July 25 is “Hire a Veteran Day” – Here’s What One Local Nonprofit is Doing to Help

By Michelle Stansbury | July 14, 2021

July 25 is National Hire a Veteran Day, a chance to recognize veterans and the value that they can bring to a workplace. It also recognizes some of the challenges veterans experience in getting hired into civilian jobs.

To help overcome some of the challenges, local nonprofit Foundation for Women Warriors assists more than 1,000 women and children each year with life-changing services that enable them to reach their full potential. 

One impactful offering is their Connect with Community program, a series of professional development workshops aimed at improving the resilience and self-sufficiency of women veterans so that they are best equipped to provide stability and success for themselves and their families. Connect with Community workshops bring transitioning active duty women and the women veteran community together with leaders in business and academia and provide a forum through which attendees gain access to and increase their knowledge of local community, business and academic resources.

Foundation for Women Warriors also hosts interactive sessions on budgeting, networking, interviewing, navigating career change, leadership, resilience and negotiating salary. Veteran participants are able to enhance their professional skills and build productive relationships with both business professionals and other women veterans. 

CEO of Foundation for Women Warriors, Jodie Grenier, saw firsthand the need for such services. Grenier joined the Marines right out of high school and served for five years, deploying to Iraq twice, before transitioning into civilian life. Grenier shares, “I look back at my transition and see how much I could have benefitted from a program like Connect with Community. My entire network was in the military and having the support and mentorship of business professionals as well as my sister veterans would have undoubtedly made my own transition smoother.” 

Grenier shares that the programs are making an impact, “One veteran participant came back a year later and shared after attending the first session, she was motivated to find a better-suited career, she then started a job hunt and had recently accepted a new job. She also said she made fast friends with another veteran at the workshop and they’ve become a support system for one another. So many of the veteran participants report feeling seen and heard, leaving Connect with Community inspired, all because they’ve been able to connect with other women veterans and their community in the pursuit of their next mission.” 

Foundation for Women Warriors provides essential programs to empower the resilience and professional development of Women Warriors. Additionally, the organization provides childcare assistance, one of the most overlooked components in military career transition. 

Learn more or get involved at: foundationforwomenwarriors.org