What role do non-profits play in providing military members and families with the resources they need to be successful professionally?
Captain Douglas Franz, State Family Program Director: The Ohio National Guard has relationships with many not for profits within the state that support the
National Guard, Reserve, Active Duty, Veterans, and family members that together we serve.
Most of the non-profit support to service members and veterans comes from community partners in the areas of Behavioral Health and short-term financial assistance. There is a large community footprint of agencies and individuals who are providing Behavioral Health support at all levels. This area of support has grown large in the last three years by outreach from our organization and from outreach of the non-profits.
There is also a plethora of non-profits providing short-term financial assistance for service members and veterans who have encountered a scenario that finds them short on funds. An example would be funding for auto repairs that are preventing the individual from commuting to work. There are many more areas of support coming from non-profits, but the two areas mentioned above are what we see most often in our casework. Ohio has just recently started to engage non-profits that support service members, veterans and family members as they search for employment, and this community footprint appears to be ever-growing as well.
Can you tell us more about the Employer Advisory Council and its impact on NGEEP’s employment programs?
Lt. Col. Kathryn Lowrey, Director of Community Outreach for the Ohio National Guard (ONG): The Ohio National Guard Community Outreach office cultivates relationships with civilians to promote readiness and resiliency of troops and their families. This one-of-its-kind office in the nation was established in 2009 to cultivate and sustain employer and community support. Since at least 70% of our workforce is part-time military, and most of our Citizen Soldiers have full-time civilian jobs, employer outreach has been the flagship of this statewide outreach program. We educate employers about our missions at hands-on military events and inspire them to want to support their Citizen Soldiers. (continued on next page)