Military Family Advisory Network, Inc.

Every two years, MFAN conducts the Military Family Support Programming Survey, which gives military and veteran families an opportunity to speak their minds on topics like wellness, education, PCSing, finances, child care, and military retirement. From the survey results, we gather what modern military families need and how we can best serve them.

With moves every 2.5 years, it can be hard to get connected to the local community. MFAN created MilMap, a user-generated resource locator that helps military families find organizations in their area that can offer support and camaraderie. All they have to do is put in their ZIP code or duty station! Military families can also add information about the organizations they are involved with. The MFAN team then vets those programs before adding them to MilMap.

One of MFAN’s greatest assets is our advisory board: a group of military and veteran spouses who are also leaders in their communities. All of our advisors bring different backgrounds to the table, giving MFAN a fuller understanding of what military families need and value. Through the diverse networks of each advisory board member, MFAN is able to implement a peer influencer model, which allows for real, authentic connection and information sharing across the military and veteran community.

Advisors meet on a monthly basis through video conferences and three times a year for in-person meetings. We talk about what we are seeing, hearing, and experiencing in our military communities, and when a challenge is raised, we work together to find the best solution. During these meetings, advisors also regularly review programs and resources presented by other organizations, providing candid feedback informed by their experiences as members of a military family. This work really is a group effort — and that approach underscores everything we do.

The purpose of the Military Family Family Financial Readiness Coalition (MFFRC), is to bring together both public and private organizations committed to the financial wellness and stability of military families. The MFFRC provides an opportunity for organizations with a vested interest in the financial wellbeing of military families to share ideas, lessons learned, best practices, challenges, and opportunities; to more effectively serve our families and respond to their evolving needs.

The primary goal of the Military Housing Roundtable (MHR) is to support all military families in their homes regardless of where they choose to live and ensuring access to healthy, safe, and affordable housing. The MHR will serve as one of the primary mechanisms for coordination and collaboration across organizations and will demonstrate the need for transparent and accountable public-private partnerships when addressing the housing needs of the modern military family.

The goal of the Military Family Food Insecurity Coalition (MFFIC) is to move the needle on military family food insecurity through data-driven collaboration with key partners to raise awareness of this issue, identify resources that are currently available to meet immediate needs, and develop programs that will help to reduce military family food insecurity in the future.