MOAA Foundation Programs

A look at the four programs at the heart of the MOAA Foundation's efforts. Jump to:

 

CAREER TRANSITION

The MOAA Foundation (TMF) Career Transition program offers uniformed service members and veterans of all ranks and their families high-quality, career-development events and activities designed to introduce them to a range of civilian career possibilities, including professional certifications, advanced education and training, franchise ownership and entrepreneurship.

 

The Need

The high operations tempo resulting from almost two decades of combat operation in the two longest wars in American history have resulted in approximately 200,000 uniformed service members transitioning out of the military each year-1,300 each day. Transitioning veterans immediately need:

  • Training and Certification Programs
  • Jobs
  • Education
  • Health Care

 

For many junior enlisted people, the U.S. military was their first employer after high school. Many have never had a traditional job interview. The only culture they know is military life. And while the federal government has strengthened military career transition and financial literacy programs, many gaps remain.

 

The Program

To fill these gaps, MOAA annually connects with over 17,000 currently serving service members, veterans and their families to offer award-winning Career Transition training and assistance programs and services.

 

These include a signature annual Washington, D.C. networking and hiring event, the MOAA Military and Veteran Networking Forum; a series of “virtual” career fairs through which about 15 percent of attendees are advanced through the hiring process; and numerous career transition instructional webinars. Each year in conjunction with these events, MOAA completes more than 750 complimentary career counseling sessions, to include resume and LinkedInTM profile reviews and delivers dozens of professional development workshops designed to prepare service members, veterans and military spouses for a more favorable interaction with company recruiters. MOAA's nationwide veteran jobs initiative is complemented with a LinkedInTM career networking group with more than 29,000 members who receive weekly updates on career transition best practices, financial literacy and healthcare planning from MOAA's team of transition experts.

 

How Does Your Support Help?

With almost 1 million men and women in uniform leaving the uniformed services over the next five years, the MOAA Foundation Career Transition program will continue to be a program in high-demand. Funding enables MOAA to offer its highly-rated career-transition syllabus throughout the year and provide all military families with vital career transition training, education and preparation for a seamless transition to civilian career success.

 

PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION OUTREACH 

The MOAA Foundation provides funding that enables MOAA subject-matter experts to travel to over 50 U.S. military installations each year to present seminars offering critical information affecting the quality of life of thousands of currently serving military members, veterans and their families. Because MOAA is a highly trusted and well-respected national voice for military families of all ranks and all services, MOAA is one of the very few organizations whose subject-matter experts are invited on base/installation to conduct these seminars.

 

The Program

MOAA currently-serving Professional Education Outreach seminars provide critical, personal financial management and lifelong professional development information to active-duty military members of all ranks and their families where they work. Each presentation helps family members plan their future with proven strategies relying on best practices in areas of career development, financial and transition planning. Additionally, this program provides periodic live and virtual professional education opportunities on issues unique to the military lifestyle such as absentee voting, VA disability and health care claims and changing military benefits.

Outreach Seminar Topics Include:

  • Self-Assessments
  • Creating Effective Resumes
  • Leveraging Social Media
  • Self-Marketing
  • Networking
  • Interviewing
  • Negotiations
  • Career and Employment Options
  • Understanding Military/Veteran Benefits
  • Understanding Corporate Benefit Programs
  • Transition and Long-Term Retirement Planning
  • Sound Investment Strategies
  • Understanding Health and Life Insurance
  • Understanding the new, Blended Military Retirement System

 

How Does Your Support Help?

The average cost of each seminar is approximately $3,000. Your support will enable us to sustain and expand our efforts.

 

SPOUSE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT 

The MOAA Foundation Military Spouse Professional Development program comprises several components designed to educate, train and empower military spouses to establish and sustain a successful career while meeting the challenges of a modern military family lifestyle. The program content is guided by the MOAA Currently Serving Spouse Advisory Council through continuous feedback regarding the types of syllabi, educational and training tools needed to best serve the professional development of military spouses.

 

The Need

In 2014, MOAA and the Institute for Veterans and Military Families published a research study examining the state of military spouse professional development and particularly military spouse employment. Its key findings were striking:

  • Approximately 95 percent of military spouses are women, and the group has an average unemployment rate of 20 percent among those seeking work, about four times higher than their civilian counterparts today.
  • Military spouses, age 18-24 have an unemployment rate of 30 percent compared to their civilian counterparts at 11 percent. From 25-44, military spouses have an unemployment rate of 15 percent compared to their civilian counterpart rate of 6 percent.
  • Remarkably, 90 percent of military spouses are underemployed based on their experience and education level, and military spouse average salaries are 38 percent lower than their civilian counterparts.

 

Program Description

The MOAA Military Spouse Professional Development program comprises the following elements:

MOAA Military Spouse Professional Development Symposia Series

These one-day seminars presented at military installations around the nation provide training to military spouses who are planning to enter or re-enter the workforce or who are taking the next step in their professional careers. MOAA offers these events through its partnership with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's “Hiring our Heroes” Transition Summit program.

Each event:

  • Includes a “Real Spouses, Real Stories” panel discussion featuring military spouse mentors,
  • helps spouses identify and articulate personal goals,
  • helps them build a bridge to local and federal resources,
  • connects spouses directly with the local workforce by providing opportunities to engage with installation, community, state and federal representatives, and local and national employers and offers MOAA subject-matter expert advice, assistance, and expertise on leveraging personal experiences to obtain employment.

 

The seminar trains spouse attendees how to effectively use industry best practices in areas such as resume development, advanced LinkedIn techniques, and networking. This event is free and open to all active duty, reserve, National Guard, retiree, veteran, and surviving military spouses, servicemembers, and veterans.


COMMUNITY OUTREACH

The MOAA Foundation Community Outreach program provides grants to MOAA councils and chapters delivering direct assistance to military families in their local communities in nine areas of critical military and veteran family need. A number of MOAA councils and chapters nationwide are engaged in this type of very real, high-impact, community work. Financial assistance is provided to military families and veterans of all ranks. MOAA has 400+ councils and chapters in 50 states. This program is supported by corporate, foundation and public donations.

 

The Need

The two longest wars in the nation's history have directly affected the lives of almost 3 million service men and women who have deployed to combat zones and their families since 2002. Over 400,000 of these service members and veterans have had at least three combat tours of duty. According to the 2011 Rand study, “The Invisible Wounds of War,” approximately 20 percent of those deployed are living with one or more serious mental health issues. The pressure on these families-on those still serving and on those who have returned to the civilian community-is immeasurable and often debilitating.

 

The Program

To address this urgent need in local communities, the MOAA Foundation Community Outreach program leverages the power of the nationwide MOAA Council/Chapter network. It offers grants to MOAA Councils and Chapters directly involved in providing assistance to local uniformed service members and veterans, and their families, to improve their quality of life. Grants are awarded to MOAA Councils and Chapters delivering services-either directly or through partnerships with other community organizations- in one of ten areas of critical military and veteran family need:

  • Housing
  • Food Assistance
  • Employment
  • Health (including Behavioral Health)
  • Family Support
  • Community Reintegration
  • Financial Assistance
  • Legal Assistance
  • Transportation
  • Emergency Relief

 

To qualify for a grant, the MOAA Council/Chapter must either deliver the services directly or must occupy a leadership position (council, board, committee member, etc.) of a local community collaboration delivering these types of services. MOAA Councils/Chapters are solely responsible for ensuring all MOAA Foundation grant funds are disbursed only in support of programs and services approved by the grant criteria and falling within one or more of the nine critical areas of need listed above.

Read about the program and grant criteria here. Apply for a grant here. Review the webinar tutorial here.

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