CSAF Spouse announces the Five & Thrive initiative> Air Force> Post display

The spouse of Chief of Staff of the Air Force, Sharene Brown, announced a Five & Thrive initiative, which increases focus and attention on the top five quality-of-life challenges military families face.

The challenges – child care, education, health care, housing and spousal employment – are directly related to military family readiness, resilience, and force retention. These five areas were selected based on feedback from military families and surveys conducted by Blue Star Families, OneSource Military, the Military Family Advisory Network and other organizations.

Five & Thrive was developed by Brown with his Thrive team, a diverse group of spouses. Its platform aims to encourage, support and build successful military families by addressing these challenges and improving preventative measures through partnerships and the sharing of best practices.

“My goal is to ensure that these five specific areas are highlighted and any challenges that arise from them are addressed with determination and resolve, to include the unique challenges facing our families in the Exceptional Family Membership Program.” Brown said.

Brown meets with families and military members on base tours to gather experiences, best practices and recommendations. Its goal is to share this information with senior leadership to address these challenges, promote community partnerships, and ultimately improve the quality of life for military families.

With support from the Thrive Team, Brown publishes a monthly CSAF Spouse Status Report, which helps communicate and share information with military spouses. SITREP will focus on identifying the latest actions, policy changes and available resources made at the headquarters level to educate our military families.

“These actions and policies that take place at the highest levels are not always easily communicated to our spouses and families,” Brown said. “Sharing this information directly with our spouses is vital for their continued support. Military spouses are essential to the success and strength of our force and should be included in these quality of life discussions. “

Brown, along with the Thrive team, is collaborating to support its Five & Thrive platform, as well as other spouse-driven and spouse-led initiatives.

This team produced an educational and inspiring guide for today’s military wife. This guide consolidates essential information and resources into one easy-to-use tool and is currently available on AF.mil website and the AF Connect app. The guide is divided into three sections:

1. “In this set”- This section highlights relevant information about Airman and Family Readiness, Key Spouses Program, Military OneSource, Spouses clubs and resilience resources.

2. “Five and flourish– This section explains the services and support options available to members and their families under each pillar of the Five & Thrive initiative, as described below:

An additional section explains additional resources outside of these pillars, such as the aviator’s attic, base exchange, library, commissary, fitness center, legal assistance, and the coordinator of response to sexual assault.

3. “Military life– This section focuses on military organization, rank structure, pay and benefits, acronyms and security matters. Spouse testimonials share ideas, knowledge and personal experiences to raise awareness of spousal situations.

For up-to-date information on these initiatives, follow Brown’s Facebook page. here.