CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The Texas Veterans Commission and Texas Veterans Leadership Program are working with Workforce Solutions of the Coastal Bend to help veterans in the area take their next step in the transition to civilian life.
Ken Trevino, President and CEO of Workforce Solutions of the Coastal Bend says that the annual Red, White and YOU hiring event can serve as a bridge to getting veterans back in the workforce. He says he wants to give them the best opportunity to succeed after leaving military life.
"Veterans attending this event for the first time can expect to get the training offers that they need to get the jobs or get job offers tomorrow on the spot," Trevino said.
For veterans that may have the dream of starting a small business, Ashton Everette, program coordinator of Del Mar's Small Business Development Center says her team is there to help.
The program offers free confidential advising for anyone in the area who wants to start a business with services like loan proposal assistance, financial and sales projections and even market research.
"With people coming back from the military and transitioning back into civilian life, it can be a struggle. Our business advisors are able to assist them through each step of the process to make sure their business is actually going to be successful," Everett said.
With a dream of opening up her own pizza shop, veteran and owner of Sam and Louie's New York Pizzeria, Pam Chavez came to Del Mar's Small Business Development Center with almost no clue of where to start.
"I mean I had never had a brick and mortar before, and this was a big endeavor," Chavez said.
Chavez was a combat medic who spent a year in Iraq.
After her service, she decided she wanted to go to culinary school. She shelved the idea of opening up a pizza shop when she married her husband, who was a soldier, because she knew she would be moving every few years with her family.
When the time came to finally pursue her dream, she said Del Mar's help with her business plan gave her everything she needed to make her business work.
"I never would've done all of that on my own. It was their pushing and nudging that taught me so much about what I was going to encounter that I hadn't even put on my radar yet that I needed to be aware of before I started my business," she said.
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