Bloomberg Campaign Press Release - Mike Bloomberg Outlined His Plan to Strengthen Economic Security for Veterans and Military Families in North Carolina Today

Mike Bloomberg 2020 Opened Field Offices in Raleigh and Fayetteville

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — Today in Fayetteville, N.C., Democratic presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg announced his plan to help ensure our nation's veterans and military families have economic security as they transition into civilian life. This starts with helping them find good jobs, increasing their financial literacy, and protecting them from predatory lenders.

In addition to announcing his policy, Mike met with voters, supporters, and staff in Raleigh and Fayetteville. The campaign – which is targeting critical Super Tuesday states – has hired more than 80 staff across North Carolina, quadrupling Mike Bloomberg 2020 staff in North Carolina since Mike's first visit to the Tar Heel State. On December 15, he opened his first campaign field office in the country in Charlotte, citing North Carolina as a key state in the 2020 presidential election and today opened offices in Raleigh and Fayetteville. North Carolina is also one of the five states where he has committed to registering 500,000 voters from traditionally underrepresented groups.

During an event with veterans and military families in Fayetteville, home to Fort Bragg – the largest military installation with more than 50,000 active duty personnel, including the 82nd Airborne – Mike said that our commitment to those who have served our country in the military should last beyond the moment of discharge and should extend into helping veterans transition from military life to civilian life, something that many veterans struggle with.

"There are 20 million veterans in the U.S...and right now we're failing them," Mike said. "To do right by our veterans and military families we need to do more than recognize what they've done and experienced in uniform. We also need to recognize what they can offer as civilians.

"Remember: the Greatest Generation didn't get their name just because they won World War II, but also because they came home, built the middle class, and created the strongest economy the world has ever seen. It's time for this country to tap into that limitless potential again."

Mike said that veterans are an incredible resource and we must do everything possible to help them find good jobs.

"They return home with hundreds of unique and valuable skills," Mike said. "And, many have management experience and leadership potential more than the average CEO. But one third of veterans are underemployed. That is just unacceptable. It's a moral failure, and it's just not not good business sense either"

Mike's plan:

• Creates a central repository of the skills required for a military position and the most common civilian jobs that are related.
• Educates companies to better understand the unique skills that veterans bring to the workforce, including the value in including veterans as part of their diversity-and-inclusion efforts.
• Calls for the collection of data and developing systems to better evaluate the needs of veterans in order to inform and prioritize future employment support services.
• Offers credentialing services and support throughout a veteran's entire career.
• Makes employment and education benefits available to veterans, and provides critical financial literacy support to help protect veterans and their families from predatory lenders.
• Helps veterans transition to life outside of the military and into new communities.

Mike also announced a national organizing program that rallies veterans and military families to support his candidacy for president. The group, called Veterans and Military Families for Mike, is a national program that identifies and welcomes veterans and military families to join the Mike Bloomberg 2020 campaign effort. Veterans and Military Families for Mike is led by Major General Paul Kennedy, U.S. Marine Corps, Retired.

"Sometime around November, a new voice was heard and many of you are probably here today because you also heard a new voice with a different note. Rather than people that 'say,' here is a person that 'does.' There are a lot of talkers and not too many doers in this world. And so, I paid attention," said Paul Kennedy, Major General, U.S. Marine Corps, Retired, and Senior Advisor on Veterans and Military Families. "Mike Bloomberg was not a personality that was unknown to me. In a previous job, I had worked in and out of New York City and starting virtually months after the fall of the [World Trade Center] towers, Mayor Bloomberg got involved in representing the people of New York on the national scene in fighting this war against terror."

He continued, "He piloted programs back in his term as mayor to reach out to military families, to look out for veterans who weren't always being taken care of. He made great strides as Mayor of New York in reducing homelessness amongst veterans and opening up opportunities for veterans so they could find jobs or they could find the right counseling in the VA centers. In fact, he fought to keep VA centers in the city from closing. He's applied that expertise in building what I think is the most comprehensive platform that I have heard in supporting veterans and military families. If somebody with the experience that to me that embodies the American dream — of somebody who started in Medford, Massachusetts and brought himself the highest levels of what Americans can achieve — then I would be willing to back that person if they were to get behind my veteran community, behind my military families. That is the person that we need to champion the young men and women who are going into harm's way, who selflessly don't look for anything other than what they have been promised from their elected leaders. I think Mayor Bloomberg is the person who will fulfill those promises."