When her husband's Air Force job took him to Colorado, Vydia Torres became a cashier just so she could join him even though her resume included stints as Puerto Rico's housing secretary and the head of a nonprofit group.
"I did not have the network. I did not know the labor market," Torres says of her move in 1993. Military spouses face similar career dilemmas, she said, because they relocate so much.
Today, Torres heads a Colorado Springs, Colo., program - also in place in a half-dozen communities nationwide - that helps military spouses with job training, placement, tuition and child care.
Despite its popularity, the initiative is in jeopardy because government officials do not intend to renew its federal grant.
"We've been turning people away," said Leland Lewis, who manages the program in the Norfolk, Va., area. "There's a letdown" when potential applicants learn they no longer can sign up, he said.
This seems like a great program and I don't understand why they would cut its funding. The program helps military spouses find jobs after relocating, which can be tough when you don't know the local market or have any contacts. Hopefully officials will see the light and put more money into this program instead of cutting it.
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