A dependent care flexible spending account (DCFSA) lets service members set aside pre-tax dollars from their paychecks to cover eligible dependent care expenses, including daycare, preschool, after-school care, summer day camp, and elder care. Learn how it works, eligibility, contribution limits, and how you can prepare service members this open season.
It seems as though there’s no escape from the pressure to deliver more services and programs with less. What are ways to build relationships and networks, even when we’re busy or overwhelmed?
Financial readiness helps service members and their families prepare for whatever life brings. Rapid deployments, changes in service, a new child, or a new job can all bring fresh challenges and opportunities to a household budget. As part of a service member’s support system, you need current, reliable information to share.
Military-connected teens navigate identity development while also adapting to frequent moves, changing schools, deployments, and shifting relationships. In this blog, explore how military experiences can shape identity and how supportive adults, belonging, autonomy, and leadership opportunities can help teens build resilience and a stronger sense of self.
Food insecurity can threaten nutrition readiness and long-term stability for military families, especially when financial and employment challenges intersect. In this blog, explore how service providers can help families move beyond emergency food assistance by strengthening income, budgeting, support systems, and connections to wrap-around resources.
Technology can be an important source of connection for military families, but when screens take priority over face-to-face interactions, relationships can suffer. This blog explores how “phubbing”, ignoring or minimally engaging with others because of a device, can affect couple and family connection and offers practical strategies military family service providers can use to help families build more intentional, meaningful connections.
When work is spread across many people it is easy to lose sight of how individual work ties into the group goals. Recognizing the value of smaller steps towards the big picture helps reveal the momentum generated by the collective work of the team.
Suicide remains a critical public health concern within military communities. According to the Defense Suicide Prevention Office (DSPO), 471 service members across the Total Force died by suicide in 2024. While this represents a decrease in suicide rates from 2023, sustained suicide prevention efforts remain important.
For military spouses, employment decisions can be shaped by relocation, childcare access, and the need for flexible and portable work opportunities. Explore how entrepreneurship can offer another pathway to sustainable income while helping spouses navigate childcare needs and the realities of military life, and how communities can help support their success.
Strong communities are built through connections between families, service providers, and the resources that support them. In this blog, explore how professionals can strengthen community capacity and better support military-connected families through collaboration, shared knowledge, and local partnerships.
This material is based upon work supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the Office of Military Family Readiness Policy, U.S. Department of Defense under Award Number 2023-48770-41333.
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