WR veterans center celebrating first year of helping with military transitions

A training center aimed at helping military veterans re-enter civilian life is celebrating its first year of operation.

The Georgia Veterans Education Career Transition Resource Center, or VECTR, is holding an open house from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesday, and the public is welcome.

“It’s gone fantastic,” said retired Air Force Col. Patricia Ross, executive director of the center, when asked about the first year. “We have reached more people and have done more than I ever thought possible in one year.

“In my mind it just speaks to the huge need that we have.”

Tables will be set up at the open house to allow veterans and others to learn about services the center provides. Partnering agencies on hand will include the Georgia Department of Veterans Services, the Department of Labor, Middle Georgia Work Source Board, the Department of Veterans Affairs, Mission United of the United Way, and Central Georgia Technical College.

Refreshments will be available, as well as tours of the facility.

The 32,000-square-foot center is at 1001 S. Armed Force Blvd. It opened Aug. 2 last year as a centralized agency to help veterans across the state who are leaving military service and entering the civilian world.

Barry Pruitt is among the men and women who’ve drawn help from the center. He especially praised Heidi Moore, a resiliency officer there.

“Heidi stepped in and saved my life,” he said. “She provided me with emotional and mental support. You are talking to one grateful individual.”

Among other things, the center connected Pruitt with Volunteers of America, and for nine months the faith-based nonprofit helped him.

“VECTR has turned his life around and provided him with a variety of resources,” Ross said.

Ross said the center has served 8,600 people with educational coaching, career counseling, community resource assistance, resume assistance and workforce training. About 75 percent of those served come for the Georgia Department of Veterans Services, which helps veterans with benefits and had been in Warner Robins City Hall before the center opened.

But about a quarter of those who come for those services also seek other assistance while they are there.

Since January, almost 40 percent of those seen at the center have come from outside the 11-county area served by Central Georgia Technical College. Also since January, 240 people have taken courses at the center.

The technical college teaches commercial truck driving, information technology and welding at the center. This fall it will add heating and air conditioning courses.

When the center opened, it was jointly operated by Central Georgia Technical College and Middle Georgia State University, but in February the Board of Regents voted to give the technical college sole responsibility for operating it.

The “one-stop shop” model for helping veterans has drawn interest from Kentucky, Tennessee and North Carolina, a release said.

Ross wants to reach even more members of the armed forces as they transition to civilian life, and Wednesday’s open house should help get out the word.

“If they are asked if they have heard of VECTR, I hope they will be able to say yes,” she said.

The VECTR Center received the 2016 Innovation Award from the University System of Georgia and the Good Government Service Award from the 2016 Robins Regional Chamber of Commerce.

This story was originally published July 27, 2017 at 6:13 PM with the headline "WR veterans center celebrating first year of helping with military transitions."