Posted on November 11, 2011

Walmart Foundation Awards $750,000 to Veterans Green Jobs

The Walmart Foundation has announced a two-year, $750,000 grant to Veterans Green Jobs in Denver, Colorado.

Awarded as part of a five-year, $20 million initiative to combat high unemployment among returning veterans, the grant will enable Veterans Green Jobs to connect one thousand veterans to its training and employment initiatives and place many of those veterans in full-time jobs in the "green" sector.

According to the latest data available from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate among recently returned veterans is 12 percent. Since 2009, Walmart has donated more than $1 million to Veterans Green Jobs, which has helped more than three hundred and fifty veterans find full-time work.

"Walmart is at the forefront of Fortune 500 companies hiring returning veterans and assisting organizations in reversing the high rates of joblessness among our veteran population," said Veterans Green Jobs' co-founder and board chair Mit Parsons, himself a U.S. Army veteran. "Veterans Green Jobs is thankful for the partnership we have forged with Walmart in leveraging career opportunities that are focused on environmental sustainability. We share with this strategic partner a commitment to making veteran employment happen with 'boots on the ground' — one veteran at a time."