(San Diego – May 27) A San Diego-grown nonprofit group that helps veterans move from boots into suits is expanding nationally.
Reboot started in 2010 when retired Navy veterans Ronne Froman and Maurice Wilson saw former sailors and Marines struggling to figure out their place in the civilian world.
Their idea: Just like boot camp transforms recruits, service members need a “reverse boot camp” to go the other way.
The organization offers a three-week syllabus that aims to help people identify their passions and find fulfilling work related to those interests.
They also offer basic tips: How to write a resume, how to dress for the job you want, how to interview.
From that beginning, the Mission Valley-based program expanded to Oceanside and Orange County last year. This year, it added Los Angeles County and the Norfolk, Va., area, where the first class just graduated.
The goal for 2014 is to offer workshops in the Seattle area.
“Our initial plan was to expand in Southern California because of the close proximity to our headquarters, so we could work out any bugs in the Reboot mobile training team process,” said Maurice Wilson, Reboot president and a retired Navy master chief petty officer.
“Then, expand to strategic locations such as Norfolk and Seattle.”
Eastern Virginia and the Seattle-Puget Sound region are also big Navy clusters, so the nonprofit’s leaders can use their connections to broker Navy support. They have prepositioned instructors and program coordinators there in anticipation of growth.
Reboot is poised to graduate its 50th class. More than 800 people have been “rebooted” since 2010, officials said.
The plan is to raise enough funds to serve 960 people in 2013 and double that next year.
The workshops are free to the students, who are either post-Sept. 11 veterans or active-duty troops close to discharge.
The expansion is being funded by major donors Wells Fargo and Bank of America.
Other funders include the Orange County Community Foundation, the Boeing Employees Community Fund, Citibank, the Stiefel Behner Revocable Trust and the Joan and Irwin Jacobs Fund at the Jewish Community Foundation of San Diego.
Wilson said there have been a few tweaks along the way. Based on student feedback, organizers added a resume workshop and extended the interviewing workshop to a full day.
Nationally, the employment picture for post-Sept. 11 veterans has improved after looking dismal for the past few years.
The 2012 unemployment rate for these younger veterans was 9.9 percent in 2012, down from 12.1 percent in 2011, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Still, the figure remains higher than the national unemployment rate, which was 8.1 percent in 2012.
Read past U-T San Diego story on Reboot here.