CEG launches Veteran Connect Center
AAA Hudson Valley is the VCC’s first sponsor
ALBANY, N.Y. >> With the Capital Region projected to lose a quarter of its working-age veterans over the next 10 years, the Center for Economic Growth (CEG) is spearheading an effort that aims to attract and assist transitioning service members and their families from around the globe to the area.
CEG said it recently launched the Veteran Connect Center ( VCC).
AAAHudson Valley Thursday became the VCC’s first sponsor with a $5,000 check, and the BBL Foundation is also contributing $2,500. Across all military branches and worldwide, the VCC said it will market the Capital Region to these transitioning service members and their families and connect them to local career, educational and community resources.
For the veterans already in the region, the VCC noted that it will help them identify workforce and educational opportunities as well as connect them to other support services.
Additionally, the VCC said it will provide programming and information to local businesses and institutions interested in hiring, educating and supporting veterans.
“When service members end their military careers, many are looking for jobs where they can utilize their unique skills and experiences, or a place where they or their children can use their Post-9/11 G.I. Bill benefits,” CEG President and CEO Andrew Kennedy said in a news release.
“With our abundance of technology and manufacturing companies and 24 colleges and universities, the Capital Region has much to offer to these new veterans. So, whether they are at Fort Drum, Germany or Guam, CEG’s Veteran Connect Center will be the region’s first point of contact for transitioning ser- vice members and assist them in moving here and setting down roots. We’ll also be helping veterans already in the region make the connections they need to stay and thrive here,” Kennedy added.
Throughout 2018, CEG said it convened a Veterans Committee to plan for and oversee the VCC. CEG’s Veteran Committee includes about 20 individuals representing the military, academia and business. It is chaired by Michael Swezey, a retired brigadier general with the New York National Guard and a vice president and senior financial advisor for Merrill Lynch. The committee’s vice chair is Joshua Toas, a former Army Reserve captain and vice president of compliance and chief compliance officer at the SUNY Research Foundation.
“Other parts of the state are aggressively pursuing transitioning service members to help bolster their economies, and the Capital Region needs to up its game if it wants them to live and work here. With there be- ing tens of thousands fewer active duty service members now than a decade ago, new veterans are becoming a rarer talent commodity and tech hubs around the country are clamoring for them. Veterans have long been a valued staple in the Capital Region’s workforce, and the VCC is our way of ensuring they stay that way,” Swezey said in the release.
The VCC said it will work with the existing network of veterans support services by streamlining and simplifying the relocation process to the eight-county region for transitioning service members; training businesses and educational institutions to meet veterans’ needs; tracking progression and impacts; connecting veterans to other services; and advocating for veterans and program needs.
“Transitioning from military life to civilian life is a challenge, but so is navigating the many services available to transitioning service members and their
families. The Veteran Connect Center will streamline and simplify that process while putting the Capital Region on the radar of transitioning service members and their families who are looking to begin a new chapter in their lives. AAA Hudson Valley has a long history of helping veterans get to where they need to go, and we are happy to support the VCC and help them find a home in the Capital Region,” AAA Hudson Valley President and CEO Michele Van Epps said in the release.
Officials noted how veterans play a vital role in the Capital Region’s economy.
In 2017, officials said the region’s working- age veteran labor force participation rate was 78.6 percent, compared to 73.8 percent for the state and 75.8 percent for the nation. Throughout the region’s eight counties, there were 31,577 veterans between 17 and 64 years old, with 24,828 of them participating in the civilian labor force, according to U.S. Census Bureau fiveyear estimates.
Yet, according to the release and actuarial projection data from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ National Center for Veterans Analysis and Statistics, between the growing ranks of Vietnam-Era veterans approaching retirement age, veteran mobility and a 5.6 percent worldwide decline in service members over the past decade, the Capital Region is expected to see its ranks of working-age veterans decrease by 25 percent over the next 10 years.
While that was the second-lowest working-age veteran loss rate among New York’s 10 economic development regions and below the state average rate of -29 percent, it poses a threat to the size and quality of the Capital Region’s labor force, according to the release.