April 4, 2012

Dear friend:

On Monday, March 26 along with some of my colleagues at the King County Council I introduced a motion calling on the County to explore ways to tap the skills and knowledge of our returning Iraq and Afghanistan veterans.  Many of these veterans often tend to be an overlooked as they return home.  They also face many challenges.

The unemployment rate for veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts has remained consistently higher than the national average.  This disproportionate rate is regrettable and society owes our returning men and women a better future.  Many veterans return to civilian life with improved technical and leadership skills gained during their training and deployment that could translate well to civilian governmental jobs—with minimal other assistance.

King County should help find ways to provide our veterans the opportunities to apply the skills they acquired during their national service—skills which would benefit not only King County, but many employers in our region. The proposed motion I have drafted calls upon the King County Human Resources Management Division of the Department of Executive Services to explore ways of implementing a veteran’s internship program. 

The report would evaluate existing county employment policies and practices for veterans and then make recommendations on the establishment of paid and unpaid internship programs. It would also explore the potential costs to operate such an internship program and possible funding sources.  The cities of San Diego and Los Angeles have similar programs in place, and the proposed motion calls for an analysis of comparable veteran internship programs instituted by other local governments around the United States.

As a member of the King County Council I am proud and honored to give deference and support to the heroes that are returning veterans.  They deserve our deep gratitude for their service and this could be a tangible, positive step to help put our veterans back to work and will help them and their families. I look forward to this motion being adopted.

Please feel to e-mail me at reagan.dunn@kingcounty.gov or call my office at (206) 296-1009 if you have any questions regarding this or any other matter involving county government.

Best regards,

Reagan Dunn
King County Councilmember, District 9

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If you have any questions or comments, please email me at reagan.dunn@kingcounty.gov or call my office at (206) 296-1009.

Phone: (206) 296-1009 | Fax: (206) 296-0198 | TTY/TDD: (206) 296-1024 | Toll Free: (800) 325-6165
Mailing Address: King County Courthouse, 516 Third Avenue, Suite 1200, Seattle, WA 98104-3272