Madam Chair, Ranking Member Boozman, and members of the Subcommittee:

Thank you for your invitation to provide testimony about the collaborative efforts and partnership between the Department of Labor’s (DOL) Veterans’ Employment and Training Service (VETS) and the Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) Office of Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment Service (VR&E).

As your invitation noted, a growing number of returning Veterans are entering the job market seeking employment, and some face obstacles securing employment, particularly those who desire to work directly after service.  DOL is firmly committed to helping Veterans and their families find opportunities for upward mobility.

VETS and VA are working closely to meet Veterans’ employment needs and fulfill President Obama’s promise of restoring our Nation’s sacred trust with Veterans.  DOL has a strong relationship with Secretary Shinseki, Deputy Secretary Scott Gould and VR&E Director Ruth Fanning.  

VETS

VETS proudly serves Veterans and transitioning Service Members by providing resources and expertise to assist and prepare them to obtain meaningful careers, maximize their employment opportunities and protect their employment rights. Our programs are an integral part of Secretary Solis’s vision of “Good Jobs for Everyone.”

We have four main programs at VETS that serve Secretary Solis’ goal of providing “Good Jobs for Everyone” and that we are working to improve:

• The Jobs for Veterans State Grants;
• The Transition Assistance Program Employment Workshops;
• The Homeless Veterans’ Reintegration Program; and
• The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act. 

VETS collaboration with VA’s VR&E

Currently, VETS is collaborating with VR&E services by working in partnership with the States to post Disabled Veterans’ Outreach Program (DVOP) specialists all 57 VA Regional Offices or alternative VR&E sites.  This will improve access to VETS’ services by VR&E participants. 

VETS’ primary interface with the VR&E program is through the workforce investment system. Accordingly, VETS continues to work in partnership with its Jobs for Veterans State Grant recipients on behalf of VR&E job-ready Veterans.   These Veterans are referred to and registered with the State workforce agencies for intensive employment services.  As a result, the State grantees for VETS and VR&E are coordinating with the interagency initiatives underway at the national level.  Most of these VETS grantees and their VR&E counterparts have updated their local written agreements.

VETS also partners with VR&E through our Recovery and Employment Assistance Lifelines (REALifelines) program.  REALifelines provides one-on-one services to our wounded warriors to ease their transition into civilian employment.  We have special REALifelines coordinators stationed at military treatment facilities on a full-time basis who provide services to wounded, ill, or injured personnel.  VR&E has also been an active participant in DOL’s America’s Heroes at Work Initiative, which focuses on engaging businesses in the employment of returning Service Members with post-traumatic stress disorders (PTSD) and traumatic brain injuries (TBI).

Additionally, VETS and VR&E jointly established a new position, Intensive Service Coordinator (ISC), for the Disabled Veterans’ Outreach Program specialist who is stationed at a VR&E location.  Unlike mainstream clients who receive employment and training services through One-Stop Career Centers, the ISC position was created to provide a specialist to work directly with VR&E clients and to coordinate with the VR&E case management team.  The ISC provides Labor Market Information (LMI) to ensure that the disabled Veteran is placed in a training program that meets the employment demand in their location of residence. In addition to the customized service and LMI, VETS participates in the development of the individual’s rehabilitation plan.

Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between DOL and VA and the Joint Working Groups

The partnership between DOL and VA is solidified by a Memorandum of Agreement between the two agencies, first signed in 1996. This partnership enables disabled Veterans to receive the full complement of services available from both agencies without overlap or delays. In addition, VETS and VA are continually looking for opportunities to collaborate in offering better services for employment opportunities and placements for service-connected disabled Veterans who participate in VR&E. 

In 2005, VETS and VR&E updated the Memorandum of Agreement outlining the process – and responsibility – to work together to maximize the services both agencies provide to disabled Veterans and their dependents.

Ensuring successful job placement and adjustment to employment for disabled Veterans

VETS and VR&E are collaborating to develop a tool that will track quarterly data and annual fiscal year data to assure quality and consistency of our programs.  The data will include:

• Number of job-ready Veterans referred from VR&E to local employment offices for intensive employment assistance;
• Number and registration rates of Veterans referred to the local employment offices for services;
• Number and entered employment rates of Veterans who registered with local employment offices; and
• Average entry hourly wage for those who entered employment.

As previously mentioned, the VETS Intensive Service Coordinator now exists to ensure that the disabled Veteran is referred to the Local Veterans Employment Representative or Disabled Veterans’ Outreach Program specialist in his/her geographic area to work with that Veteran to find suitable employment.

We are working to ensure that Veterans have access to the programs of their choice. Later this month, we are meeting to determine how VETS can support VR&E’s VetSuccess program to promote greater employment of that program’s participants. 

We will continue to support VR&E in their redesign of the Disabled Transition Assistance Program, through a contract recently entered with a Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business.  We applaud VR&E in this effort.  At VETS, we are also modernizing and transforming the Transition Assistance Program (TAP).  We have reviewed external assessments and stakeholder feedback regarding TAP’s performance and ways to improve the program.  In an effort to increase program effectiveness and improve participant outcomes, we are working to redesign the workshops to make them more relevant and engaging for participants. 

Conclusion

Every day, we are reminded of the tremendous sacrifices made by our servicemen and women, and by their families. One way that we can honor their sacrifices is by providing them with the best possible services and programs our nation has to offer.  Secretary Solis and I believe strongly that Veterans deserve the chance to find good jobs and VETS works closely with the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs to help them get there.

VETS will focus on serving disabled Veterans who participate in the VR&E program. Our goal is to provide every VR&E client with the needed employment services and support for a timely transition into suitable career employment.

VETS holds VA’s VR&E service in high regard.  We look forward to continuing our close and dynamic relationship for the betterment of our nation’s Veterans.  Thank you for the opportunity to provide this testimony.