Three Reasons to Apply for the 2019 HIRE Vets Medallion Award

There is only a month left to apply for the 2019 HIRE Vets Medallion Award. This award recognizes employers for their investments in recruiting, employing, and retaining our nation’s veterans.

Here are three reasons you should apply today:

The HIRE Vets Medallion Award represents a truly elite honor. Recipients will be able to demonstrate to potential and current customers, as well as to veterans looking for jobs, that they are dedicated to both hiring veterans and to providing the support and guidance needed to build careers.

The deadline to submit an application is April 30, 2019. Don’t miss out on a great opportunity for you to celebrate your commitment to our nation’s veterans. Read the U.S. Department of Labor’s  blog post or visit  HIREVets.gov for more information.

Paving Access for Veterans Employment

Lauren Lobrano, Director, PAVE Program

Paralyzed Veterans of America’s veterans’ employment program, PAVE – Paving Access for Veterans Employment - was launched in 2007 to ensure that our Nation’s veterans have access to employment and educational opportunities. While engaging paralyzed veterans is a key area of focus for PAVE, we also support the broader veteran community including transitioning service members, veterans, spouses and caregivers with our one-on-one, high-touch approach. Working with our team of six vocational rehabilitation counselors and two employment analysts strategically located across the country, PAVE has supported more than 4,300 members of the veteran community. And while veteran unemployment is no longer a crisis, there is still much work to be done.

Many veterans with significant service-connected disabilities, including physical or behavioral health injuries, are not currently seeking employment. More than 62 % of veterans with a service-connected disability rating of 60% or higher either struggle with or opt out of joining the civilian workforce. When layered with the added challenges of managing a new injury or medical diagnosis, many may feel that the barriers to gainful employment are overwhelming. We continue to be leaders in dispelling the myths and challenging stereotypes of those with disabilities. And working beside dedicated employment partners, we will continue to create opportunities for quality and sustainable careers for those with significant and catastrophic injuries.

Additionally, a recent Call of Duty Endowment/Zip Recruiter Survey showed that one-third of post-9/11 veterans are not employed to their objective skill level; this is 15.6% higher than non-veteran job seekers. Often, this is due to veterans accepting a lower skilled position instead of appropriately navigating and managing opportunities for a more individualized and meaningful career.

PAVE’s high-touch, one-on-one model has proven to be extremely effective at helping veterans find meaningful employment. Industry studies show that approximately 44% of veterans leave their first job within a year, while only 20% of those who find employment through the PAVE program leave their job within a 12 month period. PAVE staff use a combination of service and hospitality to bring equity to the veteran job search process and help our clients identify their unique values.

If you are interested in more information about Paralyzed Veterans of America’s PAVE program, please visit our website

OFCCP posts Corporate Scheduling Announcement List on Website

Today, OFCCP released its next Corporate Scheduling Announcement List (CSAL) in the OFCCP FOIA Library. This is the first time OFCCP has posted the CSAL only in the FOIA Library without mailing advanced contractor notifications to individual establishments. 

OFCCP also posted its updated scheduling methodology and Frequently Asked Questions on CSAL and Corporate Management Compliance Evaluations. All of these compliance resources, in addition to a page dedicated to Section 503 Focused Reviews, are available here . 

For the first time, the CSAL includes Section 503 Focused Reviews as outlined in our Focused Review Directive  ( DIR 2018-04 )  and compliance checks as outlined in our Affirmative Action Program Verification Initiative Directive  ( DIR 2018-07 ) . Compliance reviews are still included on the list.

Useful Tech Apps

On March 16th, Nai Damato, CLB’s Assistant Director of DeafBlind and Technology Services, led a workshop at the Foundation Fighting Blindness Montgomery County Chapter meeting, where she demonstrated technology – specifically apps that further the independence of people with vision loss.

Nai utilized the Seeing AI app which is blind specific and free to download. Among the other highlights of this app are its abilities to detect the presence of light in a room and the identification of currency and colors of threading of apparel. Other beneficial features of this app include the short text feature to magnify or read out bar codes, menus, and other product details.

In this photo-sharing and posting culture, the app houses a person feature to help with taking photos and posting to social media platforms such as Instagram.

Additionally, Nai presented on an app called Be My Eyes, which allows blind and visually impaired users to connect in real time to a live sighted volunteer via phone and video for assistance with visual tasks such as identifying a food label. The specialized help option in the app connects the user to a volunteer with training in providing tech support.

To learn more about the tech tips shared during the presentation, please visit  the Facebook live link .