CLEARINGHOUSE FOR MILITARY FAMILY READINESS: STRENGTHENING THE YELLOW RIBBON REINTEGRATION PROGRAM THROUGH EVALUATION AND INNOVATION

Military families are facing unprecedented challenges. OIF and OEF have resulted in the longest deployments in military history, and repeated deployments and re-deployments have become commonplace. On the warfront, military engagements are occurring in close quarters against hard-to-identify opponents, and the threat of terrorist attacks is ever-present. The instantaneous news reports out of Iraq and Afghanistan bring the warfront to the home front on a daily basis. Moreover, National Guard and Reservists military families are fully engaged in this effort because their loved ones have been called-up to active duty more than any time in their history. Yet, these geographically dispersed do not have the built in social supports and services that active duty military families have because they life on or close to an installation. The primary objective of the current proposal is to expand the Clearinghouse on Military Family Readiness (Clearinghouse) at Penn State University to include a Yellow Ribbon Virtual Resource. The Clearinghouse was established through a partnership between the Department of Defense's Office of Military Community and Family Policy and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA). In support of military families, the DoD-NIFA Partnership leverages the research and programmatic expertise of the Land Grant University's Cooperative Extension Service. Specifically, the mission of the Clearinghouse is to enhance the health and well-being of military families by increasing their readiness and resilience in meeting the challenges, and maximizing the rewards of the military lifestyle. The Clearinghouse hosts and disseminates comprehensive, scientifically-based information related to understanding, measuring, developing, enhancing, and strengthening military family readiness. Providing information on and access to evidence-based programs enhances family functioning across a broad range of outcomes. High quality, proactive, professional technical assistance is also provided to promote the understanding, adoption, and ultimately wide-spread use of science-based practices to enhance family readiness. Through the use of these mechanisms of action, the Clearinghouse is building the professional capacity of those working with military children, youth, and families so they are better positioned to effectively bolster military family functioning and resilience.