Voc Rehab SBA Partnership

VA Voc Rehab Partners With SBA To Help Entrepreneurial Disabled Veterans

The Small Business Association just pushed out a press release explaining SBA has partnered with Voc Rehab to help disabled veterans seeking benefits in the form of small business start-up.

The question remains, ‘How does this new partnership differ from the largely ineffective SBA relationship Voc Rehab previous enjoyed?’ For many years, veterans were pushed to use services and resources from SBA when creating a small business plan while using Voc Rehab benefits. Apparently, the new plan pushing deeper integration and training of SBA resources to vocational rehabilitation counselors.

To this point, vocational rehabilitation counselors have largely been clueless about how to start small businesses. This makes sense since becoming a federal employee could not be more opposite to being an entrepreneur.

RELATED: The Five Types Of Voc Rehab Training

As an entrepreneur myself, I can tell you few jobs require more flexibility in thinking and options than running your own business. Voc Rehab has consistently struggled in providing self-employment guidance, so now they are turning to another bureaucracy to help veterans gain access to needed resources.

RELATED: How To Get Around 12-Year Time Limit For Voc Rehab Use

We will see how this partnership will make any dent in the delays still being experienced by veterans seeking self-employment support.

Here is the full press release in italics:

SBA Announces Partnership with Veterans Affairs’ Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment Program

WASHINGTON, May 14, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The U.S. Small Business Administration has entered into an agreement with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, through its Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment program. The partnership will give veterans access to self-employment assistance from the SBA, its resource partners, and U.S. Export Assistance Centers.

The VA and SBA will work together to prepare veterans, service-disabled veterans, and service members for self-employment. Through the partnership, veterans and service members will have access to networking events, job seeking skills, coaching, and entrepreneurship training.

“Veterans are extremely resilient as a result of their time serving in the military,” said Barb Carson, Associate Administrator, SBA Office of Veterans Business Development. “This is why they are great candidates for self-employment – and why prepping them to take on the venture is of utmost importance. VA’s VR&E program plays such an integral role in veteran business owners’ journeys, so I can’t wait to see the progress we’re able to achieve together.”

“We’re excited to take this interagency effort to the next level through this partnership,” said Jack Kammerer, Director of the Veterans Administration’s Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment program. “Both SBA and VA provide important resources for veterans and service members to take on the next step in their career – and their civilian lives. Together, we can set them up for success should they decide self-employment is next for them.”

VA and SBA will train local staff on services available through partnering agencies, and also facilitate appropriate referrals and on national, regional, and local levels.

To learn more about the resources offered by SBA’s Office of Veterans Business Development and the Veterans Administration’s Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment program, visit sba.gov/ovbd or benefits.va.gov/vocrehab.

About the U.S. Small Business Administration
The U.S. Small Business Administration makes the American dream of business ownership a reality. As the only go-to resource and voice for small businesses backed by the strength of the federal government, the SBA empowers entrepreneurs and small business owners with the resources and support they need to start and grow their businesses. It delivers services to people through an extensive network of SBA field offices and partnerships with public and private organizations. To learn more, visit www.sba.gov.

Contact: [email protected] (202) 205-6987
Follow us on TwitterFacebookBlogs & Instagram

Release Number: 18-37

SOURCE U.S. Small Business Administration

 

Similar Posts

14 Comments

  1. Well, IF only he’d get the DOJ off their asses and start PROSECUTIONS against some (many) VA employees – starting with the “SES’rs”!
    *******************************************

    From: “Newsmax.com” via “The Hill”
    Dated: 17 May 2018
    “Sarah Sanders reporting from the White House!”

    “President Donald Trump has donated his $100,000 quarterly salary to the Department of Veterans Affairs, the White House announced on Thursday.”

    “The Hill provided details of the president’s donation.”

    “The money will be donated to the VA’s caregiver program. Trump is donating his salary each quarter to “important projects,” press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said.”

    “In the past, the money has gone to a variety of projects, including repairs to the Antietam National Battlefield in Maryland, infrastructure improvements and to fight the opioid crisis.”

    “Acting Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie attended Thursday’s press briefing to accept the donation, The Hill reported.”

    “Wilkie said the money will be used for mental health and peer support programs, financial aid and research to assist those who care for veterans.”

    “The president’s gift underscores his promise to do all he can for vets, which includes supporting those who care for veterans,” Wilkie said. “Not just those of us at VA, but the husbands, the wives, the families and the community caregivers who are out there day in and day out.”

    1. Well, since the Supreme Court, in a 6 to 3 vote, “approved nationwide sports gambling”! Maybe a “sports bar” with “bookies running numbers” in a back room might be a new [ad]venture for vets!
      Hey, since almost ALL VSO’s have some form of gambling in their chapters, why not join them! (?? Wink, Wink, Nod, Nod!)

  2. Most partnering programs are tits on a bull…, it’s complete self promotion; which does more for themselves and does very little for the Veterans…
    kinda like how the Federal government implemented veterans preference for federal employment…. ever notice all this vet preference jobs at the va.. cooks, toilet cleaners, maybe a front desk clinic tech….
    I went thru VA Vic rehab to become a chiropractor; applied to the VA for 7 different chiropractor positions…. never even got a denial….
    Ha ha!
    WHAT A JOKE

  3. I tried to develop this model with VAVR starting before 2000, it just took VA this many years/decades to recognize that a coordinated hand off (from VAVR staff) to legitimate small business expertise (SBDCs, SCORE, VBOCs, WBC, SBAdo, etc.) might actually work for some disabled vets who aspire to productive self employment. Or you can just editorialize. PS, its actually the Small business Administration

  4. “We’re excited to take this interagency effort to the next level through this partnership,” said Jack Kammerer, Director of the Veterans Administration’s Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment program. “Both SBA and VA provide important resources for veterans and service members to take on the next step in their career – and their civilian lives. Together, we can set them up for success should they decide self-employment is next for them.”

    Translation; “It will take six months to select the committees tasked with conjuring up the administrative directives to satisfy the agreement. It will take two years to fully implement the directives and train the people. It will take a three year congressional inquiry to determine just why additional money keeps getting requested to float the program which up until then has no record of helping vets at all. It will take eight more months of subpoenaed testimony before Congress of officials denying they personally had any hand in the wrongdoing or refusing to answer any questions under their Fifth Ammendment rights. Finally after six more months we would expect the first fully implemented partnership job placement efforts directed towards our nations heroes to stand as a testament to our federal governments documented history of standing ready to prop up and support our nations business community…this excites us to no end.”

    1. Dennis,
      Then, after a year or more, we find out the money was diverted to somewhere else. Possibly into someone’s, or maybe many someone’s, pocket(?)!

  5. From: “military.com”
    Dated: 16 May 2018
    By: Richard Sisk
    Titled:
    “House Passes Major Overhaul of Veterans Choice Program”

    Overwhelming support to pass it!
    Google it.

    1. I wonder if this means I’ll finally be able to see a dentist without being 100%? (Wishfull thinking).

  6. “[How is this different than VA Voc Rehab’s partnership with SBA prior to this announcement?]”

    Memorial Day is approaching and it’s just the start of the procession of painting the turds gold.

    Painting the turds of old,

    A mighty shade of Midas Gold.

    SBA partnership at the VA,

    Stakeholders will still see delay.

    Painting the turds of old,

    Gold.

    1. Let’s count this up namnibor…

      The VA wants to help vets navigate the SBA. The SBA helps vets to navigate DEQ, FDA, IRS, EPA, FBI, ADA, and last but not least in this partial list of course the DOL.

      Each of these three letter bastions of help, hope, and fairness also employ folks to help you navigate through the set of records, rules, regulations, laws, and federal guidelines that now very easily can fit electronically on the new iPad Pro if you get the 256 GB model.

      How many folks is that now standing by to help guide our nations veteran entrepreneurs?

      Most vets just end up SOL.

Comments are closed.