By Jim Desmond
San Diego County is home to one of the nation’s largest population of veterans. As of 2021, more than 200,000 veterans call San Diego County their home. Although San Diego County is historically known as a military town, our veteran unemployment numbers are higher compared to other counties.
As a veteran of the U.S. Navy, I’ve made it a priority to do all we can for those who protect our country.
Today, the Board of Supervisors unanimously passed an effort to increase recruitment, retention, and outreach efforts for our veterans. The County of San Diego should be leading the effort, with over 20,000 employees, we will now make a focus of looking at our veteran community. It is vital to ensure that those who bravely served our country have all the opportunities of employment with the county and I look forward to working alongside fellow veterans for the years to come. We are a military town, and the County of San Diego should lead the way when it comes to recruiting veterans.
Keeping with the military theme, I wanted to update you on two other efforts that were passed unanimously at our Board of Supervisors meeting. I proposed through our Neighborhood Reinvestment Program to allocate $20,000 to the Armed Services YMCA Camp Pendleton. This will go towards the purchase of toys, bicycles, and gifts to support Camp Pendleton’s Holiday Program. This is a program that helps military families, especially kids while their parents may be away on duty.
Also, I proposed to allocate $50,000 to Devil Pups, Inc. which will help with the cost of uniforms, training manuals, challenge coins, awards for character building, and many other items for their program. The Devil Pups program is for boys and girls, ages 14-17, and takes place at Camp Pendleton. It is a demanding physical and academic good citizenship program that builds character at a vital point in someone’s life. I’m a big believer in the program and have seen first-hand lives changed because of it.
