Outside, the rain poured thick and fast.
Inside the Golden Triangle WIN Job Center, a handful of job seekers crouched in front of computer terminals, hoping for a bit of promise on an otherwise dreary Tuesday.
Darius Madison trudged through the front office, camouflage coat hanging wet and heavy from his frame. On his right shoulder was a patch of a faded American flag: Madison, 25, is a U.S. Army veteran and one of an estimated 240,000 post-9/11 veterans out of work.
He’s looking for something. Anything. And like the other 32,000 local residents who have landed at the job center this year, he’s hoping veterans representative Sharon Dollarhide can bridge the gap between unemployment and employment, between life on the edge and something that resembles security.
Monday, President Barack Obama signed two new measures aimed at combating the high veteran unemployment rate, with both laws offering tax credits as incentives for business owners who hire veterans.
The Returning Heroes Tax Credit will offer up to $2,400 reimbursement of the first $6,000 in wages for employers who hire veterans who have been unemployed at least a month. It will offer up to $5,600 of the first $14,000 in wages for businesses that hire veterans who have been unemployed more than six months.
The Wounded Warrior Tax Credit doubles the existing Work Opportunity Tax Credit, which maxes out at $4,800 in reimbursement for employers who hire long-term unemployed veterans with service-related disabilities and offers a new credit reimbursing employers up to $9,600 of the first $24,000 in wages if they hire long-term unemployed veterans.
There’s only one problem — Dollarhide has not had a single employer inquire about existing tax credits or the new ones.
She employs a traditional route in seeking placement. She skims the WIN Center’s job site every morning, trying to match clients to jobs, calling them as soon as she sees anything for which they may qualify.
In her spare time, she trawls websites and schedules tours with major manufacturers, believing if she understands what employers need, she can better help the men and women who look to her for hope.
“Those that come in on a regular basis, you learn that person,” she said softly. “I had a vet who had been deployed three times. What else can he do but re-enlist? It’s not like they’re saying ‘Give me this or that.’ These are good people and prime candidates for training.”
As the only veterans representative assigned to WIN’s seven-county region — which encompasses Lowndes, Oktibbeha, Clay, Webster, Macon, Noxubee and Winston counties — she sees an average of 25 to 30 veterans per week.
Their stories are familiar: Most served tours of duty in Iraq, Afghanistan or both. They’ve recently returned from deployment or recently separated from the service. They realize a decade serving their country gave them little in the way of real-world job experience.
Their first job was for Uncle Sam.
“They showed they were trainable and can follow directions, and they have proven themselves in their service to their country,” Dollarhide said. “But it’s getting employers to look past the fact that the only job experience they have is what they did in service.”
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, along with the Education, Labor and Energy Departments, is proposing a system of badges veterans can be awarded to help them translate their military skills into everyday job credentials, but some have dismissed the idea, saying what’s really needed is for employers to simply give veterans a chance.
‘They never call’
That’s Madison’s plea every day. If someone would just give him a chance, he says, he would show up and work hard. He would do whatever he has to do to keep a job.
With five children at home, all below the age of 8, the pressure mounts every day. His wife, Nichole Madison, works at a doctor’s office as a receptionist, but with her pulling the brunt of the financial load, tensions are mounting at home.
He picks up odd jobs cutting trees, but the work is made harder by myasthenia gravis, an autoimmune neuromuscular disease he believes was caused by his exposure to chemical agents while serving in Kuwait during the Gulf War.
He has been looking for a job since February. “Most of them smile and say thanks, but when all the smiles and handshakes go away, they never call,” Madison said.
Grim times, happy holidays
Frank Kyzer, 34, is married with five children. His youngest child was born two weeks ago.
After serving in the U.S. Army from 1995 to 2001, he pursued his bachelor’s degree in divinity and briefly worked for Kingwood Assembly of God in Birmingham, Ala., and at a car dealership.
Two months ago, the New Hope native returned to Columbus looking for a job. More people are seeking jobs than employers looking to fill positions. Everything seems to come down to the people you know, he said.
That’s where Dollarhide’s skills come into play.
“WIN has resources as far as jobs and can recommend you to employers in ways you can’t do on your own,” he said. “Sharon, she’ll bend over backwards to do whatever it takes.”
With his wife unemployed as well, Kyzer has leads on “three really good jobs” and a second interview with a company next week.
Though money is tight, he refuses to give up hope.
“My wife and I, we don’t worry,” he said, gazing out at the falling rain. “I’m one of the lucky ones.”
Carmen K. Sisson is the former news editor at The Dispatch.
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