How We Can Support Our Military Families: Supporting Community-Based Programs That Enhance Military Quality of Life

Abstract: Today the role of defense communities has only grown more significant as installations have evolved from closed enclaves in past decades to integrated entities in a broader community ecosystem. About 70 percent of military families now live off-base, placing the burden for providing public services such as education, workforce development, spouse employment opportunities, family support services, housing opportunities and other quality of life programs largely on local communities. Over the past decade, DOD and the military services have steadily increased their expectations that communities and states will continue to provide and improve these types of services. The Defense State Liaison Office now produces annual “report cards” highlighting which states have or have not implemented DOD-sponsored legislation. The report focuses on a wide range of quality of-life issues, including spouse employment, military child education, exceptional family member support, domestic abuse prevention and discrimination protections. The Air Force now produces a similar scorecard which ranks communities on their level of support for military child education and spouse employment tying these to future basing decisions. The other military services are currently developing their own reporting frameworks. With quality of life connected to military retention, recruitment and future basing decisions, communities are now often being asked to provide more than they are capable of. In many cases, states and communities bear the entire burden of financing local quality of life efforts. Dedicating these resources can be to the detriment of other populations of need. While communities aim to be the best possible places for military families to live, there is a limit to what they can afford. A recent research report co-developed by ADC, the Military Family Quality of Life Indicative Study, paints a challenging picture for our military families with significant challenges related to finances, mental health and basic needs like food, housing, childcare, education and respite care. The study concludes that individual needs are incredibly personalized and that large-scale efforts to impact these issues may not be effective as smaller-scale programs with accurate location-specific insights. DOD’s embrace of intergovernmental support agreements (IGSAs) and the Defense Community Infrastructure Program (DCIP) are examples of the idea that installations and communities are becoming far more intertwined and reliant upon one another and that military-community partnership programs can be highly effective. But while these programs provide for infrastructure and public works related services, there is no such program within DOD that helps support or integrate community-funded quality-of life efforts. A similar support model, focused on quality of-life programs at the state and local level, can enhance their impact and quality of life in the communities our military families call home.