Additional Resources for Veterans
Priority of Service means eligible people including veterans receive U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) employment services before non-covered people.
The National Resource Directory (NRD) is a tri-agency initiative among the federal departments of Defense, Labor and Veterans Affairs that connects veterans with national, state and local services and programs including employment, education and training.
The Veterans Job Bank, powered by the National Resource Directory, provides a central source for veterans to locate job opportunities without having to visit multiple sites. The Veterans Job Bank enables users to define their search criteria by keyword, Military Occupational Code (MOC) and location.
The Veterans Job Corp is a federal initiative to hire veterans as police officers, firefighters, and conservationists for federal, state and local land.
My Next Move is a Department of Labor site that helps veterans decide the type of job they want to pursue by using three categories including Search Careers by Key Words, Browse Careers by Industry and Find Careers Like Your Military Job.
The U.S. government has Veterans Preference laws to assist veterans who seek federal employment from being penalized for their time in military service.
Yellow Ribbon Reintegration Program (YRRP) is dedicated to addressing the unique needs of National Guard and Reserve members before, during and after deployments. The National Guard and Reserve Services differ from the active duty component in the way they prepare for deployments and reintegrate after returning. Many service members are geographically separated from other members of their units.
Hero 2 Hire (H2H) is a free Yellow Ribbon Reintegration Program (YRRP) website that matches employers with veterans, especially targeted at the reserve component.
With a special emphasis on veteran-owned businesses, the Kentucky Microenterprise Loan Program (KMEL) provides funding and technical assistance opportunities to entrepreneurs and small businesses in 26 Kentucky counties that may find it difficult to obtain credit through traditional sources.
The Kentucky Small Business Credit Initiative (KSBCI), composed of three distinct credit enhancement programs, is designed to increase the availability of credit to small businesses by reducing the risk of participating lenders assume. KSBCI helps to finance creditworthy small businesses that would typically fall just outside of a lender’s normal underwriting standards.
The Business Connections Database is designed to help small businesses promote and market themselves to government agencies.
The Kentucky Procurement Assistance Program (KPAP) works with veterans who are interested in growing their businesses through government contracting. If you own a business and want to learn about contracting opportunities with federal, state, and local government agencies, the KPAP can help. KPAP provides free one-on-one assistance and training.
The Governor's Kentucky Export Initiative assists small companies, including veteran-owned businesses, to begin and expand exporting activity. The State Trade and Export Promotion (STEP) grant through the U.S. Small Business Administration provides $6,000 to qualifying small businesses for export promotion activities, such as market research, partner searches and translation of materials, participation in trade shows and trade missions and more.
The Databases of Veteran Owned Businesses allows government agencies and prime contractors the ability to identify businesses, including those owned by veterans, for potential partnering and sub-contracting opportunities.