The Walmart Foundation today announced Tarrant County College (TCC) as a recipient of grant funding to support veteran vocational education. The Institute for Veterans and Military Families (IVMF) at Syracuse University received the initial $1 million grant.
TCC is one of 11 community and technical colleges selected throughout California, New York, Texas and North Carolina to receive a portion of the funding from the Walmart Foundation. Across the nation, these grants will seed, cultivate and provide technical assistance to a network of workforce development-focused programs at colleges that will leverage skills, training, credentialing, and other efforts to advance the employment situation of veterans and transitioning service members.
“Funded by the Walmart Foundation, our program will help train and certify veterans for careers in our community,” said TCC Chancellor Erma Johnson Hadley. “This program for veterans aligns well with our ongoing efforts to prepare a workforce poised to power our local economy and build community resources.”
Working in conjunction with partners including Workforce Solutions for Tarrant County and Central Texas College, TCC will serve at least 45 veterans during the project period and anticipates serving many more in the future.
The support of area employers including Bell Helicopter, Four Seasons, Grover Corporation and Weir Oil and Gas will help to firmly establish sustaining training programs and services beyond the grant-funded period.
The program is part of the Walmart Foundation’s $20 million dollar commitment to address veteran issues. In addition to this funding commitment from the Walmart Foundation, Walmart pledged that over the next five years, it will hire 100,000 veterans who honorably left the military in the last year. Walmart is already the largest private employer of veterans in the country. The program, which kicked off on Memorial Day, will include jobs mostly in Walmart stores or Sam’s Club locations.
The complete list of colleges and universities who have received funding from the Walmart Foundation for veterans vocational training programs include:
| California | North Carolina | New York | Texas |
| Goodwill Industries of Orange County –Veterans Vocational Accelerator Consortium | Wake Tech CC – Accelerated Career Transformation Services | Cayuga CC – Commissioned for Success (C4S) | Tarrant County College – Vocational Acceleration for Military Veterans of Tarrant County Project |
| Workshops for Warriors – Workshops for Warriors (WFW) | Fayetteville State University – Service Source Warrior Bridge | Jefferson CC – Health Information Technology | Del Mar College – Pathways With a Purpose |
| Fordham University – Edge4Vets at Airports | Austin CC – Two Paths To Work (2P2W) | ||
| LaGuardia CC – Career Ladders for Veterans |