, or military veterans, find qualified employees.
It is one of 50 events the U.S. Chamber of Commerce announced it was sponsoring between the beginning of January and December 2012.
Lt. Col. James McCready, commander of the New York Air National Guard's 107th Airlift Wing, based at Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station, will join Carlos Benitez , of the Erie County Veterans Service Agency, and Past American Legion Commander Michael Koguto, in opening the event.
The New York National Guard has made finding jobs for unemployed or underemployed members of the Army and Air Force National Guard a priority and has established a "New York National Guard Job Zone "webpage (http://dmna.ny.gov/jobs/jobs.php?id=nyng).Two retired senior non-commissioned officers have also been hired to work with guardsmen and employers to help guardsmen and women looking for jobs find employers who want to hire them.
Other partners in the Buffalo Hire our Heroes event includes the New York State Department of Labor, the American Legion, Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve, the Army Reserve, and Wegmans for the May 2 event.
The United States Chamber of Commerce, in conjunction with the National Chamber Foundation, launched its Hiring Our Heroes program in March 2011. It is a nationwide effort to help veterans and military spouses find meaningful employment.
The Chamber started the program to improve public-private sector coordination in local communities, where veterans and their families are returning every day. To date, Hiring Our Heroes has hosted 138 hiring fairs in 45 states and the District of Columbia, helping more than 9,000 veterans and military spouses find employment.
Working with its federation of state and local chambers and public, private, and non-profit partners, the Chamber established a network of committed employers, large and small, that understand the value of hiring veterans and military spouses. This includes the 27 companies that comprise the Veterans Employment Advisory Council which represent 25 million jobs in America and have access to vast networks of millions more small business suppliers, clients, and customers.
Information on the Buffalo event can be found here:
http://www.uschamber.com/hiringourheroes/buffalo-ny
For information on the May 2 event at the Mathew Glab American Legion Post, located at 1965 Abbott Road, Lackawanna, N.Y. 14218, contact Jim Bojanowski at JIMBOJ799@aol.com or (716) 803-0891.