For part III of this blog I will cover Northwest Edge (now called The Leading Edge).
Northwest Edge is a JBLM specific transition program that focuses on transitioning military staying in the Seattle/JBLM area. To participate in this program you had to be staying in the JBLM/Seattle area after your separation. You had to have an approved ACAP resume and permission from your commander to participate. The program is set up for 7 weeks with attendance on every Tuesday.

Northwest Edge is a great transition program. The two main facilitators, Ann Reiter and Elisabeth Rocha were outstanding. You could tell they really cared about giving the participants the tools they needed to have a successful transition. They would often take time out of their day to provide extra assistance. For example, both would often meet with participants after hours to provide extra resume assistance.

Northwest Edge at the time I attended received no funding from the Department of Defense or from JBLM SfL-TAP. So it was entirely funded by donations and by the personnel who set up the program. Hopefully, this has changed by now, as funding was being requested from different sources.

Each week would bring a different focus area to the program. Also each week a different agency came to lead the focus area. So we were able to meet with various business leaders in the community to learn what they looked for in prospective job candidates.

We had sessions with State of Washington leaders, local business leaders, manufacturing leaders and previous graduates of the program to name just a few.
This program is value added to the transition process. Each session was informative and provided insights on how to navigate the job search process.

This program is JBLM/Seattle area specific. However, because of the great feedback and great success, there are plans to expand this program to other military installations. If The Leading Edge comes to your installation, I would recommend you participate.