Del. Rich Anderson (R) of Virginia’s 51st District was recently recognized with an award for shepherding military and veteran’s bills through the Virginia General Assembly.
Anderson spent 30 years serving in the Air Force and retired as a full colonel in 2009. Since 2011, he has chaired the General Assembly Military and Veteran’s Caucus.
When Anderson realized that veterans have unexpectedly high rates of unemployment, especially young veterans, he decided to take action to help alleviate the problem.
“What I’ve done is try to create a climate to put people to work with the V3 program,” Anderson said, explaining that V3 stands for Virginia Values Veterans.
Anderson realized that veterans have a strong work ethic and knowledge-base, but he recognized that perhaps the people making hiring decisions at private companies, corporations and nonprofits needed to be educated as to the value of a veteran in the workforce.
Certainly the statistics showed they were not even on equal footing with the general population when it came to obtaining jobs in Virginia.
“For 18-24 year olds, their unemployment rate is around 35 percent, so it’s extremely high,” said Anderson, “yet these are individuals who can be put to work, and they are good productive workers.”
Now, three years into the program, Anderson said he is especially proud that V3 has accomplished many of its goals. After Governor Bob McDonnell signed it into law, the program conducted seminars for companies, explaining how they could reach out to hire unemployed veterans. Since then, 4,000 jobs have been pledged and 2,400 vacancies have been filled.
“As we certify more companies, I hope the number of filled vacancies will increase,” Anderson said.
Additionally, Anderson is proud of the program because not only are the veterans finding employment, but stable employment.
“Every one of them is employed full time with all the benefits that come with full-time employment,” Anderson said.
The Military Officers Association of America (MOAA) recognized Anderson on Sept. 18 for his creation of the successful veteran’s program.
At a dinner ceremony at Ft. Belvoir, Anderson and State Sen. Bryce Reeves (R-17th) were recognized by MOAA members as co-recipients of the organization’s 2013 Virginia Legislator of the Year Award for passing legislation to help Virginia’s 830,000 veterans.
“I’m committed to quality-of-life initiatives for our veterans in Virginia. I was pleased to carry legislation this year to formalize the Virginia Values Veterans program that has resulted in the commitment of 100 companies to hire 4,000 veterans,” Anderson said, speaking at the ceremony.
A spokesperson for Del. Anderson said that over the last year, Anderson and Reeves have been working with the Joint Leadership Council of Veteran Service Organizations, which represents Virginia’s veterans. They are already looking ahead to the 2014 session of the Virginia General Assembly and have written a comprehensive veteran plan and accompanying legislation for introduction in January.
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