COMFORT CREW FOR MILITARY KIDS (CCMK) JOINS THE USO TRANSITION 360 ALLIANCE TO HELP TROOPS & THEIR FAMILIES REINTEGRATE INTO CIVILIAN LIFE
CCMK, Hire Heroes USA, RallyPoint 6 (RP/6) and Stronger Families join together as the USO Transition 360 Alliance partners to provide new levels of support in employment, family strengthening and community reintegration
Austin, TX (May 11, 2015) Today, Comfort Crew for Military Kids announces they are joining with the USO (United Service Organizations) as a partner of the USO Transition 360 Alliance, an initiative to help military personnel and their families successfully transition back into civilian life after their service ends. The USO Transition 360 Alliance partners include the Comfort Crew for Military Kids, Hire Heroes USA, RP/6 and Stronger Families. The USO, a nonprofit organization, has supported America’s troops and their families, providing critical programs and services in more than 160 locations around the world. As a nongovernmental organization with a widespread presence on military installations and 30,000 dedicated volunteers, the USO is uniquely positioned to establish the alliance and collectively reach troops well before they complete their service, to begin easing their return to civilian life.
The need to support transitioning troops and their families is essential: the Chairman’s Office of Reintegration estimates that more than 200,000 service members will transition back into civilian communities each year during the next five years. Each day, about 1,300 service members, their spouses, and children begin the transition process, facing challenges such as finding a job, moving to a new place, or starting at a different school. The USO Transition 360 Alliance will focus on three key pillars of a successful transition back into civilian life: employment, family strengthening and community reintegration.
The USO Transition 360 Alliance will leverage the USO’s global resources and the programmatic expertise of the partners specializing in military-to-civilian transitions to provide essential services to help troops and families navigate this process. The USO Transition 360 Alliance partners selected by the USO, demonstrated a record of excellence and the ability to meet the needs of troops and scale their services globally.
A five year collaboration between the Comfort Crew for Military Kids and the USO has made a significant impact; putting resources into the hands of over 225,000 military kids and providing them the tools necessary to overcome the challenges of growing up in a military family. Through the USO With You All the Way! Tour featuring Trevor Romain and the distribution of Comfort Kits, this partnership has provided support to military kids tackling tough issues such as lengthy deployments, reintegration, visible and/or invisible injuries, and loss. The Comfort Crew’s newest resource, the Together Again! Helping Military Families Reconnect Kit will provide meaningful strategies to families dealing with reintegration and transitioning out of the military and into civilian life.
The USO Transition 360 Alliance partners support troops and families by:
- Comfort Crew for Military Kids (Austin, TX), supports military kids and teens as they overcome the obstacles of growing up in a military family and transitioning out of the military.
- Hire Heroes USA (Alpharetta, GA), provides active duty and wounded, ill, or injured troops and their spouses with tools, resources, and networking opportunities to meet their career goals.
- RP/ 6 (Lakewood, WA), a team of case navigators known as “Scouts” providing a unique concierge approach creating action plans for the service/family members to ensure they are supported through a “no wrong door” experience. This methodology is effective via a coordinated network of public/private local and national resources who are connected through the ease of RP/6 delivery.
- Stronger Families/Oxygen (Seattle, WA), helps military couples to reconnect and strengthen their relationships by establishing effective ways of communicating and building trust and hope.
“Individually, we could not serve as many troops as well as we can collectively. So the USO has brought these groups together to combine the very best of what each of us has to offer America’s transitioning military families, on a scale that no single organization could achieve alone,” said J.D. Crouch II, CEO and President of the USO.
“Military families are in constant transition; deployments, redeployments, reintegration, and constant moving. And now they are facing what could be their most challenging transition – leaving their military culture behind. With the right preparation and support, military kids and their families will thrive and succeed as they reenter civilian life. We are honored to be joining the USO Transition 360 Alliance to better serve military kids as they make these transitions and to always let these families know. . . We Are With You All the Way!” said Ronda Englander, Co-founder and Executive Director of the Comfort Crew for Military Kids.
Working through the USO, Hire Heroes USA, Comfort Crew for Military Kids, and Stronger Families have already touched thousands of troops and families with impactful programs, aiding in career placement, relationship satisfaction, and parent-child communication. RP/ 6 is a new partner for the USO with a unique service delivery model that will complement how USO connects with local military communities.
“The transition from military to civilian life is a major adjustment, not just for American troops, but also for their significant others and their children. When our service men and women come home, they need three things to ultimately become thriving, successful veterans: an updated life plan, a career track with a good job, and a strong family,” Crouch continued. “USO Transition 360 Alliance will serve as a powerful force multiplier, combining the size and global reach of the USO with the specialized services of the USO Transition 360 Alliance partners to build a new level of capacity to help an unprecedented number of men and women in uniform successfully pivot back into civilian life.”
The USO anticipates that the USO Transition 360 Alliance will be operational in the summer of 2015 and will begin to roll out a portfolio of tools and resources including an online experience, in-person representation at USO locations, workshops and case management. Further expansion of the USO Transition 360 Alliance is planned for 2016 and subsequent years.
For more information about the USO Transition 360 Alliance, please visit uso.org.
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About the Comfort Crew for Military Kids
Comfort Crew for Military Kids (CCMK) is a 501(c)3 organization that supports military kids ages 6 and up through programs designed to strengthen their social and emotional resilience. Founded in 2007, the Comfort Crew delivers proven strategies to prepare every military child for the unique challenges they face so they positively impact themselves, their families, and our country.
CCMK works directly with military children all over the world, and provides them with a wide variety of Comfort Kits and educational resources that are customized to meet their specific needs and let them know – we are With You All the Way! To learn more about The Comfort Crew for Military Kids, please visit www.comfortcrew.org.
About the USO
The USO lifts the spirits of America’s troops and their families millions of times each year at hundreds of places worldwide. We provide a touch of home through centers at airports and military bases in the U.S. and abroad, top quality entertainment and innovative programs and services. We also provide critical support to those who need us most, including forward-deployed troops, military families, wounded warriors, troops in transition and families of the fallen. The USO is a private, non-profit organization, not a government agency. Our programs and services are made possible by the American people, support of our corporate partners and the dedication of our volunteers and staff.
In addition to individual donors and corporate sponsors, the USO is supported by President’s Circle Partners: American Airlines, AT&T, BNSF Railway, Clark Construction Group, LLC, The Coca-Cola Company, JCPenney, Jeep, Johnson & Johnson, Kroger, Northrop Grumman Corporation and TriWest Healthcare Alliance and Worldwide Strategic Partners: BAE Systems, BIC, The Boeing Company, ConAgra Foods, FedEx, GEICO, Harris Teeter, Lockheed Martin, Microsoft Corporation, Procter & Gamble, TKS Telepost Kabel-Service Kaiserslautern GmbH & Co. KG and Wawa Inc. We are also supported through the United Way and Combined Federal Campaign (CFC-11381). To join us in this important mission, and to learn more about the USO, please visit uso.org.
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