Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Pa. Labor & Industry secretary visits Delco veterans job fair
Pennsylvania Labor & Industry Secretary Jennifer Berrier visited Delaware County Wednesday to highlight an $800,000 initiative aimed at connecting veterans with job opportunities.
“I think it’s real important that we came to Delaware County today because the governor is a very big proponent of ensuring that we provide veterans with the benefits and services that they so rightly deserve,” Berrier said. “They served for our country. Let us serve for them.”
Berrier visited the Crosby Street center Wednesday during its “Hire A Hero” veterans job fair in which 14 employers, including UPS, Crozer Health and Piedmont Airlines.
Of the 26,000 veterans recorded in U.S. Census records as living in Delaware County, there are nearly 7,800 veterans being reached in some way by CareerLink services, according to Brandon Clark, the Veterans Program Career Coach at the Chester CareerLink.
There are 800,000 veterans in Pennsylvania overall — making it the fourth largest state based on veteran population.
As a way to reach this demographic, Gov. Tom Wolf directed $800,000 in March to four workforce development initiatives as part of the Veterans Employment Program. Two of those programs are in Delaware County.
One, the Veterans Career Acceleration Program, allocated $200,000 so that EDSI Inc. would create a Career Acceleration Program for 30 veterans in IT, healthcare, construction/skilled trades and customer service. It also includes career coaching for another 10 veterans.
With NuPaths for Veterans, $199,998 was distributed to NuPath Inc. to train 24 veterans through a virtual learning platform in Delaware, Beaver and Fayette counties for entry-level jobs in network technician and IT security analyst roles.
Fayette County also received another $193,034 to supplement existing programs and Lackawanna County received $192,332 to overcome barriers through one-on-one interaction by outreach, case management and employment acquisition assistance.
“Delaware County was really lucky that we got extra funding for our veterans,” Kate McGeever, director of the Delaware County Workforce Development Board, said.
The secretary spoke to why these counties received this funding.
“It shows that they have a really strong contingent here and also that there is a lot of movement in employing veterans within this specific county,” Berrier said.
She spoke to the unique characters veterans have.
“Obviously, when you enroll in the military, you are trained a specific skill set, a specific regiment,” the secretary said. “For us, it’s important for us to try to translate those skills into meaningful employment and also to provide skills and training that connect them with employers within their local community that have that need.”
Clark himself served in the U.S. Army for eight years starting as an 11 Bravo infantryman and ending as a sergeant E5.
“I think one thing is helping veterans find purpose again,” he said. “When I got out, I was lost. I went back to school. I always kept on saying, ‘I need a plan, a purpose, a direction.’ … As a squad leader, my job was to take care of my soldiers.”
That’s when he found out about veteran program career coaching, which gave him purpose by coaching other veterans towards finding better positions.
“What I say to them is, ‘Find that job that will give you that purpose, direction and motivation,’” Clark said.
Of the job fair, he said it sends a message to vets that they do matter and there are employers looking for them.
Berrier said COVID-19 has resulted in an environment where businesses are hiring.
“You can’t walk anywhere without a ‘Help Wanted’ sign,” she said. “We’re at a low unemployment rate and there’s some labor/market friction there. So, making sure we make those right connections and we help fill those positions for employers so that we can keep economic stability within this state is vitally important.”
Veterans can reach Clark for employment services at 610-470-2246, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday or through bclark@ EDSISolutions.com. Any job seeker or employer in Delaware County can call the main PA CareerLink at 610447-3350.