Photo By Rick Emert | FORT CARSON, Colo. — Angela Nitz, a student in the Home Builders Institute 12-week...... read more read more
By Eric E. Parris
Garrison Public Affairs Office
FORT CARSON, Colo. — Fort Carson had the opportunity to showcase how it works in partnership with the Pikes Peak Workforce Center and partners in the Career Skills Program to provide transitioning service members with realistic job opportunities during the National Governors Association’s 2019 Summer Meeting with a session held Aug. 20, 2019, on post.
More than 90 representatives from the National Association of State Liaisons for Workforce Development Partnerships and the National Association of State Workforce Board Chairs were in Colorado Springs as part of the meeting Aug. 19-22, 2019.
During their visit to Colorado Springs, the representatives were briefed on Fort Carson’s collaboration efforts with the workforce center, employers and other partner resources.
“Colorado Springs’ partnering with the major military installations has been recognized throughout the country as a best practice for our partnerships with the Pikes Peak Workforce Center and the nongovernmental agencies supporting our transitioning service members and active-duty spouses,” said Mike Webb, director of Human Resources at Fort Carson. “This was an opportunity to show them firsthand how collaboration here works.”
That collaboration is critical, considering more than 400 service members transition from the military to civilian life every month on Fort Carson, said Sherry Jenkins, the transition services manager for the Soldier for Life-Transition Assistance Program.
Attendees were given an overview of how the collaboration works between the SFL-TAP, the workforce center, and other partners such as employers, the Department of Labor, Veterans Affairs, the Small Business Administration and numerous military organizations.
The Department of Defense has recognized Fort Carson for its best practices in its SFL-TAP, Webb said. That success is because of his staff of dedicated professionals and support from the command.
“Our leadership buys into it,” Webb said.
That buy in goes directly to what Fort Carson is doing to support its transitioning service members.
“We do some amazing things each and every day for our transitioning service members, veterans and their Family members,” Jenkins said. “In the Soldier for Life-Transition Assistance Program, we are responsible for preparing our transitioning service members to transition from active duty to the civilian workforce, connect them to meaningful employment with livable, family wages, and we do these things so they can reintegrate strong.”
This program’s success is primarily based on collaboration with the partners, many of whom are part of the Career Skills Program also known as DOD SkillBridge.
The program serves to bridge the gap in skills that transitioning service members have and the in-demand skills industries are looking for, and the partnerships provide a strong link to employment for service members transitioning out, Jenkins said. The programs complement the SFL-TAP and are little to no cost to the service members or the government.
Service members participate in these programs while they are still on active duty, getting paid by their respective services, Jenkins said. They range from the skill trades programs such as welding and sheet metal to information technology programs.
At Fort Carson, there are 17 programs, and for services members who successfully complete their programs, there’s a 95-percent employment placement rate, Jenkins said.
Jenkins emphasized the importance of collaboration between the military and the local communities.
“If you’re not collaborating in your community, then you’re already behind,” Jenkins told the attendees.
In addition to the afternoon briefing, the state representatives were divided into two groups to tour the Home Builders Institute and the SFL-TAP facility to meet with some of the partners who participate in the Career Skills Programs. The HBI provides 12 weeks of training in the construction industry and has placed 100 percent of its graduates in jobs.
“The Soldier’s goal is to graduate our class,” said Gregory Reeves, an instructor with the HBI. “Our goal is that we want them working. That’s number one; that’s why we’re here.”
Having an opportunity to see firsthand how Fort Carson assists transitioning service members had an impact on those who attended the meeting.
“We have a high population of military that come through, but we are not able to retain them because of our cost of living,” said Allicyn Tasaka, the executive director at the Hawaii Workforce Development Council in Honolulu. “It’s important to develop better programs similar to this one at Fort Carson to get the service members and their spouses jobs in Hawaii.”
Tasaka said she will take what’s she’s learned to share with her colleagues.
“This gives us a best practices on programs that are working that I’d like to take back and share with the committee and the council,” Tasaka said.
| Date Taken: | 09.23.2019 |
| Date Posted: | 12.30.2019 10:18 |
| Story ID: | 357547 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 20 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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