The COVID-19 Military Support Initiative recently held a virtual event which brought together key leaders from government, nonprofit, and corporate sectors.

After months of polling and town hall-style expert-driven meetings, the effort culminated in a series of working groups designed to capture and document lessons learned and recommendations for future action related to the pandemic.

Here are a few takeaways and actions from the five working groups:

Data Analysis

● The military must adapt to a 21st century workforce, culturally and structurally, to preserve operational and family readiness during a national emergency.

● The capacity of local communities to address families’ needs is indelibly tied to the ability to address the needs of military and veteran families.

K-12 Education

● Consistent communication is key to supporting students’ and families’ social and emotional well-being

● Schools should provide clear and consistent communication to parents and staff, and should take action to prevent burnout among staff (e.g., setting clear expectations and providing flexibility as able) in the 2020-2021 school year.

● Schools, communities, installations, and military families should proactively mitigate issues for students by increasing flexibility when possible, addressing virtual learning disparities, identifying and addressing learning gaps, and encouraging families to create portfolios for students to ease school transitions. Students with special education needs are most likely to be at risk of falling behind.

Financial Impacts on the Military Family

● The COVID-19 pandemic intensified existing barriers to financial security for military families, exacerbating concerns with spouse employment and lack of child care.

● Response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including the “Stop Movement” order and the payroll tax deferral, have had and may continue to have unintended negative financial consequences for military families, and may increase military families’ financial needs

Maintaining Installation Operations

● Maintaining installation operations requires collaborations with local communities and planning for future pandemic response.

● Classified work is almost impossible to complete in a remote work

Installation-Community Crisis Response

● Installation and community collaboration were essential for providing necessary supplies and resources for both military and civilian communities.

● Leveraging existing relationships between installations and community organizations and businesses allowed for rapid, innovative responses to community needs.

● Military families and organizations strengthened ties and investment in their local communities during COVID-19. setting. Installation managers need to plan how classified work can continue seamlessly and safely in pandemic conditions.

Read the white paper: “The Impact of COVID-19 on the Military and Veterans: What we Learned, and What we can do”