Writing a Brief - Essay Example

Writing a Brief Part A: Legislation and Political Context: What is the "Elevator Speech" overview? The proposed piece of federal legislation or policy is related to a bill which emphasizes upon improving the condition of federal transition, vocational, rehabilitation as well as ensuring employment especially for the veterans along with the associates related with the armed forces. This particular bill is prevalently recognized as “The Hiring Heroes Act of 2011”. The bill generally assists the veterans who transit successfully from military services to the working world. In this regard, the veterans are considered to be those courageous and heroic individuals who served the nation i.e. the United States (US) in Iraq as well as in Afghanistan (Murray, n.d.). This bill went quite long or rather significantly progressed in the legislative process as it attempts to increase the chances of employment especially for the veterans of the US. It has been apparently observed that there are approximately 9,00,000 veterans who are still unemployed in the US. They were unable to find appropriate jobs in order to support their family. In this similar context it can be stated that the bill intends to provide jobs to the unemployed veterans who actively served the nation for the purpose of triggering confidence as well as ensuring stability within them (The House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, n.d.). The federal legislation or the bill possesses one main sponsor named Senator Murray Patty and 40 co-sponsors (The Library of Congress, 2011). The bill i.e. “The Hiring Heroes Act of 2011” is fundamentally regarded as a bipartisan, comprehensive as well as bicameral legislation which attempts to bring down the unemployment rate of the veterans belonging to the US. This bill was passed in the year 2011 and authorizes several significant ongoing services in order to develop effective programs especially for the veterans (The House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, n.d.). One of the political controversies which arose relating to the bill was regarding the introduction as well as continuation of a program which aimed at delivering rehabilitation as well as educational benefits to the veterans along with the severely injured members belonging to the armed forces (Jansson, 2011). This bill has been supported by various elected officials belonging to different states and local communities. The interesting aspect of this particular federal legislation or policy is that the bill cannot afford to leave behind the unemployed veterans of the US at any cost. The bill aimed to help the veterans by providing them employment so that they are able to provide active support to their individual families and sustain their self-esteem as well as pride. Moreover, the bill also intended to assist the veterans in order to prevent them from becoming homelessness. The federal government of the US strongly realized that the veterans were skilled, disciplined and acted as solid team players who served the nation but still had to witness unique barriers in finding employment. In order to mitigate this significant barrier, the bill intends to introduce as well as develop effective training programs relating to rehabilitation, vocational and most importantly employment benefits for the veterans as well as the members of the armed forces (Murray, n.d.). Part B: Problem Analysis: Why is this Bill substantively important? Why should the Mayor care? (1) The social problem relating to the federal legislation or policy i.e. “The Hiring Heroes Act of 2011” is that the veterans who were disciplined, skilled and served the US were incessantly witnessing crucial challenge in finding employment. It has been viewed that a huge portion of veterans or the heroes of the nation could not find jobs which ultimately restricted them from actively supporting their family. Moreover, they failed to earn a significant amount as their income which could provide them financial stability along with self-confidence and pride (The House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, n.d.). According to the recent statistics provided by the Department of Labor (DoL), it has been projected that the unemployment rate of the veterans aged between 20-24 years increased by 27 percent. The Mayor should identify the major cause of increased unemployment rate for the veterans. In this similar context it has been identified that the core reason for the rising unemployment rate with regard to the veterans is the incessant separation of the service members from the military services. This particular issue is supposed to be quite important for the community because the veterans who are considered to be the real heroes of the nation were incapable of supporting their families and failed to maintain their individual confidence and pride (Murray, n.d.). The term community is principally described as a cluster of different individuals who reside together in a specific region or place (Bartle, 2007). Moreover, the term has several distinctive meanings. It is often defined as a social unit which is bigger than a small village and shares various universal values (Peck, n.d.). (2) The legislation will solve or ease the problem relating to “The Hiring Heroes Act of 2011” by providing several important skills to the veterans as well as the members belonging to the armed forces with the help of training programs. The federal legislation or the bill might deliver job related training especially to the service members who intend to retire from military services. Moreover, apart from providing job trainings to the service members, the legislation might also assist them to participate in Transition Assistance Program (TAP) in which a few of the imperative skills would be taught. The imperative job skills can include interview capabilities, skills of resume writing and information regarding job search among others. Additionally, the proposed legislation would introduce as well as develop rehabilitation, vocational and employment related programs for the veterans and the associates belonging to the armed forces. The proposed legislation will impact on the problem or not can be known by capitalizing upon the investments which would be made for delivering effective training programs to the veterans as well as the different members of the armed forces (Murray, n.d.). It can be stated that the proposed bill or the legislative policy would actually help to ease or solve the problem encountered by the veterans as well as the members belonging to armed forces by considering successful programs and theories of the past. In this regard it can be stated that one of the imperative successful programs which supported the service members during their shift into civilian world was about delivering job-search assistance programs and associated services which were included in the Transition Assistance Program (TAP). This vital program established a partnership amid various divisions which included the Departments of Veterans Affairs, Defense and Transportation for the purpose of offering employment as well as training information to the veterans and other related members of the armed forces within a period of 6 months of their retirement from services (U.S. Department of Labor, n.d.). The program involved training sessions as well as workshops relating to job investigation, existing labor along with occupational market circumstances, occupation decision-making, preparation of resume as well as cover letter and interviewing methods (United States Army, 2012). By considering this valuable program, it can be stated that the federal policy or the bill can help to ease or solve the problem of the veterans and the members belonging to the armed forces by a considerable level. Part C: Existing resources to deal with problem There exists various significant resources in the community which already attempted to address the social problem i.e. unemployment of the veterans as well as the members of the armed forces who completed their military services and intended to opt for civil jobs. The Department of Veterans, different law makers and the individuals belonging to White House contributed greatly towards developing their knowledge, interests and funds in order to make jobs accessible particularly to the veterans and the associates belonging to armed forces. The resources available in the community which were included in the GI bill and generated innovative veteran benefits, ultimately addressed the social problem of the veterans and the members of the armed forces by a certain degree. Apart from the government initiatives, different non-governmental organizations (NGOs) also engaged their valuable resources in order to address the social problem faced by the veterans (Debt.org, 2012). The effectiveness of the resource i.e. GI bill lies in the fact that the bill delivers effective support in terms of education as well as training programs to the veterans and the members of the armed forces who retire from the military services in order to obtain suitable jobs. The training programs include vocational or technical training, tutorial guide, entrepreneurship education and national testing programs (U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, 2012). The other innovative veteran benefits include the bills delivering tax credits particularly for the hiring veterans and supporting the veterans and members of the armed forces along with their spouses in order to obtain jobs around military bases (Debt.org, 2012). Apart from the governmental initiatives, it has been apparently observed that the NGOs also introduced as well as developed effective resources to address the social problem faced by the veterans and the members of the armed forces. The resources of the NGOs include delivering effectual training sessions regarding career development and on-job assistance to the veterans and the other members along with offering them comprehensive employment solutions (Veterans2Work, n.d.). It can be assumed that there are not enough resources in order to deal with the social problem of the veterans and the members of the armed forces. Thus, the proposed legislation needs to increase or develop certain other important resources for dealing with the problem in an enhanced manner. In order to deal with the social problem of the veterans and the members of the armed forces, the proposed legislation or the bill can expand the education as well as training sessions or programs, enhance the TAP, provide access to seamless transition and strengthening of the GI bill along with the bill related to tax credits of the veterans (The House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, n.d.). Moreover, apart from these valuable resources, the proposed legislation or the bill should also continue the programs which deliver rehabilitation as well as employment advantageous services to the veterans and the associates belonging to armed forces and making it mandatory for them to indulge in the TAP. Furthermore, other form of resources or programs also should be ideally developed for offering incessant employment as well as vocational services to the veterans and most importantly for initiating competitive grant proposals with regard to the NGOs to provide effective training programs to the veterans (Murray, n.d.). Part D: Stakeholders: Getting down to the details Currently, the legislative or the bill is being enacted by the Senate as well as the House of Representatives of the US along with the different officials belonging to White House (U.S. Government Printing Office, n.d.). It has been viewed that an individual named Jim Demint who is regarded as a republican belonging to South Carolina did not support or is believed to be against the policy or the bill. According to Jim Demint, the veterans belonging to the US should not avail the special treatment advocated in the policy as it is believed by him that the US government would provide additional privileges to a particular American over another when the bill comes into effect (Salon Media Group, Inc., 2012). Perhaps, the individual community members amid the veterans might not be aware of the issue or the legislative policy who may be interested in supporting this legislation. This can be due to the reason that there may be a few veterans who require employment for which they might seek the assistance of the state counselors. These state counselors might not possess any sort of idea relating to the issue or the bill which in turn can deprive the veterans from supporting this particular legislation (The Independent Budget, 2013). The senator of South Carolina may oppose the policy or the bill due to the reason that the bill is expected to perform inadequately to reduce unemployment rates as it mainly emphasizes upon long-term plans and not on short-term incentives (South Carolina Radio Network, 2012). References Bartle, P. (2007). What is community? Retrieved from http://cec.vcn.bc.ca/cmp/whatcom.htm Debt.org. (2012). Veterans, jobs and unemployment. Retrieved from http://www.debt.org/veterans/jobs-and-unemployment/ Jansson, B. S. (2011). Becoming an effective policy advocate: from policy practice to social justice. United States: Brooks-Cole. Murray, P. (n.d.). The hiring heroes act of 2011. Retrieved from http://www.murray.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/0ea542fe-c8c9-4d9a-ae4d-bc67ffa0f909/HiringHeroesAct-Summary.pdf Murray, P. (n.d.). The hiring heroes act of 2011. Retrieved from http://www.murray.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/b5ea8a59-cf83-46fb-9839-3ac71c7e1dd6/Hiring%20Heroes%20Act%20of%202011%20one%20pager.pdf Peck, M. S. (n.d.). The true meaning of community. Retrieved from http://fce-community.org/storage/true%20meaning%20of%20community.pdf Salon Media Group, Inc. (2012). Vow to hire heroes act of 2011. Retrieved from http://open.salon.com/blog/donald_manns/2011/11/11/vow_to_hire_heroes_act_of_2011 South Carolina Radio Network. (2012). DeMint opposes tax credits for hiring veterans, saying it won’t help. Retrieved from http://www.southcarolinaradionetwork.com/2011/11/11/demint-opposes-tax-credits-for-hiring-veterans-saying-it-wont-help/ The House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs. (n.d.). VOW to hire heroes act of 2011. Retrieved from http://veterans.house.gov/vow The Library of Congress. (2011). Bill summary & status. Retrieved from http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d112:s.951: The Independent Budget. (2013). Education, employment and training. Retrieved from http://www.independentbudget.org/2013/07-231-260-EET-C.pdf U.S. Department of Labor. (n.d.). Transition assistance program. Retrieved from http://www.dol.gov/vets/programs/tap/tap_fs.htm United States Army. (2012). Transition assistance program (TAP). Retrieved from http://myarmybenefits.us.army.mil/Home/Benefit_Library/Federal_Benefits_Page/Transition_Assistance_Program_%28TAP%29.html U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. (2012). The post-9/11 GI-Bill. Retrieved from http://www.gibill.va.gov/benefits/post_911_gibill/index.html U.S. Government Printing Office. (n.d.). S. 951. Retrieved from http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-112s951is/pdf/BILLS-112s951is.pdf Veterans2Work. (n.d.). Helping veterans and business succeed together. Retrieved from http://www.veterans2work.org/sites/default/files/V2W%20Case%20Statement.pdf Read More