Chamber Honored by Hiring Our Heroes with Chamber of Valor Award

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation announced that the Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber has been honored by Hiring Our Heroes with the Chamber of Valor award.

The Chamber was recognized for joining the Hiring Our Heroes mission of finding meaningful employment for veterans, transitioning service members, and military spouses.

Chamber of Valor award recipients submitted applications to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation to be considered for the award. Applications were scored by U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation staff and honorees were awarded at the one-, two-, and three-star levels. The Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber is a three-star Chamber of Valor award recipient largely due to the work of the Veteran & Business Service.

The Veteran & Business Service is a valuable program for our businesses to tap into our wonderful workforce of transitioning vets that our partnership with WorkForce Central allows us to do, said Tom Pierson, Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber President & CEO.

Many resources are available to assist businesses when they hire transitioning service members, added Linda Nguyen, WorkForce Central CEO.  Through this partnership, we facilitate the match between the service members and employers, supporting the success of both parties after the match.

We would never be able to do the work we do without the tremendous support of local chambers and the Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber of Commerce is setting a standard for other chambers to follow, said Eric Eversole, executive director of Hiring Our Heroes and vice president at the U.S. Chamber. The Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber been instrumental in educating and influencing employers about the great value veterans and military spouses bring to the workforce. 

About the Veteran and Business Service
The Chamber’s Veteran and Business Service is designed to bring the winning attributes of veterans and the Chamber’s business members together for success. A partnership between the Chamber and WorkForce Central; the program strives to assist Chamber member employers in understanding the benefits available as well as the skills, knowledge and abilities that veterans bring to a workplace and to direct avenues to access Veterans as employees

About Hiring Our Heroes
Hiring Our Heroes launched in March 2011 as a nationwide initiative to help veterans, transitioning service members, and military spouses find meaningful employment. To date, more than 1,500 companies have hired over 23,000 veterans and military spouses as a result of more than 720 hiring fairs. In March 2012, the U.S. Chamber and Capital One launched Hiring 500,000 Heroes, a national campaign to engage the business community in committing to hire half a million veterans and military spouses by the end of 2014. Thus far, more than 1,500 businesses of all sizes have pledged to hire 411,000 heroes toward this goal. To date, 255,000 hires have been confirmed.