Veterans face a number of challenges when transitioning back to civilian life. Russ Medina, executive director of NPower, tells the story of one such vet who upon returning back to the U.S. found themselves homeless and living in their car.
Without the skills or knowledge about how to translate his military training to the corporate world, his life was a constant fight. However, through friends, they found their way to NPower, a nationwide, tech-focused support and training program. And with time and dedication, they landed an IT project manager position.
With multiple locations across the U.S. and Canada, nonprofit NPower, like the vets it serves, is mission-driven to train the next group of tech employees and to show companies and corporations that veterans are their ideal candidates.
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“You can honor vets, but I prefer to say… ‘honor vets by hiring vets,’” Medina said. “When you go into the military it’s a program, there’s a focus to take you from the basics to a specialty. At NPower we… meet [veterans] where they’re at.”
The organization was launched in 2002 in Brooklyn and has since expanded to eight other cities. The Dallas location was opened in 2013, near the Cedars neighborhood south of Downtown. According to NPower, the DFW Metroplex has more than 400,000 veterans living here. Between 2018 and 2019, the Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance found that the number of homeless veterans living in Dallas and Collin counties increased from 331 to 431. While the majority of returning vets are able to successfully transition back to civilian life, they still face a number of challenges.
Medina said that in addition to issues that many are familiar with like PTSD, which affects between 11% and 20% of returning veterans, one of the toughest difficulties is facing the unknown. While in the military, life is structured and disciplined, and goals are often clear. Upon returning, that all changes. He added that one of the other struggles is being able to translate skills and experience gained in the military into corporate language, which can make it more difficult to find a job.
"I prefer to say… ‘honor vets by hiring vets.'"
That’s where NPower steps in. The organization acts as a free, tech-focused pipeline for vets to train and hone their skills before being connected with companies in the region. However, Medina makes it clear that the program is for veterans with tech training and those who are looking to break into the field. He said that companies should be looking to hire more veterans, due to their leadership skills, discipline, dedication, and focus.
“You need to look at vets as a valuable resource,” Medina, who served as a project manager for advanced systems and research and development in the U.S. Army, said. “I think when you translate [a veteran’s experience] into a resume the ‘oohs’ and ‘ahhs’ come out. Our goal is to get them as quickly as possible into companies.”
NPower does this through its training courses, which range from the basics to advanced knowledge in fields like IT, coding and cybersecurity, in addition to providing social support services. And because NPower’s mission is to get vets into the tech workforce, the organization seeks out corporate partners to not only hire some of the veterans, but also to better understand the skills and characteristics they are looking for to help fine tune NPower’s training program.
Once a veteran completes one of the training programs at NPower, they are often placed in a paid-internship at a company, before being hired on. According to the organization, about 80% of vets at NPower get jobs or continue their education after completing the program, with about 70% retaining their employment after a year. In North Texas, nearly 170,000 people worked in tech-related jobs in 2018, and that number is expected to continue growing. Medina said, NPower is able to help more than 225 veterans and their spouses on average each year.
"I felt like I was being over worked... and under-appreciated so I decided to take a chance," said Angela Nuno, a Navy veteran and alumni of the DFW NPower. "It's definitely been insanely beneficial. I think it’s a wonderful program... I think anyone considering a career change should look into it."
The nonprofit hopes to be able to expand its course offerings and number of locations as it grows in the future and partners with more businesses.
