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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (April 5, 1979)
Paae 10 Portland Observer Thursday, April 5. 1979 VETS HELPING VETS ARE YOU A DISABLED VIETNAM ERA VETERAN? IF SO, ARE YOU HAVING PROBLEMS WITH: V.A. HOSPITAL E mployment T raining E ducation R eadjustment Project Return statt: ,front row — descending steps) Shaun Dillon. Clifford Clark. M ike Lamar. Mike Maxwell, Joseph Felix, Richard Hopkins. Harry Dean and Kurt Fitch. (Back row) Bill Miller, Director, Mark Dortch. Charles James, Linda Wood. La Fon Cohen, Pete Ogle. Frank Livingston and Bill Farley. Not pictured: William Jones, Keith Stangle and Phyllis Fielder. A lcohol Project Return: Serving the Vietnam veteran Project Return has, for the past seven years, sought to provide Viet nam veterans w ith services not readily available elsewhere. V iet nam veterans, men who returned to home without the fanfare and public support o f returning soldiers from other wars, have unique problems but there are no special programs to aid them. Project Return is attempting to fill this void. Operating on funds from governm ent contracts. P roject Return provides jo b placem ent, limited training opportunities, coun seling, and help with upgrading dis charges. Director Bill M iller estimates that there are 50,000 Vietnam veterans in the Portland area — approximate ly 1,000 per year come through the Project Return programs. According to M iller, the greatest problem facing the veterans is employment. Many o f the men now in need o f jobs went in to the service at age seventeen or eighteen and were assigned to the Infantry. They learn ed no jo b skills and most employers do not consider time in the service as experience. "W e are looking for em ployers who w ill provide entry level jobs and train these men on the jo b ,” M iller explained. W ith the job market as it is, most employers are hiring only experienced workers. Another problem is that the few jobs available that do not require ex tensive training or experience pay minimum wage — $2.90 per hour — and a large percentage o f the men have families to support. A new tax incentive which allows an employer to write o ff a part o f the veteran’ s wages from his taxes might bring more response fro m em ployers. The veteran who seeks help at Pro ject Return is evaluated and then referred fo r job placement. Those who need more assistance are re ferred to classes for resume writing, in te rvie w procedures, personal hygiene, etc. Family and personal counseling are also provided. The Disabled Veteran Outreach Project finds employment for dis abled veterans and provides support services to insure that the veteran is able to use medical, mental health, econom ic assistance and other program s available in the com m unity. Often these veterans need 4 S ocial problems D isabled V eterans O utreach P rogram CAN HELP! CALL PROJECT RETURN, VETS 234-0801 ASK FOR DVOP 1412 S.E. 25th Portland, OR VETS HELPING VETS AND EMPLOYERS SINCE 1971 Training Costs Too High? If so, your company may qualify for a tax credit up to $3.000.00. Call us for the facts 234-0801 I Mike Maxwell. Director of the Resource Center, discusses employ ment problems with veteran. C- - h i Personnel Managers! Employers! If you need a driver, a warehouseman, a laborer, or a person with enough experience to qualify for a semi-skilled job, why not try Project Return? We've been helping Portland-area employers fill their personnel needs since 1971. No fee, no forms, and we screen. Project Return is a non-profit agency dedicated to finding qualified Vietnam-era veterans to suit your company's requirements. Frank Livingston, Harry Dean and La Fon Cohen discuss job oppor tunities in metropolitan area. someone to coordinate and advocate for them to insure that they receive services to which they are entitled. Another large program operated by P roject Return is Discharge U pgrade. A p p ro x im a te ly 7,000 Oregon veterans received less than honorab le discharges, many fo r Linda Wood and Joeseph Falix address Project Return Forum. N arcotics m inor in fra ctio n s. Young service men were often counseled out o f the service and given undesirable dis charges. Undesirable discharges can be im posed administratively, without the safeguards o f the c o u rt-m a rtia l. Later these men find that their em ployment opportunities are restric ted. More than half o f the employers automatically reject applicants with less-than-fully-honorable discharges. Less than desirable discharges also bar access to benefits such as education assistance, medical aid and home loans. U pgrading discharges helps alleviate some o f these problems, but discharges never change unless the veteran applies for a review. P roject R eturn serves as legal representative before the Discharge Review Boards fo r veterans requesting upgrading o f discharges. M iller considers the unique prob lems o f Vietnam veterans to be a problem that needs to be addressed by the com m unity and urges em ployers who can employ veterans — especially at entry level jobs — to contact Project Return. « Want A Tax Credit? Under the Revenue Act of 1978, your company may qualify for a tax credit of up to $3,000 of your company's 1979 tax liability, for each disadvantaged Vietnam-era veteran under age 35 that you hire. The veteran has to be certified eligible, and the system for doing that is not yet in place, but it could mean lots of dollars saved. Want more information? Call us and ask about the Targeted Jobs Tax Credit. 234-0801 P ro ject R etu m -V E T S V ete ra n s H elpin g V eteran s And Em ployers Since 1971
