Join the Department of Labor (DOL) for a Women Veterans Twitter Town Hall on Tuesday, May 22 at 12 pm EDT.

Follow the Women Veterans Twitter Town Hall using the hashtag #VetsTownHall

You’ll have the chance to ask questions about resources and services available to women veterans as they return home from active duty. Officials from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs will take part in the discussion, as well as special guests from John 14:2, Inc., Women Veterans Interactive, and Business and Professional Women’s Foundation.

During the chat, DOL will discuss the department’s efforts to assist servicewomen with the resources necessary to successfully reintegrate back into civilian life. Below are some additional topics that we can cover Tuesday via the hashtag #VetsTownHall:

Department of Labor (@USDOL):

• Send the Women’s Bureau questions about the “Trauma-Informed Care for Women Veterans Experiencing Homelessness: A Guide for Service Providers,” an organizational self-assessment tool for service providers to assist them in serving women veterans. Latifa Lyles, acting director of the Women’s Bureau, will be on Twitter to answer questions about what her agency is doing to assist women veterans experiencing homelessness with community based resources.
• Turn to Junior Ortiz, DOL’s deputy assistant secretary for veterans’ employment and training. You’ll have the chance to ask him about resources to assist and prepare women veterans to obtain meaningful careers, maximize their employment opportunities, and protect their employment rights.
• Chat with Pamela Langley, DOL VETS division chief for employment and training programs and a veteran who recently returned from Afghanistan. She’ll join the conversation to answer your questions about where to go for assistance in looking for a new career and how to convert your military experience into civilian jobs.
• Ask DOL’s Gerri Fiala, deputy assistant secretary for employment and training, questions about the Employment and Training Administration’s veterans’ programs and initiatives, such as the Gold Card, priority of service, and pilot with Microsoft to provide training for veterans.

 Department of Veterans Affairs: (@DeptVetAffairs):

• Tweet the Department of Veterans Affairs’ Mary Santiago, director of the Veteran Employment Services Office to learn about VA for VETS online resources and one-on-one coaching services to recruit, retain and reintegrate talented veterans to the federal government. She can tell you about the VA for VETS hiring fair in Detroit for veterans looking for careers in the public and private sectors.
• Chat with Dr. Sally Haskell, acting director of VA’s Comprehensive Women’s Health, Dr. Mary Schohn, acting director of Mental Health Operations, and Dr. Susan McCutcheon, national director for Family Services, Women’s Mental Health and Military Sexual Trauma. They’ll be available to answer questions about women veteran’s mental health care, screening and treatment for experience of MST and family services.
• Check in VA’s Dr. Irene Trowell-Harris, director of the Center for Women Veterans, to learn about their mission and role in monitoring and coordinating health care, benefits services and programs for women veterans.
• Ask VA’s Homeless Veterans Initiative Office Dr. Susan Angell, special assistant of the Office of Public and Intergovernmental Affairs about housing and prevention efforts that assist women veterans.

Special Guests:

• Chat with John 14:2, Inc., Women Veterans Interactive Founder and CEO Ginger Miller (@womenvetsaction). She’ll join the conversation to answer your questions about support services, housing options, advocacy and outreach for women veterans and their families.
• Tweet the Business and Professional Women’s Foundation Mentoring Liaison Joan Grey (@BPWF4WomenVets) to learn how career mentoring can help women veterans get a boost in the job market by helping them find suitable employment and advance in their careers.

Tweet us before and during the event using the hashtag #VetsTownHall. You can also send us your questions by e-mail to womensbureaunetwork@dol.gov before Monday, May 21 at 3 pm EDT.

Starting at 12 pm EDT on May 22, we’ll be live to answer questions submitted both before and during the event.

We look forward to tweeting you!

(Work in Progress)

I believe that inclusion leads to innovation, and that by fostering a work culture respectful of individual differences—including disabilities—organizations benefit from varied perspectives on how to confront challenges and achieve success.  And I know I’m not alone in this belief, because many of today’s most successful companies proudly deem inclusion to be a core corporate value.  They’re stronger for it.

That’s why, I particularly like this year’s National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM) theme:  A Strong Workforce is an Inclusive Workforce:  What Can YOU Do?  This theme, announced last week to help organizations plan in advance for NDEAM in October, truly encapsulates what most highly regarded business leaders have long known—diverse organizations have a strategic advantage over homogenous ones. 

Speaking at the National Diversity Forum held last August as part of the Office of Disability Employment Policy’s Add Us In initiative, Eric Peterson, Diversity and Inclusion Manager at the Society for Human Resource Management, illustrated this principle very clearly.  He said that if ten people are sitting around a conference table trying to solve a difficult problem, and all of those people look the same, act the same and have the same basic educational and career background, each will probably have the same idea for a solution—one that any of them could have figured out on their own.  Maybe it would be the right solution, maybe not.  Now, if those 10 people each brought to that table differing experiences and circumstances, they’ll likely arrive at a solution that not one of them could have determined individually.  And more often than not, that solution would be stronger.

Disability is an essential perspective to have at that table.  Put simply, America’s economic success requires us to capitalize on the talents of all segments of the population, and the responsibility for making that happen must be shared.  There is something everyone CAN do.

Employers can foster workplaces welcoming to all qualified employees and potential employees.  People with disabilities can understand the intrinsic value of work and their role in our economic success.  Youth with disabilities can grow up with the expectation of employment, and parents, educators and other adults can strengthen this expectation by cultivating a clear vision of work and community participation.

As the leader of an organization, I’ll always choose the solution that represents an amalgam of opinions and insights rather than the one that approaches the problem from only one angle.  That’s because an inclusive workforce is a stronger workforce. And it is an essential step toward a stronger, better America, one where every person is recognized for his or her accomplishments—that should be our goal every day of every month. 

Kathy Martinez is Assistant Secretary for Disability Employment Policy.

(Work in Progress)

Challenge.gov Logo

In my time at the Department of Labor, I’ve been impressed by the way our mission to protect workers has been energized and accelerated when we have opened up our process to the innovative ideas of the American public. We’ve already used the government’s public challenge platform – http://www.challenge.gov/ – to help us develop apps through the informACTION challenge and gather photographs that tell the story of worker safety and health. These collaborations were a great way for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to team up with some of the most visionary and passionate minds in the country on solutions that will ultimately save workers’ lives.

That’s why I’m grateful to be involved in the White House Office of Science and Technology announcement of Safety.Data.gov. This new website was launched today with the Department of Transportation as part of Transportation Safety Week.  Safety.Data.Gov provides citizens, industry representatives, advocates, researchers and entrepreneurs with tools to create innovative solutions that will enhance public safety in communities around the country. A series of other initiatives are also being released, spurring the entrepreneurial spirit of the American people to help better inform and protect our citizens.  

As part of this launch, Deputy Secretary of Labor Seth Harris this morning announced a new app challenge meant to provide workers, advocates and employers with a vital tool for safety. The Worker Safety and Health Challenge asks developers to utilize government data to create applications for several platforms that address one or both of the following categories: tools that demonstrate the importance of knowing about workplace safety and health and/or tools that help young people understand their rights in the workplace. You can get all the details at http://workersafetyhealth.challenge.gov/.

The grand prize “Safety in the Workplace Innovator Award” will grant $ 15,000 and a meet and greet with Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis to the developer of the app that best meets both of these categories. A “Safety and Health Data Award” and a “Workers Rights Award” of $ 6,000 each will be given for both individual categories, and a “People’s Choice Award” of $ 3,000 will go to  the developer of the app that has the most public votes on the site. Winners will be selected by a distinguished panel of judges, including Secretary Solis, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, and a high-profile group of tech and safety experts (I’ll be on the panel, too).

At OSHA, we are always looking for better and more efficient ways to ensure all workers know about their lawful right to a safe and healthful workplace. The increasing use of technology by the federal government to open this process to the public’s talents and the indelible civic spirit across the country is one terrific way for us to find those solutions. I’m eager to see what the products look like this time, and I welcome everyone who chooses to participate. Together, we are engaged an effort to achieve no less vital a goal than saving the lives of young people.

Contestants must register for the contest at http://www.challenge.gov/ by creating an account between May 16, 2012, at 12:00 a.m. EDT, and September 16, 2012, at 11:59 p.m. EDT. Registrants will receive an email to verify their account and may then enter their submissions via the “Post a Submission” tab.

Dr. David Michaels is assistant secretary of labor for occupational safety and health.

(Work in Progress)