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Good morning. My name is Carole Cowan. I am President of Middlesex Community College, an institution of higher learning in Massachusetts that serves over 7,000 students at two primary locations. Our Bedford campus is in the heart of Massachusetts’ technology corridor and minutes from Hanscom Field, a thriving military and aviation complex. Our Lowell campus sits astride the canals that once powered this 19^th century mill town, which today is a model of urban growth and revitalization. During a recent visit, retired General Colin Powell commended Middlesex Community College as an excellent example of a community college reaching out to meet the needs of the community.

In recent months, two of my colleagues have testified before this Subcommittee regarding the deep commitment of Middlesex Community College to services for veterans. Christopher Brennan, our Dean of Business and Workforce Development, testified about Middlesex’s success in helping hundreds of veterans access services such as education, vocational rehabilitation, job training, and, most importantly, jobs. Similarly, George Moriarty, the Executive Director of The Career Place, the one-stop career center managed by Middlesex, shared with the Subcommittee the Center’s outstanding record of achievement helping local veterans find jobs and training.

The Center’s success helping veterans has been due, in large part, to its strong partnership with the State’s veterans program. This partnership has enabled the One-Stop Career Center in this year alone to place over 280 veterans in jobs averaging $16 an hour. For the second year in a row, our placement rate for veterans has exceeded 47%.

As you might guess, I am a strong supporter of the One-Stop Career Center model. Our center - The Career Place - has achieved impressive success since opening in 1997. We serve over 4,000 individuals and over 800 employers annually. For the second year in a row, we have placed over 1,700 people in jobs paying on average $15 an hour. I urge the Subcommittee to strengthen the connection between veterans programs and the One-Stop Career Centers, especially as the new Workforce Investment Act unfolds.

Let me take a few moments to comment on the draft legislation before us today. First, I would like to commend the Subcommittee and all of the organizations that helped shape this legislation. I believe the five barriers cited in the draft touch on important issues that need to be addressed if we are to ensure that veterans participate fully in the benefits of our strong economy.

Barrier One: We must promote priority for veterans and their spouses in federally-funded employment and training programs. There are many protected classes that deserve special consideration, but none have given so much to preserve this nation as our veterans.

Barrier Two: We must insist upon accountability. Without measuring our success and determining how we achieved it, we can never replicate or improve upon it. Accountability ensures that veterans have access to the best services available and that through that access, veterans can capture their fair share of job opportunities.

Barrier Three: Although we have no comment on the need to change the position descriptions for DVOP/LVERs, we would welcome the opportunity to provide assistance and input as the Secretary of Labor develops the titles and functions for the veterans positions.

Barrier Four: This barrier challenges us to take full advantage of the enormous potential offered by today’s technology. At our career center, we are already deeply immersed in America’s Job Bank and America’s Talent Bank. In addition, we have adopted a new database management system that links career centers within Massachusetts, so that veterans and other job seekers have access to thousands of jobs and training opportunities statewide. We must prevent veterans from being cast on the wrong side of the digital divide, and I am convinced that the measure before us today will help ensure that today’s technology will be a powerful tool for helping veterans gain employment in our growing economy. One note of caution. The technology cannot stand alone. These tools of technology must be linked to talented, caring staff who can help each individual, especially veterans, achieve their full potential.

Barrier Five: This barrier addresses the need for solid data on the economic benefits of programs that serve veterans. I fully support this provision because I believe the data will confirm what everyone in this room knows intuitively: our economy gains dramatically when veterans share in its growth. As I mentioned earlier, at The Career Place alone, hundreds of veterans are being placed in good paying jobs that return hundreds of thousands of dollars to our local economy. I think the study proposed under Barrier Five will demonstrate that the dollars spent on veterans programs yield a dramatic return on investment - an investment that we should continue to make on behalf of America’s veterans.

Let me return briefly to Barrier Two. Under this provision, the Secretary of Labor is authorized to establish and implement a comprehensive performance accountability system. As I stated previously, I believe all of us who provide services to veterans should be held accountable for our performance. And we should be rewarded for our success and penalized for our failure to achieve our goals. At Middlesex Community College and at our One-Stop Career Center, we operate by a performance-based approach. The dollars we earn are directly tied to our ability to achieve our goals.

To ensure success, we work closely with our State veterans program to constantly strive to not just meet goals, but to exceed them. As a result, our veterans representative is one of the most successful in the State, because he is an integral part of the whole operation of the One-Stop Career Center. His efforts are linked with the activities and services provided by a staff of 30 professionals who work at the Center, enabling the veterans he serves to have full access to workshops, job listings, job fairs and on-site visits by employers.

One of the options suggested under Barrier Two is to seek alternative providers of services through a competitive bid process. Some organizations and states are opposed to this provision because it introduces competition. We believe the partnership between the State’s veterans program and the One-Stop Career Center is the best model. However, I believe that when performance in any program falls below acceptable benchmarks, it is incumbent upon us to seek creative solutions. We must ensure that veterans are not penalized for the poor performance of local providers. For that reason, I think the concept of a limited demonstration model is worth exploring.

I also support the idea of creating an advisory panel to provide advice to the Secretary of Labor around the demonstration program. I would recommend, however, that the membership of the panel be expanded to include representatives from One-Stop Career Centers, Workforce Investment Boards, employers and other workforce development groups.

In closing, let me express my support for this new legislation and for the Subcommittee’s efforts to improve services for veterans. We are proud of our involvement with America’s veterans. We are also confident that our partnership with the State veterans program can compete and that our partnership will remain the best option for providing placement assistance to veterans.

Thank you for this opportunity to testify.

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