Jul 4 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Carol Ann Alaimo The Arizona Daily Star, Tucson


For some veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan, life after war means a trip to the unemployment line.

The federal government is trying to help with a new program that could put hundreds of local vets to work as solar-panel installers, hybrid-vehicle mechanics and in other so-called "green" jobs.

Earlier this week the U.S. Department of Labor announced more than $7.5 million in new funding for the effort, including $500,000 for Southern Arizona this year and possibly in each of the next two years.

The local funding will be used to train and place about 175 veterans a year, primarily from the Tucson area, in environmentally friendly career fields.

"Our focus will be on newly separated veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan," said Dorothee Harmon of Pima County's OneStop career center, which will administer the program. Staffers there wrote the grant proposal that brought in the federal money.

While Iraq and Afghanistan veterans take priority, other veterans also can apply and may be accepted if space allows, Harmon said. Only those who left the service under honorable conditions are eligible.

The local funding also will help veterans in Cochise, Santa Cruz and Yuma counties, but most will go to Pima County because of its larger population base, Harmon said.

The Labor Department is targeting aid to newly separated military veterans because their unemployment rate is historically higher than the general public's.

In June, for example, the jobless rate nationwide was around 24 percent for veterans ages 20-24 who have served since the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq began. The rate for nonveterans in the same age group was about 16 percent, said Sharon Cohany of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Experts caution that the figures can be somewhat skewed because the veterans' population is so much smaller than the population at large. Even so, Cohany said, "the unemployment rate for young veterans has typically been very high. It's not unique to this era or these conflicts."

Harmon said the local job training may take place at area colleges or through on-the-job training with employers.

The county's career center already has placed nearly 700 military veterans in jobs over the past three years through a similar federal grant that recently expired. The latest grant is renewable for two more years, which could bring in a total of $1.5 million locally over the life of the program.

Unlike the latest veterans grant, the earlier one was not specific to environmentally friendly career fields.

"This is a brand-new focus for us," Harmon said.

To Learn More

For more information, contact Art Burrola of Pima County at arturo.burrola@pima.gov or by phone at 798-0500.

Contact reporter Carol Ann Alaimo at 573-4138 or calaimo@azstarnet.com.

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