Sen. Charles Schumer
/ Photo by Craig McDowell
SYRACUSE -- Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand is making the rounds of upstate New York college campuses to promote legislation to help veterans get education and training needed for civilian jobs.
Her schedule Monday includes stops at Syracuse University's Institute for Veteran and Military Families as well as Nazareth College in Rochester and D'Youville College in Buffalo.
At Syracuse University, Sen. Gillibrand and Sen. Charles Schumer announced a proposal to provide accessible education and job training to veterans and streamline certification processes for civilian jobs.
Latest labor statistics show more than 12% of vets who've served post 9/11 are unemployed.
“This new legislation is an important investment for our heroes,” Senator Gillibrand said in a written statement. “We must provide veterans with access to the necessary resources which allow them to get the education, job training and appropriate licensing that will ease their transition from military life to the civilian work force. Our veterans have earned this and it’s the least we can do to give them the appropriate tools needed to be successful in their life after the military.”
Gillibrand held roundtable meetings last year with business and veterans leaders around the state to discuss ways to address veterans' unemployment problems.
Last year, Gillibrand was involved in the passage of the VOW to Hire Heroes Act, which gave employers incentives to hire military veterans.
(Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.)
