Kynnie Martin: Today’s Outstanding Female Veteran Award Winner!

The Call of Duty Endowment is proud to announce its second winner of the Outstanding Female Veteran Award, Kynnie Martin, of Denver, CO!

Kynnie served on active duty with the U.S. Army from 2002-2007, attaining the rank of Captain, and serving a tour of duty with the 3rd Infantry Division in Operation Iraqi Freedom, as one of the first Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) officers in combat. She was awarded the Bronze Star and Iraq Campaign Medal. Honorably discharged from military service, she has been a leader in the non-profit sector serving veterans, as a Board Member for Women Veterans of Colorado, and as the Volunteer Manager for Veterans Green Jobs.

Not only does Kynnie represent female veterans well, but she also works with an organization that is providing training for and/or helping veterans connect with 21^st century jobs in the green energy industry, Veterans Green Jobs. She will be giving today’s $1,000 donation to Veterans Green Jobs, also a Call of Duty Endowment partner.

We are honored to award Kynnie the Outstanding Female Veteran Award, as she is clearly a courageous, dedicated and selfless person.  Congrats Kynnie!

The Endowment Announces Outstanding Female Veteran Award Winner, Pamela Larson

The Call of Duty Endowment would like to announce the first of our five Outstanding Female Veteran Award winners, Pamela Larson.

We are honored to present Pamela this award for many reasons, but here are three, to name a few:

1) She is a purple heart, Iraq vet. 2) She was a track mechanic and went on road clearing missions with her combat engineering unit.  The danger in looking for and exploding the IEDs is horrific enough, but she would get out of her vehicle to make repairs, despite the danger of sniper fire. 3) She started her own business called Teddys from the Troops, where she makes teddy bears out of used army combat uniforms in hopes that these bears will give some comfort to loved ones of deployed soldiers.

We believe that Pamela has shown courage and strength on and off the battlefield, and should not only be honored for such, but also thanked for her service and dedication to our country. To show our appreciation for all veterans, the Endowment will be donating $1,000 to Still Serving Veterans, a partnering organization of Pamela’s choosing.

Congratulations Pamela – we are so proud to announce you as our first award recipient!

Coalition Supports the Hiring of 12,179 Veterans

Military.com reports that in the first three months of 2012, young veterans aged 18-24 saw a decrease in unemployment rates.  The most recent assessment in March showed a rate of 17.8%, which, compared to 2011’s 30%, indicates that heightened attention to the issue has paid off.

One initiative that has clearly made a significant impact is the 100,000 Jobs Mission, which is a coalition of 41 companies that has pledged to collectively hire at least 100,000 veterans by 2021. The coalition recently released a statement announcing that as of March 31, 2012 they have hired 12,179 veterans. “This number is up from 6,606 veterans hired through the end of December 2011 when the coalition was 21 companies.”

Participating companies include Ernst & Young LLP, Fidelis, Frontier Communications, IBM, Lockheed Martin, Merck, Swift Transportation, Target, Time Warner, Toys”R”Us, Inc. and United Health Group.

For more information or to find out how you can get involved, visit their website at:http://www.100000jobsmission.com/

The Endowment Honors and Supports Female Veterans

The Call of Duty Endowment is proud to recognize female veterans for their successes during and after their military service. As a way to show our appreciation and respect, the Endowment launched its first-ever Outstanding Female Veteran Award on Facebook. We are currently accepting nominations for someone that you know that deserves this distinction. Then, Monday through Friday of next week, 5 female veterans will be given the opportunity to award 1 of 4 partnering organizations with a $1000 donation in their name: Hire Heroes USA, Still Serving Veterans, Swords to Plowshares, or Veterans Green Jobs.

The Endowment’s commitment to helping female veterans transition to civilian life and find employment and/or receive training extends beyond our Outstanding Female Veteran Award. Just this past fall the Endowment announced a $100,000 donation to and partnership with the Business and Professional Women’s Foundation (BPW Foundation).

We are encouraged and excited to hear that in recently launching the Joining Forces Mentoring Plus™ program, BPW Foundation was recognized by the White House for their admirable and effective efforts to help connect female veterans with volunteer working women mentors.

Please take a moment to nominate a deserving female veteran than you know on our Facebook page, and read more about how BPW Foundation is helping today’s military women.

New Initiative Announced for Military Members and Spouses Looking for Work Close to Home

Yesterday, First Lady Michelle Obama announced a new initiative to help military members, veterans and military spouses find employment.

The U.S. Department of Defense reports that “eleven companies have pledged more than 15,000 jobs for military spouses and veterans.” Because of the transient nature of many military careers, this initiative is particularly helpful in that most of these positions allow the employee to work from home or in locations within close physical proximity to military bases or stations.

Companies that have committed 800 or more employment opportunities to this new initiative include Hilton Hotels, Veteran Call Center, LLC, Arise Virtual Solutions Inc., and Alpine Access.

To find out more information or hear how you can help, please visit the Military Spouse Employment Partnership website.

We Commend the Public Sector for its Achievements in Helping Veterans

Recently, the Endowment has blogged about private initiatives for helping veterans find employment from companies such as Disney and NBC News, and nonprofit organizations dedicated to helping veterans transition to civilian life, such as Still Serving Veterans. However, another entity that is proving to be a great resource for improving the veteran unemployment situation is the public sector.

For instance, the Bay View Compass reports that Governor Walker recently signed 4 bills to help Wisconsin veterans and military spouses get on their feet:

1. SB 338: “waives fees for occupational and professional licenses for qualified veterans”
2. SB 338: “waives fees for occupational and professional licenses for qualified veterans”
3. SB 339: “helps disabled veterans enter the civil service”
4. SB 369: “provides an income tax credit for hiring unemployed disabled veterans”

Governor Walker’s legislative priorities should serve as an example to other states. Through collaborative efforts from the private, public and nonprofit sectors, we are able to achieve much more for our veterans in the way of finding suitable employment. The Endowment commends those in the public sector who keep fighting for the ones that fought hard for us.

Call of Duty Endowment Debuts its Outstanding Female Veteran Award on Facebook

Starting tomorrow, the Call of Duty Endowment will host a Facebook contest for fans to nominate a female veteran that they know to win an Outstanding Female Veteran Award and have a donation of $1,000 be made in their name to one of the following four Endowment partners:  Hire Heroes USA, Still Serving Veterans, Swords to Plowshares, and Veterans Green Jobs.

Along with the announcement of our Outstanding Female Veteran Award, the Endowment is proud to have hit a Facebook landmark today of 200,000 fans. The Endowment is thankful for its engaging and thoughtful Facebook community and will continue to keep you all informed of veteran employment efforts and opportunities.

How it works:

A new tab will appear on the Endowment’s Facebook tomorrow, where users will be able to fill out a nomination form anytime between April 4^th and April 16^th. Then, during the week of April 16^th, the Endowment will announce one winner each day (Monday through Friday), posting the winners’ stories on our Facebook page.

To reiterate our mission of helping veterans find employment and/or receive training, the Endowment will be awarding $5,000 in donations to partnering organizations that align with the Endowment’s efforts.

This Week: National Attention Focuses on Veteran Employment Efforts

There has been some much-needed attention to the issue of veteran unemployment this week from MSNBC News, the Call of Duty Endowment, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and government entities.

On Tuesday, Advisory Council member Lisa Rosser was featured in an MSNBC article and video interview titled “Veterans find work at ‘Hiring our Heroes’ job fairs.” In addition to consulting a Call of Duty Endowment representative, the article highlights the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Hiring our Heroes job fairs, which the Endowment announced a partnership with last Fall.

In advocating for the hiring of a veteran as a good business investment, Rosser explains that “the military person has the skill sets you need…Eighty-one percent of the jobs fit what you have in your organization, and the other skills that we bring are managerial and operational and training and leadership experience. What employer doesn’t need those types of skills in their workplace?”

In addition to these efforts, Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis joined members of the Senate Veterans Jobs Caucus this week for an event to kick off their ‘I Hire Veterans,’ which is an “initiative to encourage members of the Senate and the public to show their commitment to hiring veterans by displaying a simple logo in their offices and businesses.”

It is encouraging to see some many different sectors working together to accomplish a goal which we all believe to be of the utmost importance- our veterans are smart and valuable employees who deserve support and opportunities for success in a civilian workplace.

NBC News Shows Support for Veteran Employment

NBC News has recently taken a larger role in bringing national and local media attention to the issue of high veteran unemployment rates with its Hiring our Heroes news segment. Adding to these efforts, they have partnered with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to host a few Hiring our Heroes career fairs.

Both national NBC and MSNBC reporters such as Ann Curry , Tom Brokaw, and Chuck Todd have spent time uncovering this issue in recent video spotlights and interviews. To give a local perspective, MSNBC even invited Representatives Scott Rigell and Bobby Scott, and Senator Jim Webb to discuss some known obstacles and possible solutions to veterans’ unemployment in Virginia.

In honor of the U.S. Chamber’s one year anniversary of the Hiring our Heroes career fair program, job fairs from Fort hood to Chicago will be co-hosted Wednesday, March 28^th by NBC News. NBC’s Today Show will even be broadcasting a fair live at New York’s USS Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum.

For more information, visit the Chamber’s website: http://www.uschamber.com/hiringourheroes

For those veterans and military spouses that cannot attend the fairs in Chicago, Fort Hood, or New York, NBC’s Today Show and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce will also be partnering with Monster/Military.com to host a virtual career fair. For more information and/or to register, visit their website: http://www.veteransvirtualcareerfair.com/

General Jones Joins the Call of Duty Endowment as a Co-Chair

The Call of Duty Endowment is proud to announce a new co-chair, General James L. Jones. As a former military member, United States National Security Advisor to President Obama, and having worked in the veteran affairs field for more than 40 years, General Jones will be able to provide the Endowment critical insight from his experiences and knowledge, which will help advance our veteran unemployment efforts.

Bobby Kotick, CEO of Activision Blizzard and founder of the Endowment, expressed his excitement for this opportunity when he explained that “two years ago I started the Endowment with a vision to help the brave men and women who put their lives on the line to guarantee our freedom and security find meaningful employment once their service concludes. While we have made significant strides in a short time, our job is far from done and we are thrilled to have such a knowledgeable and respected military leader as General Jones join us in this effort.”

General Jones will join our dedicated team of Advisory Council members, representing each branch of the military, and together we will work harder for those that truly deserve America’s support – our veterans.

To read more from General Jones and the Endowment, check out this Washington Post article:  “Unemployment rose for post-9/11 vets in 2011, BLS reports“