Goodwill Industries International in Rockville, Maryland, has announced a $5 million grant from the Walmart Foundation in support of an initiative designed to connect veterans and military families with meaningful employment.

The grant will be used to expand Operation: GoodJobs, enabling Goodwill to provide the tools and resources needed to connect veterans and military families with meaningful work and financial stability, and to connect employers and job creators with a large, highly skilled pool of potential employees. Launched in 2012 with a $1 million grant from the Walmart Foundation, Operation: GoodJobs helped eight hundred veterans and family members in two states secure meaningful employment in its first year. Based on the success of that pilot, the Walmart Foundation renewed its commitment in 2013 with $5 million in funding to expand the initiative to four states with high concentrations of veterans: California, New York, North Carolina, and Texas.

In this next phase, the initiative will be expanded to South Carolina, with a special emphasis on resources and job training programs for female veterans — a fast-growing subpopulation within the veteran community. In addition to providing opportunities to advance careers through job placement, career navigation, and skills attainment, the initiative will address the complicated path that veterans must navigate to access resources and support designed to help them transition from military service to the civilian workforce.

"While we are excited that military veterans' and families' unemployment rates are declining, underemployment persists," said Goodwill senior vice president of strategy and advancement Wendi Copeland. "Goodwill is proud to continue our work through Operation: GoodJobs as we leverage the knowledge and partnerships we've gained during the initiative's previous four years to connect even more of our country's heroes with the opportunities they have earned."