The Infrastructure Needed to Support Military Families
A grant built around the concept of making all jobs accessible for families in need of flexibility
Summary
GS2 has worked in collaboration with partners Digital Works and CareerStep to provide additional tools to foster tiered training and upskilling programs that work interchangeably to better the lives of military spouses, veterans, and transitioning servicemembers.
Support of the Good Jobs Challenge Grant gives additional tools to three training and upskilling programs that work interchangeably to better the lives of military spouses, veterans, and transitioning servicemembers. These programs are Digital Works, CareerStep, and the University of Louisville.
In a tiered approach, this partnership builds specialized workers from the ground up while providing the tools to be employable at any step in their military careers and beyond.
An initiative of Connected Nation, Digital Works provides remote work for individuals that want more flexibility or need to transition to a new career.
Thus far, Digital Works has had1,000 job placements. With focus on rural areas, Digital Works has expanded to include a brick and mortar operation on Fort Campbell, KY and has trained 120 individuals in the past year through cohorts of 10-12.
Governor Andy Beshear of Kentucky recognized the program as outstanding for its efforts in workforce development during the trying times of Covid-19.
Digital Works wants to expand and build this program around military installations, with hopes of training spouses with skills, providing mentorship, and offering employment opportunities that they can take with them to all duty stations.
GS2 is assisting Digital Works with a number of initiatives, including:
Construction of 4 additional locations to serve military families at: Joint Base Lewis/McCord, WA, Fort Hood, TX, Fort Knox, KY, and Fort Bragg, NC.
Writing a grant to provide the framework to expand the program nationally, with increased funding for training and work opportunities
Providing online training opportunities through a partnership with CareerStep
Advocating legislature to assist these goals