National Security Starts at Home™
For 50 years, ADC has been proving it. Here’s the story — and what we’re building next.
Our 50th anniversary was never just a celebration. It was a launching pad — a moment to honor what has been built and accelerate what comes next.
We told the story through the Homefront video series, the Changemakers program, and a 50-year timeline. We launched new initiatives such as the Defense Community Supporter program, the Defense Communities Council, Mission Forward, and the Homefront Policy Roadmap. And we advanced a policy agenda built on a simple truth: national security starts at home.
That work is not finished. The launch has started, and the momentum is building.
“It’s a strategic blueprint to propel America’s defense communities into a future where their mission is strengthened and sustained for years to come.”
Our Future │ ADC’s 50th Initiatives
As ADC enters its next 50 years, five initiatives are already underway, each advancing a different dimension of our mission across policy, people, partnerships, and public engagement.
Homefront Policy Roadmap
ADC’s tagline is more than a slogan. It’s a policy agenda. The Homefront Policy Roadmap puts that agenda into action, laying out six priorities built on what defense community leaders are telling us: infrastructure, workforce, quality of life, community capacity, regulatory barriers, and scaling what works. The challenges are real, the solutions exist, and the time to act is now.
Partnership Roadmap
The Partnership Roadmap charts the next chapter of military-community collaboration, a five-to-twenty-year plan built around expanding capacity, broadening impact, and embedding partnerships into the fabric of DoD and the military services. Developed with communities and federal partners, this is a shared vision for what comes next.
Defense Community Supporter Program
Strong defense communities are built by people who care about them. The Defense Community Supporter program extends ADC’s mission beyond member communities, building a nationwide network of Americans who want to stay informed, get involved, and stand behind the men and women who serve. Free to join, always.
Defense Communities Council
The Defense Communities Council gives defense communities across the country a formal, unified voice. Organized around the military services, it connects community representatives directly to ADC’s policy and advocacy work, ensuring the people closest to our installations have a seat at the table.
Mission Forward:
Building the Next Generation of Defense Community Leaders
The work ADC has championed for 50 years doesn’t sustain itself. It depends on people willing to carry it forward. Mission Forward is ADC’s initiative to build that pipeline: identifying, connecting, and supporting the next generation of defense community leaders. This work is just beginning, and it may be the most important investment ADC makes in the next 50 years.
Changemakers
The People Behind 50 Years of Progress
Behind every base that found new purpose and every policy that passed — there were people who made it happen. ADC’s Changemakers series honors the leaders whose advocacy and ideas built the defense community movement.
Our Stories │ Homefront Series
The relationship between America’s military and its surrounding communities is one of the most consequential — and least told — stories in national security. Homefront is ADC’s video series dedicated to changing that.
EPISODE 1
Life After Closure
When a base closes, what comes next? This episode follows communities like Pueblo, CO, Lowry in Denver, and Fort Ord, CA through the BRAC process — and the remarkable reinventions that followed.
EPISODE 2
A Shared Mission
The BRAC era was disruptive, and it gave rise to a new model of collaboration. This episode travels to Monterey, CA to explore how formal partnerships like IGSAs transformed the relationship between installations and their communities.
EPISODE 3
National Security Starts at Home
Defense communities are no longer just support systems — they’re strategic assets. This episode visits southeastern Connecticut and Huntsville, Alabama to show what “National Security Starts at Home” looks like on the ground.
Homefront continues. A new season launches in late 2026 — more communities, more stories, and more of the people behind America’s defense.
Our History │1976-2026
From the base closures of the 1960s to a nationally recognized advocacy organization today — 50 years of connecting military missions, communities, and the people who support them. The history of ADC is the history of a movement.
Hundreds of WWII-era bases close across the country. Defense Secretary Robert McNamara leads an effort to create the Office of Economic Adjustment (OEA) to help affected communities.
With support from OEA The National Association of Installation Developers (NAID) is formed, connecting organizations working to find new uses for former military property.
Congress creates the independent BRAC commission to depoliticize base closures. The first round recommends closing 17 major bases.
The Defense Base Realignment and Closure Act creates a framework for community recovery, including local redevelopment authorities.
Three BRAC rounds close nearly 100 major bases, impacting about 200,000 civilian jobs. NAID becomes the key link between DOD and affected communities.
Landmark legislation enables DOD to transfer surplus BRAC properties to communities at no cost, accelerating economic revitalization.
NAID hosts its first event on community-installation partnerships, spotlighting Monterey’s model for shared services.
The largest BRAC round moves more than 100,000 jobs. As community engagement intensifies, NAID rebrands as the Association of Defense Communities.
ADC’s membership shifts to communities and state organizations dedicated to sustaining local installations and missions.
ADC launches the Installation Innovation Forum and Defense Communities National Summit. Congress creates Intergovernmental Support Agreements (IGSAs) to formalize collaboration.
Based on an ADC concept, Congress creates the Defense Community Infrastructure Program (DCIP). First funded at $50 million in 2020, the investment doubles over four years.
OEA is renamed the Office of Local Defense Community Cooperation (OLDCC).
ADC launches its tagline: National Security Starts at Home. DCIP funding surpasses $150 million.
