Veterans Employment Committee

May 20, 2020: 10:00 AM
Frances Perkins Rm, 45 Commerce Dr., Augusta, ME

Meeting Minutes from SWB Veterans Employment Committee TEAMS Meeting May 20, 2020 (10:00am - 12:30pm)

Members and Interested Party Attendees: Bill Benson, Director, Boots2Roots, Mark Cafiso, LVER, Portland CareerCenter, Mark Cater, Vice President of Branding and Engagement, Military Talent Source, Leo Deon, LVER, Lewiston CareerCenter, Aaron Dombroski, Coordinator, TRiO Veterans upward Bound, USM, Robin Doody, Talent Acquisition Specialist, Northern Light Health, Nicole Frydrych, Community Coordinator, VOANNE, Chaplain (COL) Andrew Gibson, Director of Deployment Cycle Support, MEARNG, Jennifer Giroux, GPD Case Manager, VOANNE, Mike Gray, HVRP Project Coordinator and Military and Veterans Services Director, Easterseals Maine, Debbie Kelly, Maine Director, Veterans Employment and Trainings Services (VETS), USDOL, Bethanie Mazzaro, Volunteer Supt Technician, ESGR, Tyra Parker, Vice President, Program Operations, VOANNE, Kaleb Roy, National Recruiter, Cianbro, Nate Russell, Veteran, Sarah Sherman, Director of Strategic Partnerships, Maine Bureau of Veterans Services, Easterseals Maine, Joe Tatem, Program Support Specialist, National Guard Employment and Support Program, Fred Webber, Former State Workforce Board Chair, David Young, VR&E Counselor, VA VR&E Togus, Scott Young, Deputy Commissioner, DVEM

Unable to Connect to Teams: Jonathan Farr, SWB VEC Chair/Handyman, Cheryl Moran, Labor Program Specialist, State Workforce Board, Alley Smith-Morrissey, Assistant Coordinator of Veterans Services, USM, Lorrie Spaulding, Director of Veterans Services, USM,

Staff: Auta Main, MDOL BES Veterans' Program Manager

SWB Staff: Chris Quint, Director, State Workforce Board, Josh Howe, Workforce Development Program Coordinator, State Workforce Board

SWB VEC Acting Chair, Auta Main: Welcome & Opening Remarks

SWB VEC Acting Chair, Auta Main: Round the room introductions.

SWB VEC Acting Chair, Auta Main: Approval of notes from March 18, 2020.

Guest Speaker(s): Chris Quint, Director, State Workforce Board - Chris provided a short update.
- The SWB Board is the middle of post-pandemic planning. Chris is working with the local boards to discuss plans for coming back to work, to the office and to CareerCenters (or not or when or how). - The full SWB Board will meet on June 12th via ZOOM.
- Moving ahead during the pandemic and beyond, the Maine Economic Development Plan, includes these three areas of focus for the SWB and its committees (from March meeting 2020) o Grow Local Talent: Grow the average annual wage by developing a workforce with the knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) to deliver value-added products. o Promote Innovation: Build a more robust and recession resistant Maine economy by steadily investing in programs that increase the value of products sold per worker. o Attract New Talent: Provide the needed resources to support GDP growth by attracting 75,000 people to Maines talent pool. Increase participation of existing Maine residents by deploying new processes that attract and enable their engagement. Attract talent by building an infrastructure that supports both communities and their local economies. - SWB VEC can certainly take pride in supporting all 3 of these goals, with a focus on growing local veteran talent and attracting veterans to Maine. The Maine Hire-A-Vet Campaign, a partnership that includes many members of SWB VEC, is a key strategy for moving these goals forward, annually. Both Military Talent Source and Boots2Roots support this goal on an ongoing basis, as do several other MHAV partners. - See attached docs FMI

Short Updates from SWB VEC Members Implications of COVID-19 on our Work - COL Andrew Gibson, MEARNG o Along with Commissioner Randall Liberty Co-presented Military Culture including Recruitment, Hiring and Retention of veterans staff at SHRMs statewide HR Conference, via ZOOM. The workshop was well received. o Andy is also working with a couple of deployments which include the Air Guard, Marine Corps and Navy Reserve (Sept-December) o In addition, Maine National Guard is assisting with Fit Testing for masks & PPE for groups across the state, including prospective field hospitals - Bill Benson, Boots2Roots o Slow down of team members during early days of pandemic but reaching out and active via zoom. Currently have 37 teammates. - Aaron Dombrowski, USM Upward Bound o Working from home connecting with vets virtually! - Nicole Frydrych & Jennifer Giroux, VOANNE o Concerned about mental and physical health of our residents during the pandemic. Working closely to keep them safe and healthy. - Kaleb Roy, Cianbro o All is well. Very busy with lines and markets. o Appreciate the opportunity to participate in this group! o Wanted to share that Todd Gilley accepted a new position as a Recruiter for Reed & Reed. - Mike Gray, Easterseals o Working via technology things are a little slower at the moment - Sarah Sherman, MBVS o Working from home since March 9th.
o MBVS recently received a grant for DENTAL support for veterans. More info to come! - Mark Cater, Military Talent Source o Still getting calls from business customers who are hiring! o Also working with new military installations in Kentucky, South Carolina and California - Joe Totem, National Guard Employment and Support o Enjoyed the SHRM Conference last week. Impressed with the level of virtual activity. o Workload is a bit quiet at the moment working on a few resumes. - Robin Doody, Northern Light Health o Lots going on. Working mostly from home, but busy! Still interviewing via phone and skype. Coordinating virtual job fairs every 2 weeks lots of contact with candidates. - Nate Russell, Veteran o During pandemic, VA extended dates for school 120 days so veterans can receive funding even if not participating in school in-person i.e. they can still receive funding even though schooling is taking place online/virtually. - David Young, VR&E Togus o VR&E didnt skip a beat. All counselors are working from home and busy with veteran clients. o Concerns during this time especially for veterans with mental health issues, stress from COVID-19 adding to that. Adjustment is difficult with so much alone time. Concerns also about increases in suicide rates. - Debbie Kelly, VETS, USDOL o Teleworking has been seamless during this unprecedented time.
o Focus has been on Jobs for Veterans State Grant (JVSG), Homeless Veterans Reintegration Program (HVRP) and USERRA cases. Debbie and her colleagues around the country are working with Depts of Labor to approve the temporary transition of Vet Reps (DVOPs and LVERs) to work with State UI Depts, assisting UI claimants as the backlog grows larger, countrywide. This includes a huge number of veteran UI claimants, as well. Its interesting to note ... DVOPs and LVERs are assisting jobseekers to get on UI and soon theyll be assisting them to get off of UI.
o Easterseals has applied for a 2nd year of the HVRP grant. - Tyra Parker, VOANNE, Busy trying to keep everyone safe. Concerns especially for seniors and veterans. - Bethanie Mazzaro, ESGR o Transition to virtual work has been seamless. Hosting lots of zoom meetings with employers and clients. o Participated in the SHRM Conference with Joe Tatem. Agree very well done. o Employer lunch and learns, of course, are slow at the moment. - Scott Young, DVEM o The transition is going well. We have been working from home for about 2 months. Lots left on the table from this legislative session.
- Fred Webber, Veteran, Former SWB Board Chair o 7 Years Chair of SWB Board o Currently working with a project focused on veterans with mental health issues, many in jail but not for serious crimes. Working to get them treatment instead of jail time. o SWB VEC has always been his favorite committee - Mark Cafiso, Portland CareerCenter o Currently base camped in Otisfield. Been working with UI claimants for the last 9 weeks. o Starting to hear from employers again about 15% are indicating they are in hiring mode again. o Recently got a call from Great Fall marketing who just landed a huge contract with the federal government. They are looking for 1,000 people to work from home virtual call center! - Leo Deon, Lewiston CareerCenter o Will be conducting a virtual "Hiring Veterans for Employers" workshop on June 9th 25+ employers registered to date. o Will also be presenting the same workshop at the NASWA VETS Conference in Washington DC week of August 12, 2020. - Auta Main, BES, MDOL o Most Vet Reps and MDOL staff are working from home.
o As Debbie mentioned, she (under the guidance of USDOL Assistant Secretary, VETS) approved for Vet Reps (countrywide) to temporarily transition to work with UI claimants. Each DVET (Debbie Kelly/Maine) worked with the state Vet Teams to make decisions based on priority of service to veterans, as needed. A few of our Vet Reps have transitioned back to JVSG working specifically with veterans at this time. o The number of UI claimants is staggering over 125,000. This number includes 10,000+ veterans. With so much uncertainly about back to work as normal plans, we are focused on virtual communication and phone calls. o The Maine Hire-A-Vet Campaign 2020 will be held virtually this year More info to come!

*We didnt specifically address our SWB VEC priorities (below) at this meeting, but our updates, above, are relevant. a. Marketing to Veterans and Employers
i. Outreach to Veterans ii. Outreach to Employers b. Education Employers c. National Guard E3 Collaboration with Maine Dept of Labor and the Veterans Team i. E3: Enlist, Educate, Employ. Maine Army National Guard reached out to MDOL to collaborate on the EMPLOYMENT piece. With the tight job market, recruitment, hiring and retention are more challenging for all employers, including the National Guard. Also, many younger guard members are underemployed working in the trades, for example in the guard, but working at McDonalds in civilian life. With the partnership, the Guard aims to improve numbers for all three Es! MDOL is happy to introduce National Guard members to the CareerCenter system and to the Vet Team and hopes these relationships will continue throughout the guard members/ veterans career. d. Education Veterans e. Veteran Friendly Employer Award i. This SWB VEC subcommittee met in November and determined that at this time, we will not take next steps to develop another veteran employer award in Maine. The landscape is full at the moment with Maine Hire-A-Vet Campaign awards, ESGR awards, and the USDOL HIRE Vets Medallion award. ii. The subcommittee included: Auta Main, Josh Howe, Cheryl Moran, Bethanie Mazzaro, Andy Gibson, Mark Cafiso, Nate Russell and Debbie Kelly. g. SWB VEC Membership iii. The updated list was shared at the March 2020 meeting see attached. *Suggestions had been made to reach out to the following to inquire if they might be interested in joining SWB VEC 2019/2020. - VA VR&E, David Young Auta reached out and David said hed like to join. - Cianbro, Kaleb Roy Debbie Kelly reached out to Kaleb and he said hed like to join, as well.
- Ashley Pringle, SWB Board Member, Vice President Operations at Maine & Co. and a Veteran Bill
Benson reached out to Ashley and she said she would like to join. Auta has been in touch with her. - Auta will reach out to Jon Mason at BIW and ask for a BIW liaison to SWB VEC committee.
h. Future Agenda Items - Licensing & Credentialing - Business Relationships How can the committee better assist employers? - Case Managing Services At Risk of Losing Housing - Financial Literacy A new Coordinator of Financial Literacy will be hired soon at MEARNG - We will ask that person to speak at one of our meetings once hired

Mark Your Calendars for SWB VEC Meetings 2020 July 15, Sept 16, December 2 2020!

The meeting adjourned at 12:30pm

Attachments