An Orange County group is holding a get-together tonight aimed at finding jobs for veterans–and especially disabled veterans. Among the business owners urged to participate are veterans who own businesses or are involved in hiring–especially disabled veterans who fill such roles.
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The non-profit, all-volunteer Orange County Veterans Employment Committee's (OCVEC) third Veterans Business & Networking Mixer runs from 5:30-8 p.m. at the Rancho Santiago Community College District Conference Room at 2323 N. Broadway, Santa Ana.
The OCVEC normally helps with gas cards, bus passes, career development training, OSHA 10-Hour certifications, security guard card fees, state licensing fees, work clothing, work boots, tools, computers and networking assistance for veterans seeking employment. But tonight's mixer is especially aimed at businesses that hire veterans and those transitioning out of various branches of service. Perhaps someone who has been there can provide help to someone else in that situation now.
Speaking tonight will be the event's sponsor Bill Cook, an American Legion chaplain, Orange County Veteran Cemetery Committee chairman, a Marine veteran and owner of Petra Resource Management, which is a big proponent of helping veterans and transitioning service members become owners of their own businesses. (Businesses that will be encouraged to hire veterans!)
Steven Johnson, UC Irvine's director of Employment Services, also speaks. He's credited with setting up a dedicated phone line exclusively for veterans to call after they applied to UCI, which, in its first 90 days, resulted in 24 veterans being hired.
The event flier follows on the next page …
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OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.