Cook County appoints new director of veterans affairs department

Calvin Young has been appointed to serve as director of Cook County’s Department of Veterans Affairs.

Young brings three decades of experience in the public and private sector, as well as 20 concurrent years of service in the Illinois Army National Guard, officials said.

He most recently served as program manager at Entrepreneurs Academy, which provides entrepreneurial training in low-income, historically disinvested communities in the Chicago region.

He also served as the executive director of the National Guard Association of Illinois, which represents more than 21,000 current and retired members.

Young began his career in the guard as an avionics radar specialist. He later became an engineering officer, supporting military readiness, infrastructure planning and multi-disciplinary project coordination.