Dear Friends,

I want to wish you well on Veterans Day, as well as notify you of an upcoming Career Fair hosted by the Department of Veterans Affairs. 

We are forever indebted to you, the brave men and women who throughout our history put their lives on hold and sacrificed to protect our nation.  I am pleased that the President is keeping his commitment to end the war in Iraq and withdraw American troops by year's end.  I stand committed to supporting our service men and women when they return home. 

Also in this edition, you will find information on the President's initiatives to help veterans get back to work. As always, if you have questions or comments, feel free to reach out to my office. My staff and I are here to serve you.

Sincerely,

Marcia L. Fudge
Member of Congress

Congresswoman Fudge writes holiday cards to U.S. troops who are serving overseas.

VA Announces Virtual On-Line Career Fair

The Department of Veterans Affairs will host a nationwide virtual online job fair onNov. 10, from 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. EST, in partnership with Milicruit.com.

“As we work to help Veterans find good paying jobs, it is important that we take advantage of online resources that connect our Veterans with employers around the Nation who want to hire these highly qualified and experienced men and women,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki. 

To date, more than 60 military-friendly national employers from both the private and federal sectors and more than 36,000 Veterans have registered to participate in the all day online event. 

Veterans can pre-register at http://www.veteranscareerfair.com for this event.  On the day of the event, Veterans can log in and visit employer booths, view job openings, apply for jobs, watch employer videos and presentations, chat live with recruiters, and complete on-the-spot video interviews.  They can also interact with VetSuccess counselors to learn more about VA benefits, as well as additional resources and tools for transitioning Servicemembers and family members regarding training, employment, and independent living.

VA’s VetSuccess.gov website offers services by providing access to a job board of more than 8 million job openings, as well as tools for Veterans to build or upload resumes and for employers to search for Veterans who match their recruiting needs.

President Obama Announces Initiatives to Get Veterans Back to Work

President Obama recently announced the Returning Heroes and Wounded Warrior Tax Credits, two provisions in the American Jobs Act, will be considered in Congress this week. President Obama also announced three executive actions that will help veterans find jobs.

The Returning Heroes Tax Credit provides firms that hire unemployed veterans with a maximum credit of $5,600 per veteran. The Wounded Warriors Tax Credit offers firms that hire veterans with service-connected disabilities with a maximum credit of $9,600 per veteran.  

The President also launched a series of initiatives that will make it easier for veterans to find jobs. Those initiatives include:

Veteran Gold Card: Effective today, Post-9/11 veterans will be able to to download the Veteran Gold Card, which entitles them to enhanced services including six months of personalized case management, assessments and counseling, at the roughly 3,000 One-Stop Career Centers located across the country.  This could help serve the more than 200,000 unemployed Post-9/11 veterans.  The President directed the Department of Labor tolaunch this initiative in his August 5, 2011 speech at the Navy Yard.

My Next Move for Veterans: The Department of Labor will launch My Next Move for Veterans, a new online resource that allows veterans to enter their military occupation code and discover civilian occupations for which they are well qualified. The site will also include information about salaries, apprenticeships, and other related education and training programs.

Creating a Veterans Job Bank: Starting Monday, the Administration will launch the Veterans Job Bank, at National Resource Directory, an easy to use tool to help veterans find job postings from companies looking to hire them. It already searches over 500,000 job postings and is growing. In a few easy steps, companies can make sure the job postings on their own websites are part of this Veterans Job Bank.

More information can be found on the White House website here.

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Rep. Fudge Wants to Be Your Friend, On Facebook

Do you follow my updates on facebook? Subscribe to my youtube page? I'm encouraging constituents to engage with me on my social networks, so I am better able to relay important information about the district, upcoming events, and my work in Washington. I hope you'll like my facebook page, follow me on twitter, and subscribe to my youtube page. The better connected we are, the easier it will be for you to ask me questions and give me your opinion on the issues. Thank you, and I look forward to hearing from you.