A program launched by Syracuse University’s Institute for Veterans and Military Families to help transitioning service members was unveiled last week to military leaders.

“When you transition out of the military, it’s not an easy thing to do,” said Gary Dangerfield of the Lewis-McChord Public Affairs Office. “You go from having your everyday needs taken care of and all the sudden, they’re not there.”

The program, called Onward to Opportunity, aims to help train transitioning service members to enter the civilian workforce. The program was recently launched by the IVMF in conjunction with the Schultz Family Foundation. The Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington hosted the launching of the initiative.

The JBLM hosted the launch as a three-day summit from Sept. 22-24 with a different audience every day. The summit brought together senior leaders from the government and the military from the nonprofit sector.

“People need to know there’s a program like this at SU that’s going to allow our service members to transition out smoothly and not have to worry about those things and give them opportunities to develop their skill sets,” Dangerfield said.

Those who complete the program, which is a mix of customer service and information technology taught in class and online, will obtain credentials and a certificate for their respective industries. This will be followed by interview opportunities with partners involved in the industry studied. The expected graduation date is December 2015.

Daniel Savage, senior director for community engagement and innovation at the IVMF, said the first day of the summit was geared toward educating military leaders on how to foster a successful transition. The second day focused on the job seekers, he said.

The third and final day featured a hiring fair, where a panel of senior leaders from companies took questions from service members in the audience, Savage said. At the hiring fair, about 200 companies set up tables and booths and began the initial recruiting of people — some actually got hired on the spot.

“The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation has relationships with national companies and regional and local chains of commerce,” Savage said. “They’re serving as one element of the employer engagement arm of the IVMF in support of the program, so they’re helping us recruit companies that want to hire folks that are coming from the program itself.”

Onward to Opportunity is providing service members with the opportunity to showcase their skills to companies like Microsoft.

“Microsoft is passionate about helping veterans and has a strong partnership and working relationship with O2O to achieve the same vision to assist transitioning service members,” Sean Kelley, said in an email.

The game-changer that Microsoft Software & Systems Academy introduced to the transition process was a guaranteed interview at Microsoft for all graduates, added Sean Kelley program director for military affairs at Microsoft.

The program helps prepare members transitioning for employment in those companies and then deliver tailored services to make sure they get placed there, Savage said.

Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks, and the Schultz Family Foundation also play a role as Onward to Opportunity is funded entirely by Schultz, Savage said. The program has other features that make it accessible to more service members.

Savage said the IVMF plans to extend the program through a coalition of funders and is looking at about 25 bases in the next few years.

“There are other companies that have put together things like this, but no one has ever done it on a scale that we intend to do it on,” Savage said. “Yet again, SU is leading the way in delivering services and programs to this population.”

Published on September 30, 2015 at 9:56 pm

Contact Connor: cmlayden@syr.edu