In August 2014 MFAN conducted a survey (its first) to:
- Understand which programs military families like and depend on
- Identify gaps between military family needs and resources
The Military Family Support Programming Survey received over 17,000 unique responses from 1,500 participants, of which nearly 90 percent were military spouses. The questions were almost completely open-ended in an effort to give military families the opportunity to explain their experiences with these programs. They covered a wide variety of topics, including unemployment, wellness, education, and financial programming.
The responses led to five recommendations:
Public-Private Partnerships. Investigate whether public-private partnerships with nonprofit agencies can more efficiently serve military families.
Commissaries. Avoid budget cuts to commissaries and sustain the budget. Commissaries are highly valued by military families.
Childcare. Provide more opportunities for childcare for military families, and streamline existing childcare services to better serve families.
Healthcare. Review the existing healthcare system to ensure families have access to timely, quality care both direct and purchased care within the Defense Health System.
Employment. Tailor employment support to the specific needs of military families.
The 1,519 participants in this survey provided MFAN access to the experiences they had accessing military family support programs. These recommendations — based on the responses from military families across the country — were developed to address your needs and effect change.
MFAN is grateful to the military families who completed the survey. The responses will not only inform MFAN’s efforts in 2015, but will be shared with organizations and agencies that seek to serve our community.
Click here to read the executive summary and survey report.
