The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s Hiring Our Heroes initiative and Grow with Google, the tech company’s economic opportunity effort, announced a collaborative effort to identify specific challenges military spouses face participating in entrepreneurial endeavors; growing small businesses, participating in remote work; and reskilling to growth industries.
Record levels of job openings have become the norm across America in recent months. As a result, adult women have seen historically low levels of unemployment. Yet military spouses – a population that is 92% female – continue to face sky-high unemployment rates despite a growing number of public and private sector military spouse hiring initiatives.
“Entrepreneurship and self-employment are critical to creating long-term economic opportunities for military spouses and their families,” said Eric Eversole, president of Hiring Our Heroes and vice president at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. “Strong support from partners, such as Google, will help us to identify, target, and break down barriers military spouses face when working to establish a path to entrepreneurship.”
Access to capital, acquiring technology and skills, and overcoming geographic inequity in an ever-changing environment present challenges to spouses who seek to improve their economic opportunities. This partnership will work to identify and provide solutions to overcome those challenges.
“Grow with Google is committed to creating economic opportunity for military spouses, and supporting them with the tools and resources they need to build flexible careers,” said Lisa Gevelber, vice president of Grow with Google. “We are excited to work together with Hiring Our Heroes to better identify the barriers they face in their careers, and find impactful solutions to those challenges.”
Through a Google.org grant, Grow with Google is supporting Hiring Our Heroes to initiate a study this fall which will examine the challenges military spouses face while pursuing their career, education, or entrepreneurship goals and identify opportunities and solutions for policy makers, employers, and key stakeholders to support the military spouse community.
