Episode 122 Transcription

Welcome to episode 122 of Behind The Mission, a show that sparks conversations with psychomotor trusted partners and educational experts. My name is Duane France and each week I'll be having conversations with podcast guests that will equip you with tools and resources to effectively engage with and support military service members, veterans, and their families. You can find the show on all of the podcast players or by going to www.psycharmor.org/podcast. 

Thanks again for joining us and behind the mission. Our work and mission are supported by generous partnerships and sponsors who also believe that education changes lives. Our sponsor this week is PsychArmor, the premier education and learning ecosystem, specializing in military culture content. PsychArmor offers an online e-learning laboratory that's free to individual learners as well as custom training options for organizations. 

On today's episode, I'm featuring a conversation with Lori Adams, the veterans' policy director and national labor exchange senior advisor with the national association of state workforce agencies, the national organization representing all state workforce agencies, DC and the U S territory's These agencies deliver training, employment, career, business. and wage an hour services. In addition to administering the unemployment insurance veteran reemployment and labor market information programs. Lori joined  NASWA in 2015 after 26 years with Iowa workforce development, where she was a case manager, regional manager, bureau, chief and division administrator for workforce services. You find out more about Lori by checking out her bio in our show notes. So let's get into my conversation with her and come back afterwards to talk about some of the key points. 

duane----he---him---his-_36_04-18-2023_162155-1: Lori, I'm glad to have you on the show to talk about your work and the National Association of State Workforce Agencies.

Before we get into that, however, I'd like to provide you with the opportunity to share a bit about your background and why this work, especially the veterans work, is important to you.

Lori Adams Audio Repair: I'd love to talk about that. prior to working for Nassua , I was with state government for 26 years and had a variety of roles from case management for public assistance recipients.

All the way up to being a division administrator who managed multiple offices and multiple programs. when I left that position and joined Nassua in 2015, I had the wonderful opportunity to create a new position where I was focused on veterans programming and serving veterans. it's really been a passion of mine for a long time.

It was something I really enjoyed in the state government. I am not a veteran. and I, as I tell a lot of people, that's one of my life's biggest regrets is that I did not serve, Probably when I had the chance and the opportunity to do so.And so I look at it this way as when I'm making up for lost time.

I'm serving those who did serve. and it's really just been something that I take a lot of pleasure in. I enjoy the company of veterans. I love to hear about their experiences. And I like to know where I can help them because they fought the fight for me and people like me who stayed home I have a lot of family members that served in the military.

at least going back to the Korean War A. And we're lucky in our family that everyone came home. But they didn't all come home unscathed. recognizing that, how that experience affected them and affected the rest of their lives, just really gave me added motivation to be there to support all veterans.

whether it's just being a, an ear who can listen or to provide them a resource to help them resolve a barrier. it's just, wherever I can help and serve those veterans who served me.

duane----he---him---his-_36_04-18-2023_162155-1: it's interesting you talk about that time that you served as a member of the state workforce agency, likely preceded nine 11, right? So you saw, Gulf War veterans probably, and the mid to late nineties and employment challenges there. But then you also saw this transition, obviously, I think Cold War in Vietnam, veterans.

That were still in the workforce at that time. but then obviously saw the shift to now serving post nine 11 veterans, a large combat cohort, at the state level, and then taking that to the national level.

Lori Adams Audio Repair: Yes, that's exactly right. when I started, in the state government, you were still seeing a lot of Vietnam era veterans. Entering the workforce and perhaps they were tr, a lot of them unfortunately, had been working at a job that maybe left them, or the industry itself left the United States like when the Trade Act and the NAFTA and all of that was going on.

And so we were, having to kind of reskill and upskill some of those veterans and. talking to them and learning from their experiences as they returned home, from Vietnam was really formative to me because, it was very difficult to hear how poorly they were treated. And that kind of motivated me as that, I don't ever want to hear about another veteran getting that kind of treatment when they return home from what was. no one's gonna argue that was a terrible place to be. And so when I heard about what was happening to them and I got to know some of them personally, that was something else that, really drove me is to. Be welcoming to them and to be able to help them and to be able to listen to them and not judge what their situation was and not paint the whole group of them with this negativity that had happened to the Vietnam veterans.

And so, as I got to know more that had come, from Gulf War I, Gulf War ii, and they came home with a different set of problems. things like, the new body armor saves a lot of lives, but lot, of scars and prolongs lives that maybe wouldn't have been prolonged in prior wars.

and now when you hear about, and I met so many people that told me about the burn pits long before the burn pits became in the news and the packed act, became legislation was signed by the president. learning from their stories and. Using those stories to drive my narrative of how I want to impact, veterans programming, veterans services for those folks that served before and those that are transitioning out of the military right now.

duane----he---him---his-_36_04-18-2023_162155-1: And I can imagine how valuable that perspective. Serving those multiple generations of veterans, at the state level. and then now to your work with nawa. and additionally you serve on the Department of Labor Advisory Committee on Veterans Employment Training and Employer Outreach. That's a good government mouthful.

and in that role, as a representative of nassua, you, support, advising the Department of Labor on veterans employment.

Lori Adams Audio Repair: That's correct. and that Mouthful is also known by aveo is the acronym. So I'm just gonna add to your lexicon there. I'm really lucky to be able to serve on aveo. Our organization is a mandatory member. But that doesn't mean it has to be me. And so I'm lucky that my leadership has supported my membership and that I have been, every two years or three years.

you have to reapply and, justify what your background is and your knowledge is that you can be, you're applicable to the space and to the work at hand. And. Yes. Act video. I think there's 13 members on it. and we provide advisement and policy recommendations to the Secretary of Labor.

each year we present, our recommendations in an annual report that goes not only to the secretary, but also to congress. like the House and Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, and their leadership will see what we have recommended. And then within that role, I am also the chair of the Underserved Populations subcommittee, which fits right into the work that I do at nassua.

in terms of, we're constantly looking at. Who isn't getting the services that they perhaps need? What's getting in the way of that service delivery, is it some policy that's driving it that maybe was written a long time ago, or is it something that's changed in this space that, Has created some opportunities for better customer service.

An example of that, and I already alluded to it, was the PACT Act. our recommendations in our 2022 report to the secretary, asked for permission for the DevOp and you the disabled Veteran Outreach program specialist. At the state level to be able to serve people who have the presumption of exposure for PACT act benefits.

So anyone who served in a, in an area where they were near a burn pit, or, slept next to a burn pit for any period of time, regardless of whether or not they are exhibiting any health issues because of that. If they served in those areas and the VA has all kinds of rules on, on what determines the presumption of care and the presumption of exposure, we want those dev ops to be able to help them and provide them services because some of them, may not have received, a VA rating when they left service, and that is one of the requirements.

one of many requirements that could qualify someone for DevOp services, and we want that expanded. we've also, encouraging more, opportunities to work with military spouses and older veterans because the population gets older and it's sometimes hard to fathom that your typical Vietnam era Ivette is probably 75 years old.

And that's hard people, it's hard for me to think about them being 75 years old, but but the, that's one thing that we do on with aveo and there's different subcommittees, but where I work is within the underserved population, those folks that don't currently qualify for some of the specialized services available through the dev ops in the American job Centers.

duane----he---him---his-_36_04-18-2023_162155-1: And I think that's something that's, even as you were just talking about that expansion, you're not saying that they don't have to receive a rating from the VA for those PAC Act related conditions. This is just. If they potentially qualify. and I can imagine that opens it up to individuals that if they were looking for support with employment and the D VOP went down the list and you don't qualify like that opens it up to potentially thousands.

Lori Adams Audio Repair: yes, you're exactly right. Now, we haven't heard whether or not what kind of, what the thoughts are from the Department of Labor about that recommendation, but I can also say that my organization, Nassua does annual, legislative recommendations. And it's no accident that our agency is also recommending, That DevOp be given the opportunity to work with PACT Act, veterans and anyone who, there are some folks that have already been approved for benefits and some that haven't even applied.

And we wanna make sure that, just because you don't have a VA rating, but if you were,sleeping next to a burn pit,maybe it would be great to have, a little. prevention, and if we can get people, getting some treatment for those things and maybe catch some of those diseases that, affect those folks that did work next to burn pits or, tended the burn pits, maybe we can, save some family, some heartache.

Yes, absolutely. But also the work that you're doing, is,and I often said this in mental health, I have a colleague who says, it's very hard to talk about your inner child if you don't know where you're sleeping tonight. if it's someone's choice between putting food on the table for my family and getting a job or taking care of some health condition that I may or may not have, I'm gonna focus my attention on getting employment.

duane----he---him---his-_36_04-18-2023_162155-1: And once we have stable financial, Situations, stable housing situations, stable employment situations for veterans. Then they're able to attend to their own concerns, like these health concerns. And so a lot of times getting veterans jobs is the first step to helping them improve their post-military life.

Lori Adams Audio Repair: Yeah, you're exactly right. When I was still working in state government, that was the process we followed, is that if someone came into an American Job center and perhaps they just lost their jobs or they, or their job was. Not,it was they were dissatisfied with them or it wasn't supporting their family.

First thing we wanted to do was deal with that because we knew that if we could take that off the table in terms of a worry or a concern, if the family could have some sense of where some money was coming in to put food on the table, pay the rent, keep the lights on, then we could focus on the bigger picture of.

Finding them a new job or a better job or finding them, the training and the skills they needed to achieve that next level of employment. But you're so right that when you're worried about how you're gonna pay the bills, that's all you can think about. And sometimes it's hard to turn that around without offering them another solution. And if you can get those financial resources in front of them, then you can deal with the rest of the story and the rest of the needs of that person, has for their continued success.

duane----he---him---his-_36_04-18-2023_162155-1: Yeah. No, I absolutely agree. I'm a huge proponent. As I mentioned before, we started talking when I was working. Previously my work in the community partnered a lot with our, dev ops, the Veterans Employment Specialists at our local workforce center. Nassua is a membership organization that represents state workforce agencies from around the country.

and each state workforce agency, you talked about some of the programs there. but Nassua as a national organization also has some programs to support both those state workforce agencies and the service members, veterans and family members they serve.

Lori Adams Audio Repair: Yeah, NA is probably one of those, organizations that you've never heard about. and as we joked before this conversation, no, we're not nasa. No, I don't personally know any astronauts, but NA's been around since 1937, it was founded in the depths of the depression under the Social Security Act, which was part of Franklin Roosevelt's new deal.

at that time, The Social Security Act actually was the impetus for unemployment insurance in this country. in addition to that, there was something called the Wagner Kaiser Act, which founded the employment service, which has evolved into, what in terms of. What you might think of as job service or workforce development and, as a membership organization, and we are a nonprofit.

we represent the workforce agencies in all 50 states, DC, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands and the other American territories. And when I think of, when I say, The workforce agencies that would be like, Iowa Workforce Development where I used to work, or the New York State Department of Labor, or the Texas Workforce Commission.

And these are typically, organizations that, Receive funding from the Department of Labor for the administration of programs like the Jobs Veterans State grant, which funds the dev ops and the levers that we mentioned before. But also, funding for the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, which provides retraining assistance to, at risk youth, dislocated workers.

Economically eligible adults and other individuals that can provide them some retraining to upskill, if they're, in the need of those kinds of services. They also, are the key component in. What are known as American Job Centers by the Department of Labor, but not all states call them that.

Some states call them career centers or one stops. in, in my old state, their Iowa works, but they're essentially a one-stop center where. A variety of different organizations are housed under one roof to provide a variety of services to individuals who may need, upskilling, retraining, need to work on their resume, need to take a class in how to do a how to, Do a job interview or how to practice doing a job interview.

So there's a lot, all these organizations under one roof. And I can remember when there was a study done that when these organizations are in multiple locations, if one person just tried to go about their community and hit all of these organizations up, it took 'em all day. Whereas if they're all under one roof, you can go and get a lot of things done in a much shorter period of time.

And we know that the individuals that access these services, they don't really don't care who's providing them this service. They don't necessarily care that the name of this organization is this and the name of that organization is this. They just want the assistance because, as we discussed earlier, maybe they're.

Getting pretty scared about their financial situation, or they just got told earlier in the day that their job was being eliminated and they needed to find a new job and they, didn't really know, even know where to start. So one thing that I am always talking about, and I'm gonna, you didn't specifically ask me this, but it's really important for everyone to understand that no matter what they're called, if it's an American Job Center or career, one stop, or something like that, They're not the unemployment office and a lot of people think of them as the unemployment office.

And because you know what? As I said earlier, when our organization started, it was started because of unemployment insurance and frankly, that's a place nobody really wants to go. But the reality is that yes, that's one of their components, but there's so much more and they're really focused on employment and re-employment and getting people back to work, matching job seekers with employers and matching employers with job seekers to fill their needs.

and that's a lot more positive spin on things. But I constantly run into this. I've been dealing with this the whole time I've been, working in workforce. People used to ask me where I worked and when I told them, they'd get a blank stare on their face and then they'd say, oh, the unemployment office.

And I'm like, no, it's not the

duane----he---him---his-_36_04-18-2023_162155-1: it is the 

Lori Adams Audio Repair: office. It is the employment office. but that's, so that's why I really wanna, that's what I mean. And that's where you can find if you're a veteran. That's where you can find the disabled veteran outreach program specialist who can provide specialized services to you as a veteran to help you find a job, make that career transition.

If you're just getting out of service, it's where you can find access to all kinds of. Workshops and re and computer access. It's where you can find out more about the employers in the community and who's hiring and they can connect people with those employers to help them find new jobs.

duane----he---him---his-_36_04-18-2023_162155-1: And and what I appreciate about Nawa, is you provide support to those state workforce agencies. and you'd mentioned before you started talking that you have an annual conference. whereas as I'm hearing you talk, veterans are walking in. Not on their best day. Like something for a veteran to walk in and say, I need help finding a job.

things aren't going the greatest in their life for whatever reason. Whether they've been laid off or their situation isn't the best or they've been struggling in some way. And so Nassua supports state workforce agency veteran specialists, with some support around that. One of the ways you do that as your annual conference,

Lori Adams Audio Repair: That's exactly right. we actually, this year's gonna be our 10th annual conference. I'm lucky enough to have been associated with nine of them. and they are really a, it's an opportunity for a. People who work directly boots in the ground, as they say, with veterans transitioning service members, caregivers, military spouses, and others to help provide them the supportive, services that they need to work in this space.

Information about, you know, how to work with a vet who presents themselves is potentially suicidal. How to work with a vet who just lost their job. How do you work with some, somebody who just transitioned out and maybe didn't have the greatest tap experience in the world and or were so distracted by their life that they weren't paying a lot of attention during tap.

I hear that one a lot, because there's so many things going on there, but or veterans that perhaps they wanted to make a career of their military service and an injury prevented them from doing that, and now they've gotta rethink. Where they wanna do for the rest of their lives and.

So the conference, we bring in all kinds of speakers, different types of workshops. the states share what I call promising practices where you don't need to reinvent the wheel and try new things. But we have, we have all kinds of workshops. We have panel discussions. Featuring employers who hire veterans and they talk to the groups about, what they're looking for in new employees and specifically veterans.

So they wanna help prepare the veterans for their best possible day instead of, potentially the, not the greatest day in the planet. So we have keynote speakers. last year we had General McChrystal. we've had, Pilots and, medal of Honor recipients. And this year one thing I'm gonna focus on is it is 75 years since women were given the opportunity to make a career out of military service instead of just being for the duration.

And so there's a lot of, more men in service than there are women, but it's changing somewhat. But some of these women that are, have served in the past really had to break a lot of ground. for other women to serve, but they also did, some of the things that they achieved also benefited anyone, male or female.

it's a great conference. It's August 2nd through the fourth at the Grant Hyatt in Washington, dc. You can find more information out about it on our website, www.umnawa.com. nasba.org. just Google Nassua and you'll find it. but it's, it's really been a privilege to me to put that together.

We typically have, the attendees, as I said, are the folks that are, Working directly with veterans and also the people that supervise them. But we also have representatives present from the Department of Defense, the va, the Small Business Administration and the Department of Labor. So we have federal partners that are there in support and provide information.

And we also have a lot of employers that attend as well because it's a great opportunity for them to network with the folks that are. Working directly with those veterans to get information to them about their job opportunities and how they can better connect with each other. that's probably one of the greatest things that Nawa does for veterans is that conference.

And as I said, they've been supporting it now for, this will be our 10th year,

duane----he---him---his-_36_04-18-2023_162155-1: I think that is amazing. and I'll make sure to the, that the link is in the show notes.

before we go though, I do wanna provide another opportunity or a different opportunity. you, you're actually a, a host of a psych armer training, for one of the SHRM certificates, the Veterans at Work certificate. so could you tell us a little bit about the Sherm veterans at Work Certificate, but also about your particular course?

Lori Adams Audio Repair: Okay. yes, I got a bit on the other side of the camera, so to speak. couple years ago I was asked to do a presentation on how to use something called the National Labor Exchange. To find veterans for jobs. The National Labor Exchange is the nation's largest nonprofit job bank, and it's unique because it has unduplicated updated content that's done on a daily basis.

And we get job content directly from employers, the state workforce agencies, and the federal government. And so I did a workshop, a presentation on how to use that. use the site, how to use it to leverage employer's job needs against the, how to find those veterans that can fill those positions. And brilliant.

Unbeknownst to me, Sher was putting together a certificate program, the Veterans at Work certificate, at the same time, and it includes, I believe, 10 different workshops and lo and behold, The one that I presented is one of those 10. and I didn't really realize this until I signed up to take, to earn the certificate myself.

I'm a member of sherm, but membership in Sherm is not required to get the certificate and there's no cost to do it. But of the 10 classes, I didn't get excuse from my own, 

duane----he---him---his-_36_04-18-2023_162155-1: didn't get a pass. 

Lori Adams Audio Repair: I didn't get a 

pass.

 So I took my own class. And yes, I have the certificate, but I would encourage anyone who's working with veterans, employers, or even veterans themselves to watch that class because it'll tell them more about the national Labor exchange because that's, it's a benefit not only for employers trying to find veterans to hire, but it also can give that veteran some insight and some tips about how they can, connect with employers using that tool.

duane----he---him---his-_36_04-18-2023_162155-1: Yeah. No, I appreciate that. Longtime listeners will know that we often do provide a resource of the week, and that's gonna be our resource of the week, so listeners will be able to find that link in the show notes as well. Lori, it was so great to be able to talk to you and have you on the show today.

Lori Adams: I really appreciate the opportunity. Thank you so much. It's been fun.

Once again, we'd like to thank this week's sponsor, PsychArmor. PsychArmor is the premier education and learning ecosystem specializing in military culture content. PsychArmor offers an online e-learning laboratory that's free to individual learners as well as custom trading options for organizations. 

As you can tell by my conversation with Lori, she and I could have talked for a long time about the support that state workforce agencies provide to those who served. As a matter of fact, I think Lori and I continue to talk for another half an hour after we finish this conversation. 

Her passion for the veteran community and desire to support is evident in everything she does. Laurie is a great example of someone who's able to serve the military affiliated population in a sustained and dedicated way, even though she did not serve herself. 

Once again, a longer conversation means a shorter reflection section. maybe the guests are starting to try to send me a message. but I wanted to briefly touch on something that Lori mentioned about the need to expand services, to underserved populations within the veteran community. 

For many in the veteran support space, you're fully aware of the limitations of eligibility for programs. If you're not actively in the role of supporting veterans, it may come as a surprise that not all veterans are eligible for all programs. For example, many people think that any veteran is able to get care through the department of veterans affairs. 

But even that isn't the case. Things like characterization, the discharge era and type of service, an even whether or not a veteran has a service connected disability are all considered for eligibility purposes. Programs through the state and local workforce agencies are no different. And when programs are developed and funded, especially through the budgetary process at the federal tribal state or territorial government level, they are necessarily limited in funding and therefore have to establish eligibility criteria for the program. eligibility criteria is also important for verification purposes, simply by saying a program is going to support every veteran of any type without any form of verification. 

Is not enough. We all know that There are going to be people who take advantage of broad eligibility and try to obtain services that should rightly go to the intended recipients. So it's a difficult balance, broadening the services available to underserved populations, but not broadening the services so much that the program is overwhelmed and those who need and could benefit from the service are not able to receive it. It's great to hear that NASWA is engaged in navigating that difficult balance on behalf of the workforce agencies. 

So I hope you appreciated my conversation with Lori. If you did, we'd appreciate hearing from you. So if you do have some feedback, let us know, drop review in your podcast player of choice, or send us an email at info@psycharmor.org. We're always glad to hear from listeners, both feedback on the show and suggestions for future guests. 

For this week, PsychArmor Resource of the Week, I'd like to share the PsychArmor course using the national labor exchange to find veterans to hire. As Lori mentioned, she is the host of this training. So if you want to hear more of her work, this is a great opportunity to do so. In this course, employers will learn how to utilize the national labor exchange to amplify their online recruiting strategy, gain access to the special talent pipelines and how to utilize other trusted partners to reach the maximum number of job seekers. You can find the link to the resource in our show notes.