Suozzi and Warriors to Work Encourage Business Owners to Hire Veterans

By Michelle Regalado

In keeping with the spirit of D-Day, Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi, along with several veterans hired through the Warriors to Work program, is urging business owners to secure jobs for unemployed veterans. 

Announced in December 2008, Warriors to Work is a program that teams up with various organizations to provide employment opportunities for veterans. As part of Opportunity Nassau, Suozzi’s initiative to facilitate housing and employment opportunities to residents of Nassau County, the partnership involves participation from multiple unions and businesses, including CVS, Home Depot, King Kullen, the North Shore Long Island Jewish Health System, and several others. 

The organization seeks to lower the national unemployment rate for veterans, which was at 7.3% in 2008 for those who have served in US forces since September 2001, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is 1.7% higher than the unemployment rate among non-veterans in 2008.

“The Warriors to Work program has placed several veterans with private employers, and we thank those employers for their participation, but we need the business community to do more,” Suozzi said in a statement. “On this 65th Anniversary of D-Day, as we remember those soldiers who gave their lives for our freedom, we must never forget their commitment and the commitment of those heroes who return home.”

Suozzi also announced the new program coordinator of Warriors to Work, J. Scott Castillo, who joined the army after 9/11 and has served in both Afghanistan and Iraq.

Veterans currently seeking employment can call contact the Nassau County Veterans Service Agency’s Warriors to Work hotline at 516-572-8451.