‘Our mission hasn’t changed’

Whatever the developments in Washington, Task Force Movement retaining commitment to get military-connected community into gainful employment.

The latest meeting of Task Force Movement (TFM) – the public-private partnership to shepherd the military-connected community into jobs in industries needing workers – was held Feb. 25 at the Washington Hilton in the midst of The American Legion’s Washington Conference, itself held in the midst of a city rocking with more than the usual turbulence new presidential administrations bring. 

The Hon. Patrick Murphy, TFM chairman, stated that as 30% of the federal workforce are veterans, “our work is more important than ever,” and that work has to be both hard and smart. Executive Director Elizabeth Belcaster reiterated that “our mission hasn’t changed,” and that TFM is continuing to work with others across the political spectrum.

Much of the attention in the morning session focused on the International Union of Elevator Constructors (IUEC) and its drive toward even more assistance to those who have served. General President Frank Christensen talked about the union’s Veteran Assistance Program (VAP), established about 18 months ago, and how he was personally inspired by his World War II veteran father’s experiences in VA hospitals. Through the VAP, members and non-members alike can receive assistance with VA benefits and disability claims via their union locals’ veteran committees. Christensen put it bluntly: “What’s owed to them, they should get.”

This assistance is only part of what Col. (ret.) Sam Whitehurst, vice president of the Dixon Center for Military & Veterans Services and TFM recording secretary, called a “wraparound system” that IUEC and other participants in the national Helmets to Hardhats transition program seek to “grow and export.” Another part is highlighting the ways in which life in a union can replicate life in the military; Helmets National Director Martin Helms listed the “stressors” employees in the two don’t have to think about daily, from benefits to retirement to health care: “just show up and do your job.” Also replicated are less tangible, but no less real, elements such as camaraderie, purpose and leadership. 

A high priority of the IUEC, Helmets to Hardhats and all such programs is community penetration – currently, only 3% of GI Bill beneficiaries use it for on-the-job training and apprenticeships. IUEC-VAP National Co-Chairman Ryan Donnell characterized the ongoing debates about the federal workforce as “the greatest attack on veterans’ jobs in our lifetime.” But Task Force Movement is marking new developments and gaining new partners all the time. Chris Etesse, a TFM senior adviser and CEO of Fusion Cyber, introduced the meeting attendees to Alice, a conversational AI that can help veterans with location-personalized benefit and claim information. Going live in versions and multilingual, its corpus of knowledge is fed by interactions with users, but HIPAA-sensitive details are not saved. Former Army aviator Justin Schaffer’s consulting company Growth Navigator Solutions joined recently; Schaffer and Murphy were friends in college. And building on the success TFM has had working with the State of Illinois, Jisu Hong – associate vice president for economic development and innovation of the University of Illinois System – attended the meeting to explore potential joint opportunities.

Toward the end of the meeting, after updates on the cybersecurity and health-care sectors, Belcaster mused on whether cuts to federal jobs and programs will cause more veterans to turn to options such as the Department of Defense’s Transition Assistance Program (TAP) and SkillBridge. “The model has always been,” she said, “to get a graduate a job.” Etesse stated later that “the workforce challenges are only increasing” – but, because of TFM’s work in connecting people, places and programs, it is uniquely positioned to help.