Cali Closes Ranks To Aid Veterans
Jan 06 2010
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is launching the Operation Welcome Home outreach campaign today! Some key takeaways from the recent article from Sign On San Diego:
His initiative will set aside $20 million in one-time special funds to hire 325 combat veterans who will personally connect with newly discharged service members in need of job assistance. …
Money for the program – the first of its kind in the nation, those knowledgeable about its provisions say – will come from the Employment Development Department. …
Schwarzenegger also envisions recruiting 1,000 volunteers as part of a new, ongoing CalVet Corps to expand outreach for housing, health care and other services for veterans. The volunteers would help participants access services provided by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, municipal governments, professional organizations and charities. They also would stay in touch with the veterans to monitor their progress.
The goal is to encourage more aggressive outreach, especially because veterans might not be aware of certain services or they avoid seeking them out of fear of government bureaucracy.
Operation Welcome Home will be unveiled as part of the governor’s State of the State address before the Legislature, but it doesn’t need legislative approval.…
Schwarzenegger has listed benchmarks to determine whether Operation Welcome Home succeeds. Among them: seeing whether veterans’ rates of unemployment and homelessness eventually drop, whether more veterans enroll in college, and whether more veterans are screened and treated for mental illness related to combat.
