Veterans Assistance Center

Well, the VAC program is basically for anyone that's trying to get a new start and we work with three different programs. We work with programs for State Center College, DSS, and we try to get everybody involved. The program is basically free. You don't have to pay anything to be in the program. We take you through a 12-week journey that gets you ready for the union trades in Fresno. And after that, we get you placed in a company that's not just a job, it's a career. I think my favorite part about being in Valley Apprenticeship Connections for 12 weeks was the hands-on experience that we got with the Pacific Southwest Building and just learning, getting all the certifications, learning new stuff that I knew I could take with me when it comes to like other jobs. And there's just like a lot of fallback when it comes to the certifications. And it's just like a vast piece of like tools that could help you with pretty much most of the trades jobs. So I felt like that really was a big part of knowing that there was that stability of if this doesn't work out, then this will work out. Well, everything here was new for me. I liked that it was very hands-on and then there was teachers to help you and show you like what to do and stuff. What I really enjoy is when someone come in and they're really unsure and at the end of the program they actually landed a job that could be anywhere from 21 to 25 dollars an hour and they're happy to help their family and then they actually share that information with family members and friends and then we get somebody in the next class that actually communicated with that person. So we get a lot of people based on people who took the program. It really was hard to hang in there. It was hard to find just honestly the motivation some days. There's some days you just don't want to do it. Some days you don't want to get up. And having two kids myself, I know it's hard with kids. It's it's just it's hard in general. It's not going to be easy, but if you hang in there it'll definitely pay out. And I know this now from experience because the whole time during the 12 weeks I was, I knew it was going to be good, but there's still that kind of like iffiness that you're like well what if, what if, what if. But it's definitely now being out of the class and and seeing everything and all the opportunities there are and how many places need people and how much they're paying and it's it's it's definitely worth it and if you hang in there you're going to see that too. Well I have a problem with being on time but here I knew that they had a strict policy well you only have this a certain amount of times to not be here or to be late so it made me like really be on end of being here on time and every day. Now that the program's over I am in a traffic management company that was one of my huge stepping stones and my long-term goal is to get into the electricians union and I feel like just getting the certifications and everything it's just it's been really helpful it makes me really excited for the future because it's there's just so much that could happen you know I didn't I honestly didn't picture being this far so just being where I am right now is really exciting.