In March of 2011, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce launched Hiring Our Heroes, a nationwide initiative to help veterans and military spouses find meaningful employment. Working with our network of 1600 state and local chambers and other strategic partners from the public, private, and non-profit sectors, our goal was to create a movement across America in hundreds of local communities where veterans and military families return every day.

In our first 10 months, Hiring Our Heroes has hosted 95 hiring fairs in 44 states and the District of Columbia, connecting more than 88,000 veterans and military spouses with 4,500 different employers. More than 8,000 have gotten jobs.

We will significantly expand our efforts in 2012 with hiring fairs in 400 communities, the establishment of a stand-alone program for military spouses, and a sustained campaign to enlist the commitments of hundreds of thousands of small businesses to hire veterans and military spouses by the end of 2014.

Our year-one goal is to connect 100,000 veterans and military spouses with employment opportunities in 100 hiring fairs from March 2011 to March 2012.