SANFORD -- Central Carolina Community College's Veterans Upward Bound program partnered with Wake Technical Community College to offer a Veterans Services Summit on Saturday, March 28, in Raleigh.

Nearly 100 veterans and their family members attended the event to learn more about VA benefits and how to access them most effectively. The free event included exhibits and workshops on job search skills, home ownership, and financial resources for veterans interested in entrepreneurship and owning their own business.

Representatives from the N.C. Division of Veterans Affairs, Wake County Veterans Services Office, Raleigh Vet Center Mobile RV, Vet to CEO, the U.S. Small Business Association, Dress for Success, American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Wounded Warrior Project, MDC — NC Get Covered, N.C. Foreclosure Fund, and N.C. Justice Center were on hand to talk with veterans.

Keynote speaker Rusty Edmister, from the N.C. Military Veteran Oral History Project, shared N.C. veterans’ stories. The Capital City Chapter of Young Marines led the presentation of colors and the Pledge of Allegiance to kick off the event, and served as event ambassadors throughout the day. "Veterans Upward Bound has a goal of creating accessibility for veterans to engage the resources that are most needed,” said Wilson Lester, Outreach Coordinator, Veterans Upward Bound Program. “The Veterans Services Summit is just one way we accomplish this goal and through our partnership with Wake Tech we were able to provide this opportunity to the more than 40,000 veterans living in Wake County."

The summit was organized and funded primarily by Wake Tech's ACTS Project, with support from CCCC's Veterans Upward Bound program.

ACTS is a grant program at Wake Tech that allows veterans to convert time served in the military into college credits, fast-track through training programs, and earn credentials for employment. The ACTS Project is sponsored by the Walmart Foundation and supported by the Institute for Military Veterans and Families at Syracuse University.

Veterans Upward Bound is a federally-funded TRiO program serving veterans in Chatham, Harnett, Johnston, Lee, and Wake counties by providing free services to prepare the veterans for post-secondary education.

For more information about the Veterans Upward Bound program, call (919) 718-7463, email veteransub@cccc.edu, or visit the program's website: www.cccc.edu/vub.