First Lady Michelle Obama announced that more than 125,000 veterans, and spouses have been trained or hired by a special partnership program between the White House and over 2,000 businesses, including major corporations, says Jeff Black of NBC News.
"I want to send a very clear message to the men and women who are wearing or have worn our country's uniform and to their spouses," Obama said. "When you have finished your service to our nation, you have got 2,000 great American companies ready and waiting to bring you on board."
The hiring initiative, called Joining Forces, was first announced last year by President Barack Obama. Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joe Biden, were asked to lead the effort.
The White House has released a youtube video describing the program
here which I also embedded below. More below the squiggle.
The First Lady said the program started last year with just a few companies has become so successful that the goals are being expanded.
That has led the White House and the companies involved to set their sights higher — hiring or training an additional 250,000 veterans and military spouses by 2014.
Obama made the announcement at Naval Station Mayport in the presidential campaign battleground state of Florida on Wednesday afternoon.
Michelle Obama is rapidly becoming a major player in the election. Today, CNN broadcast major sections from a speech she delivered today, saying 'it was not just a photo op,' but a full fledged, major campaign speech. I'm looking for transcripts, videos, and reports to write it up, as soon as I can find them.
5:06 PM PT: Here is a link to the The Official White House website, that lists participating companies, as well as provides connections for additional companies to join, advertise jobs, or votes, and the spouses, to search for jobs.
5:19 PM PT: Slowbutsure has hooked us up with the full transcript from First Lady Michelle Obama's speech from the Daily Kos Transcript editors earlier today.
http://www.dailykos.com/...
But most of all, I want to thank all of you, our extraordinary men and women in uniform and veterans, and your extraordinary families.
I know that we’re being broadcast live into every U.S. military base –- here in America and around the world –- and we’ve got folks tuning in from as close by as Tampa and Pensacola, and as far away as Kabul and Seoul. And on behalf of myself and my husband, I want to start off by saying that we are so proud of your service and so grateful for your sacrifice.
You all -- and I say this time and time again, and I mean it every time I say it -- you all are the very best of America. You all have given so much to this country. And I’m here today because I want to talk with you about what this country is doing to give back to all of you.
As you all may know, last August -- I think you saw a video -- my husband issued a challenge to American businesses. He challenged them to hire or train 100,000 veterans and military spouses by the end of 2013. And since Jill Biden and I launched Joining Forces, he asked the two of us to take the lead on working with companies to fulfill this challenge. And I have to admit, when you get an order from the President, it’s a little daunting, even if he is your husband. (Laughter.)
So I was a little nervous, and I thought this challenge was pretty ambitious. And when we first started out, we only had two companies as our partners, and I wondered to myself how we were going to get from there to 100,000 new jobs in two years.
But, fortunately, I didn’t have much time to sit around and worry, because before long, companies across this country started stepping up -- big companies like Siemens and Sears; small businesses like tech startups and restaurants and transportation providers. And soon, those two companies became 20, and then 200, and then 2,000.
And by mid-March, these companies had already hired 50,000 veterans and military spouses. By mid-April, it was 60,000. By May, we had 80,000. And today, I am so proud to announce that these 2,000 companies have not just met our challenge -- they’ve exceeded it.
As of today, they have hired or trained 125,000 veterans and military spouses –- 125,000. (Applause.) And they’ve done it more than a year ahead of schedule. That’s pretty impressive.
5:29 PM PT: Under the privilege of "artistic license" I've decide to publish this official portrait of Michelle Obama just because it is awesome. Anyone else thinking Michelle Obama 2016? This would be such a cool series of firsts, we'd need another post just to list them. First woman President, First 16 years of one couple being president, etc. etc. etc. (Just having fun. I'm not proposing the formation of an official committee,...yet.