{"id":472826,"date":"2026-10-22T01:00:13","date_gmt":"2026-10-22T01:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/472826\/"},"modified":"2026-10-22T01:00:13","modified_gmt":"2026-10-22T01:00:13","slug":"abc13-whos-hiring-job-fair-focuses-on-help-for-disabled-veterans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/472826\/","title":{"rendered":"ABC13 Who’s Hiring Job Fair focuses on help for disabled veterans"},"content":{"rendered":"

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — Vanessa Cervantes spent five years in the Army, where she says she helped create maps. But the path forward after leaving the military was not easy.<\/p>\n

After becoming a mom, Cervantes said she did not know where to turn for her career.<\/p>\n

“Honestly, I was a little lost. I didn’t know where to go, where to start. What was available. It was a journey of educating myself,” Cervantes said.<\/p>\n

A disability made things harder, she said. Unsure where to go, Cervantes discovered a free vocational rehabilitation program through the Texas Workforce Commission. A counselor helped her return to school and cover her tuition for a master’s degree in architecture.<\/p>\n

“It was honestly one of the greatest decisions I could have ever made. Truthfully. If I had the chance to do it again, I would,” Cervantes said.<\/p>\n

The September jobs<\/a> report shows the female veteran unemployment rate is nearly double that of nonveteran women. For disabled veterans, the unemployment rate is double that of non-disabled people.<\/p>\n

Experts say the most challenging part is getting people to ask for help.<\/p>\n

“I hate to say it, no hope of being successful in being able to take care of their family, and just having all of the hope in the world,” Jo Ikard, a district manager with the Texas Veterans Commission, said.<\/p>\n

Cervantes said she feels she has made another life-changing decision and hopes it will help her for the rest of her life.<\/p>\n

“Just extremely blessed and so thankful for these programs and the work they put in not just for me but for everyone they help,” Cervantes said.<\/p>\n

The services are available through Workforce Solutions locations, which offer jobs and other resources. Experts on the programs will be available Thursday morning starting at 9 a.m. as part of ABC13’s Who’s Hiring Job Fair, which will also cover a hiring event for veterans.<\/p>\n

ABC13 will also have information about Workforce Solutions’ large hiring red, white, and you<\/a> event for veterans happening in November.<\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2026 KTRK-TV. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — Vanessa Cervantes spent five years in the Army, where she says she helped create…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":472827,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[160210,56,58,57],"class_list":["post-472826","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-160210","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472826","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=472826"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472826\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/472827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=472826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=472826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=472826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}