The Veterans Networking Job Club is a group of community partners that work together to provide education and awareness to businesses and veterans of West Michigan.

 

Established in 2017 by a disabled Air Force Veteran, Kelly Berger, after her husband an Active-Duty Veteran was stationed here in West Michigan. She came to West Michigan Works seeking job assistance and was able to obtain a position within the Veteran Employment Services as a Disabled Veteran Outreach Program Specialist (DVOP). In her process of seeking employment and relocating she noticed many community partners providing similar services to Veterans. Many of them have various requirements to get services. Once she started her role as a DVOP she wanted a place where all community partners could work together to provide resources and employment to Veterans. She wanted other Veterans relocating to West Michigan to have a positive experience. She discovered Muskegon Michigan Works doing something similar. Therefore, she took that model and convinced the various state, federal and community veteran organizations to come together and create an event for Veterans to network with businesses as well as community resources to get connected to services.

 

According to the 2021 US Census, there are approximately 15,000 Veterans in West Michigan that could use our services at some point in their career. We wish to continue to use the model Kelly created to provide these services for many more years to come!

 

If you would like to become a member of our group and help veterans in your area, please contact Business@Westmiworks.org to learn how.