AMVETS to Create Eight Veterans' Career Centers Across U.S.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Columbus, Ohio, United States of America (Free-Press-Release.com) October 14, 2011 -- Contact: Brooke Chavdar FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tel: (614) 431-6990 x110
Email: brooke.chavdar@amvetscareercenter.org

AMVETS to Create Eight Veterans’ Career Centers Across U.S.

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Fourteen AMVETS leaders from across the country met at AMVETS Career Center (ACC) headquarters Wednesday, October 12th in Columbus to discuss the building and establishment of veterans’ career centers in eight states.

A $100,000 grant given to AMVETS National this year by the Call of Duty Endowment (CODE) is making possible the creation of these new career centers, which are slated to be up and running by the end of this year. CODE is a nonprofit organization of video game company, Activision Blizzard, which focuses its resources on assisting organizations that provide job placement and training to veterans. Activision Blizzard is the publisher of popular video games such as Call of Duty, Guitar Hero and the Tony Hawk series. The grant will provide AMVETS posts funding for operational costs of the career centers, including veterans’ job training and certification. States the centers will be created in are California, Missouri, Iowa, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, North Carolina and Maryland.
AMVETS leaders from these states and Ohio assembled in Columbus to collaborate with one another on how to establish and run successful veterans’ career centers in their respective areas. Ohio is currently the only state that houses AMVETS career centers, of which there are approximately 60+ locations statewide. ACC Director, Len Proper, led the meeting and spoke about his experiences overseeing the development and running of Ohio’s ACC sites.

The first AMVETS career center opened its doors in Columbus, Ohio in December, 2000. Since then, the organization has helped 6,000+ veterans and assisted over 1,300 veterans this year alone. It is success rates such as these that caught the attention of the Call of Duty Endowment and ignited the push for replication in other states.
“Having AMVETS career centers all across the country has always been a dream of mine. I’m very proud of the success we’ve accomplished with our centers here in Ohio and I will do my best to see that the new centers achieve similar success. This grant is a great opportunity for AMVETS to reach out and help more veterans gain employment and we’re very happy to be a part of this movement,” says Proper.

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