Veterans Electrical Entry Program (VEEP)

Every year, about 200,000 service members leave the military and must reorient their lives. Transitioning back to civilian life and finding meaningful work can be stressful, especially for veterans who do not have college diplomas. Unemployment and homelessness are even cited by the Department of Veterans Affairs as factors in the distressing suicide rate among veterans.(1)

Veterans need good jobs and America needs more electricians. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that the need for electricians will increase by a remarkable 11%—about 80,200 openings per year—between 2023 and 2033.(2) From power generation, improving our aging transmission grid, and needed telecommunications infrastructure growth to commercial electrical systems and much more, the success of American infrastructure and construction projects depend on the availability of trained electrical workers.

The U.S. General Accounting Office found that on-the-job training (OJT) and apprenticeship programs “helped [veterans] transition to civilian life” and that “the supplemental income the programs provided helped them offset income losses they experienced when leaving the military.”(3)

1. https://www.mentalhealth.va.gov/docs/data-sheets/2022/2022-National-Veteran-Suicide-Prevention-Annual-Report-FINAL-508.pdf, pg. 36

(2) https://www.bls.gov/ooh/construction-and-extraction/electricians.htm

(3) https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-16-51

The Veterans Electrical Entry Program (VEEP) is a pre-apprenticeship program for military personnel who want to enter the electrical workforce. Sponsored by the electrical training ALLIANCE—the premier provider of curricula for the electrical industry—VEEP offers a career opportunity with rewarding work, good benefits, opportunities for advancement, and family-sustaining wages. When VEEP graduates move on to a registered apprenticeship program (RAP), they receive paid-on-the-job training—including healthcare and pension benefits—as well as related classroom instruction.

VEEP is open to:

• Active-duty service members within 180 days of separation. These personnel can enroll through the Department of Defense’s SkillBridge program, receiving their regular pay and benefits while attending VEEP classes.

• Veterans up to five years after separation, with a general discharge, under honorable conditions.

VEEP is provided at no cost to participants. Service members and veterans who do not live near a VEEP training center can take the inside wire program online, using computer mediated learning (CML) modules to study mathematics and electrical theory. Hybrid options are also available, starting with online learning and then transitioning to in-person training. VEEP also offers a program for prospective lineworkers.

Five-minute video about VEEP here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMkFexDyYgo

VEEP serves members of all branches of the U.S. military, including the National Guard and Reserve. It provides transitioning members and veterans with the education they need to join the nation’s electrical workforce at solid middle-class wages. 

With nearly 300 RAPs nationwide—including all states within Truist’s footprint—veterans have a wide choice of where to complete their electrical training. Once they finish VEEP, they can do their apprenticeship near where they were stationed before separation, near their hometown, or at another location of their choice. This is a strong benefit for transitioning service members, who often want to return home or start a new life in a different area after their service. The RAP location is determined—and a space in the RAP reserved—before students enter VEEP, so they know right away where they will be working and living in the future. Because of the growing need for electricians, there is a high probability that apprenticeship program graduates (journeyworker electricians) will be able to find permanent employment in that same area.

VEEP also meets veterans’ needs by letting them choose between inside electrician and lineworker training. Both types of jobs are in high demand throughout the United States.

The electrical training ALLIANCE’s best-in-class electrical training curricula is used by joint apprenticeship training committees (JATCs) around the U.S. JATCs are sponsored by local chapters of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) and the National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA), ensuring that apprentices get best-in-class training and receive union wages and benefits. Because of the JATCs’ close connections with local labor and employers, each JATC is intimately aware of its community’s unique needs for both job training and skilled workers.

Veterans consistently tell us that transitioning to the civilian world is very stressful and they tend to seek opportunities near their families. Our response is to provide veterans’ guaranteed placement at a JATC of their choice upon VEEP graduation.

To provide the best possible service and choices to veterans wherever they live, the VEEP program is coordinated nationally by the ALLIANCE. VEEP is currently offered at seven in-person locations around the United States (six for inside electricians and one for lineworkers), with online-only options available. VEEP graduates are guaranteed enrollment in an electrical registered apprenticeship program (RAP) because students are only accepted into the program after we have verified that a place will be available in an apprenticeship program of their choice. There are over 270 inside wire RAPs around the country and nine lineworker RAPs. In many cases, local JATCs offer “direct entry” to VEEP graduates, without additional interviews.

In addition to our close relationships with communities around the country thanks to our JATC partners, the ALLIANCE collaborates with federal agencies relevant to the VEEP program. We have a memorandum of understanding with the U.S. Department of Defense’s SkillBridge program to provide job training to transitioning service members, which allows these individuals to enroll in VEEP before separation.

Since its launch in 2018, the VEEP program has graduated 668 individuals into electrical apprenticeships.

VEEP classes are available at six locations in Alaska, California, Florida, Georgia, Texas, and Utah serving approximately 200 students per year. As an approved Department of Defense SkillBridge program, transitioning military personnel may complete inside electrician VEEP classes online from anywhere in the world, with permission from their commanding officer.

Grants from the U.S. Department of Labor, the Florida Department of Education, and Carhartt support inside electrician VEEP cohorts in California, Alaska, and Florida. The ALLIANCE and participating apprenticeship programs across the country have built relationships with military bases and veteran-serving organizations, including Helmets to Hardhats and The CDL School–Troops Into Transportation.

So far, 303 transitioning military and veterans have graduated from the inside electrician VEEP, with 98% of these graduates registered in inside electrician registered apprenticeship programs across the country. To date, 133 inside electrician registered apprenticeship programs accept VEEP graduates.

Quanta Services—a Texas-based corporation that builds infrastructure for the utility, renewable energy, communications, pipeline and energy industries—has sponsored the VEEP program for lineworkers at its Lazy Q “bootcamp” in La Grange, Texas. To date, the Quanta VEEP program has graduated 365 veterans, with 99% of graduates entered into one of the nine lineworker apprenticeship programs across the country.

https://in2veep.com/

Service members have many options for future work and job training when they leave the military, but the electrical training ALLIANCE’s Veterans Electrical Entry Program offers these strong benefits:

• Free pre-apprenticeship training. To honor the service of our nation’s veterans, VEEP is offered without charge to participants. At the lineworker “bootcamp,” they even receive free room and board as well as a wage.

• Guaranteed entry to a registered apprenticeship program (RAP). Individuals are only accepted into VEEP once the ALLIANCE has been able to reserve a spot in a RAP for them at the end of their pre-apprenticeship studies. All RAPs affiliated with VEEP are co-sponsored by labor and employer groups, so VEEP graduates receive paid on-the-job training at union wages all during their apprenticeships. When they complete the RAP, they become journeyworker electricians or lineworkers with solid middle-class wages—an income level that even many graduates of four-year colleges do not achieve quickly.

• Choice. VEEP participants can choose where to take their pre-apprenticeship training, and then where to do their apprenticeship. For inside electricians, VEEP is available in in-person, online, and hybrid versions.

• No student debt. VEEP participants who go on to four- or five-year apprenticeships finish those programs without the student debt that burdens so many young people. They only have to pay modest tuition fees for online courses, plus the cost of textbooks and work tools. In many cases, the organizations sponsoring RAPs raise funds to provide books and tools at no cost to incoming apprentices. Some RAPs also offer stipends for childcare and/or transportation to further reduce barriers for individuals wanting to do apprenticeships.

• College credits. For apprentices who wish to pursue higher education, many RAPs have agreements with local colleges to offer college credits for their apprenticeship programs.

Our short-term impact goal for scaling up VEEP is to be able to accept more veterans into the program. Specifically, by 2028, we would like to have the administrative and training capacity to enroll 600 inside electrician and 670 lineworker transitioning service members and veterans into VEEP annually. The ALLIANCE now receives about 2,700 VEEP applications per year, but only has spots available for about 330 individuals. To meet the demand, we need to scale:

• Our ability to manage the program. We need additional staff plus a robust database program that can match applicants not only with a specific VEEP program (location and starting date), but also with a specific apprenticeship program (location and starting date). Guaranteed enrollment in an electrical RAP is a vital element of the VEEP program, but it is very complicated due to there being nearly 300 RAPs around the country, each with its own RAP schedule and capacity.

• Recruitment of new VEEP sites. To meet the demand from our nation’s service members, we must find more JATCs that are willing to provide the VEEP pre-apprenticeship training, and help them launch the program. We are primarily looking for more inside electrician locations, although we also need at least one more VEEP site for lineworkers.

• Coalition building. VEEP has the support of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) and the National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA). We want to continue to spread the word about VEEP among NECA-member employers, who may be interested in sponsoring VEEP cohorts. We also want to partner with more veteran serving organizations to help provide veterans with the wraparound services that they need while in VEEP. 

• Longer term, we want to track VEEP graduates in their apprenticeship program, including retention and graduation rates.

Currently, the direct VEEP staff consists of one full-time employee and two part-time staff working for the ALLIANCE’s headquarters. There are also 10 training directors (or assistant training directors), 10 instructors, and four support staff at the JATCs that offer VEEP.

The electrical training ALLIANCE launched the VEEP program for inside electricians in 2018 and for lineworkers in 2019.

The electrical training ALLIANCE and our partners are acutely aware of the need to diversify our nation’s electrical workforce. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that in 2023, men made up 97.1% of electricians and White individuals accounted for 87.3%.* Such demographics are not only morally unacceptable, they are also unsustainable if our country is to meet its growing need for electricians.

Therefore, electrical unions, contractors, and training providers such as the ALLIANCE are devoting significant effort to recruiting more women and non-White men to electrical careers. The VEEP program provides a particularly favorable way of accomplishing this goal because of the wide diversity of individuals in U.S. military forces.

In 2020, the ALLIANCE, NECA, and IBEW established a Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging (DEIB) Joint Task Force in the wake of the George Floyd murder and other social injustices. The task force is focused on increasing retention of underrepresented workers by fostering a culture of inclusivity and belonging in the electrical trades. Current activities include launching mentorship programs for women of color, developing a data visualization application to assess whether apprentice and journeyworker demographics reflect the local community, and creating a DEIB resource website.

In addition, the ALLIANCE participates in the Electrical Workers’ Minority Caucus, whose primary mission is to promote equity, equal opportunity and employment for minorities and underrepresented workers at all levels of the IBEW structure.

*https://www.bls.gov/cps/cpsaat11.htm

The Veterans Electrical Entry program is a collaboration between the nationwide electrical training ALLIANCE and local JATCs around the country—both the JATCs that offer the VEEP pre-apprenticeship training, and the ones who agree to accept each VEEP graduate.

The ALLIANCE manages the VEEP program, funding those administrative costs from our budget. We also currently provide the VEEP curriculum at no cost to the JATCs that sponsor VEEP, which is why they are able to offer the program free to VEEP participants. The ALLIANCE is looking for a sustainable way to keep providing the curriculum at no cost, such as grants and sponsors. When possible through grants, the ALLIANCE also pays for instructors and consumables (lab materials such as wiring and conduit) at VEEP programs.

The VEEP program is financially sustainable at its current capacity. The electrical training ALLIANCE and JATCs are using grant funds to pay for the VEEP curriculum for inside wireman and to pay for consumables and instructor hours for the hands-on training portion of VEEP. Currently, the only VEEP location for lineworkers is sponsored by Quanta in Texas. 

However, the ALLIANCE needs additional funding in order to scale the program to meet the demand of American service members for our life-changing program. Our scaling efforts include building more collaborations with veteran-serving and other organizations interested in workforce training to sponsor VEEP participants. Our goal is to continue to provide VEEP at no cost to participants.

As they do for other pre-apprentices, many JATCs seek outside funding to cover the course fees and textbook costs for VEEP students. Most individuals wishing to enter the electrical trade are from low-income households, so the cost of textbooks and online curricula can be a financial barrier to them establishing a middle-class career. For the same reason, JATCs are increasingly partnering with local nonprofit organizations that can provide supportive services to VEEP participants, such as childcare, transportation, and registering for public benefits.

The electrical training ALLIANCE sees multiple benefits in working with Truist and MIT to expand the VEEP program. 

If we are chosen as an Inspire Award semifinalist, the $10,000 grant would partially cover the $50,000 cost of the database software we need to match many more veterans to pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship programs in locations of their choice. A finalist award would partially or entirely support for at least one year the additional staff members we need to manage the database and recruit more JATCs to the VEEP program.

We are also excited about the networking and support opportunities possible through the Inspire Awards. The ALLIANCE and our partner JATCs have some outreach opportunities through SkillBridge and at local military bases, but we know that there are many other transitioning service personnel and veterans who could benefit from VEEP if they only knew about it. We would therefore value assistance with finding and collaborating with other organizations that focus on workforce training for veterans on how best to reach this population and present our program to them.