Colorado Springs receives special honor for helping military spouses find jobs
Colorado Springs has joined San Antonio and Tampa in earning a national designation in support of military spouses.
The city is now designated as a Military Spouse Economic Empowerment Zone, a designation given by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s Hiring Our Heroes, and USAA Insurance.
The designation was officially made at a news conference Monday morning at the city administration building in downtown Colorado Springs.
Megan Paone, senior manager of Hiring Our Heroes, said Colorado Springs earned the designation because, even though it is a smaller metropolitan area than San Antonio or Tampa, it’s more successful than most other cities in employing military spouses and convincing employers to hire them.
Paone said finding jobs is difficult for many military spouses because they often move to other military installations every few years, and that transient nature makes employers reluctant to hire them.
Colorado Springs and its military installations are “ahead of the curve,” she said, but still have room for improvement.
Patty George, the wife of Fort Carson commanding Gen. Randy George, said military spouses need more employers like Arlington County, Virginia, that hired her and even allowed her to work after she moved from the area.
“They saw the red flags on my resume from having moved every two years or so,” she said. “But they also knew they’d be getting a valuable resource. Military spouses have many skills and much education and experience to offer. They just want a chance to contribute to their communities.”
George said there could be up to 30,000 military spouses in the area, many of whom are unemployed or underemployed, with nearly 1,000 additional troops and their families coming soon to Fort Carson and Peterson Air Force base.
Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers and the city’s Chamber of Commerce were among the speakers at Monday’s event.
After the event, around 40 people participated in a roundtable discussion on how to continue to increase the hiring of military spouses.
