Blog Posts by Subject: Veterans

Hiring Our Heroes, a program of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, was launched in March 2011 as a nationwide initiative to help veterans and military spouses find meaningful employment working with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's network of 1600 state and local chambers and other strategic partners for the public, private, and non-profit sectors. Visit the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation site to learn more.

The Veterans Opportunity to Work (VOW) to Hire Heroes Act of 2011, provides seamless transition for Servicemembers, expands education and training opportunities for Veterans and provides tax credits for employers who hire Veterans with service-connected disabilities.

Starting on July 9th 2012, New York City Workforce 1 opens the doors to a dedicated Workforce 1 Veterans Career Center in Manhattan. This Career Center is for vets and run by vets and is the first of its kind in America. Mayor Bloomberg said, "We hope it will serve as a model for what other cities can do." He also stated "It's our turn to stand up for those who stood up for our nation." He has pledged to place 1,200 veterans in private sector jobs this year.

As over a million of service men and women are returning to the civilian workforce in the next five years, entrepreneurship may be an attractive option for some of them. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Report on Veterans Small Business Development, veterans own 2.4 million American businesses or 9 percent of all the American's business. When including businesses in which veterans are at least half owners, these numbers rise to 3.7 million businesses or 13.5 percent of U.S. businesses.

There aren't many people who can say they've been living and creating artwork in the same Lower East Side apartment for 30 years, but we found one and his name is Robert Gulley. During December and January we exhibited Mr. Gulley's recent paintings and sculpture in our main reading room. You can see photos of the exhibit in this post and higher quality photos of his work at petermuscato.com. One day I sat down with Mr. Gulley to get the story behind his artwork.