Source: TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY submitted to
MILITARY LIFE SKILLS EDUCATION PROGRAM AT FORT BLISS, TEXAS
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
TERMINATED
Funding Source
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1000504
Grant No.
2013-48307-21185
Project No.
TEXN-0066
Proposal No.
2013-05237
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Program Code
FF-L
Project Start Date
Sep 1, 2013
Project End Date
Aug 31, 2016
Grant Year
2015
Project Director
Brauner, R. A.
Recipient Organization
TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY
750 AGRONOMY RD STE 2701
COLLEGE STATION,TX 77843-0001
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
Extension and Ft. Bliss Army Community Service have worked together since 1987 to provide educational programs and activites to the Ft. Bliss community. This is a continued educational partnership to reach the community to learn in the areas of domestic violence prevention, employment edcuation, financial education, and exceptional family program needs. We also provide education to families for mobilization and deployments, family readiness groups, resiliency training, assist training for family members for suicide prevention, and assistance to wounded warrior familes through the Soldier and Family Assistance Center.
Animal Health Component
0%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
(N/A)
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
80260203020100%
Goals / Objectives
To provide educational programming and activities to Soldiers and Families of Ft. Bliss, TX. To meet Army standards of service for Army Community Service accrediation. Areas of educational programming are Family Advocacy, Soldier and Family Assistance Center, Relocation Readiness, Information, Referral and Outreach, Employment Readiness, Exceptional Family Member Program, Mobilization and Deployment, Army Family Team Building, and Family Resliency.
Project Methods
A myraid of educationa methods are used to reach the military community. Briefings, lectures, workshops, tours, working groups, series of classes, demonstrations, displays, flyers, educational materials, one on one contact with individuals and families.

Progress 09/01/13 to 08/31/16

Outputs
Target Audience:Extension and Ft. Bliss Army Community Service have worked together since 1987 to provide educational programs and activites to the Ft. Bliss community. This is a continued educational partnership to reach the community to learn in the areas of domestic violence prevention, employment edcuation, financial education, and exceptional family program needs. We also provide education to families for mobilization and deployments, family readiness groups, resiliency training, assist training for family members for suicide prevention, and assistance to wounded warrior familes through the Soldier and Family Assistance Center. Changes/Problems:This is the last and final report for the Military Life Skills Education program at Fort Bliss, Texas. The PI for the grant requested a no-cost extension for the final year of the project to close out the program and its employees. The project will not be renewed or funded after the project end date of 31 August 2016. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?All staff members are encouraged to attend staff development for their respective positions. All staff does attend required trainings. All staff has attended professional development this year. We have sent staff to military trainings, professional meetings, and staff development trainings both locally and nationally. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?All results have been shared with both military and extension leadership. Programming is visible throughout the Ft. Bliss community. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? All Extension personnel work at Army Community Service to provide services that are required by the military. Educational programs and activities are specific within the programs that personnel work. Family Advocacy--The agent teaches anger management, couples communication, child abuse prevention, and passenger safety (car seat safety) She is certified as an instructor for the Child Passenger Safety program for Texas. The program assistant for the department is also a certified passenger safety technician. They hold car seat inspections and provide new parents with a program to teach them to install their car seats in their vehicle correctly. They also hold community events so that families can come and have their car seats inspected and find out if they are installed correctly or if they are damaged and need to be replaced. Anger management is taught by an the Extension agent on a weekly basis. She teaches several different anger management classes. She provides classes for units, for individuals referred to anger management education and general stress management that is helpful with anger management. She has had approximately 500 participants in anger management classes. The Exceptional Family Member program has an Extension Agent that provides assistance to families with special needs. She organizes and sets up speakers for support groups, she runs activities for families in the community and also provides educational programs on the services available to families. She also provides advocacy support to families. The Relocation Readiness program provides educational programs in different areas. Extension Agents teach English as a Second Language, run workshops for newly arriving families and assist with the in-processing system. They also provide educational classes and group activities for international spouses on living in the United States for the first time they run a support group for these spouses as well as classes and groups for spouses of deployed soldiers. Many times a soldier may be stationed at a remote site that the family may not move to. These are known as "Waiting Spouses." The program also provides educational programs and activities for this segment of the population. They also provide information and referral to over 9,000 incoming calls and clients to the Army Community Service building each month. Employment Readiness provides educational programs and individual help to family members seeking employment. Our agent is certified as an employment counselor and provides classes or resume writing, interviewing skills, resume classes, and participates in all job fairs and other activities in the Ft. Bliss area. She has been very successful in having her class attendees attain employment. Resiliency training is a growing issue with the military. Agents and Program Assistants teach classes and hold programs and activities to assist family members in meeting the challenge of being a military family. They bounce! Classes include problem solving, communication skills, suicide prevention, and other life coping measures. Army Family Team Building and the Mobilization and Deployment programs work together in meeting the needs of family members by teaching classes on basic military language to leading support groups to money management. They also document volunteer hours for support groups and make sure all military regulations are adhered to.

Publications


    Progress 09/01/14 to 08/31/15

    Outputs
    Target Audience:The target audience is the Ft. Bliss community to include, military retirees, reservists, and National Gurard. DOD civilians are also a part of the target audience. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?All staff members are encouraged to attend staff development for their respective positions. All staff does attend required trainings. All staff has attended professional development this year. We have sent staff to military trainings, professional meetings, and staff development trainings both locally and nationally. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?All results have been shared with both military and extension leadership. Programming is visible throughout the Ft. Bliss community. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We plan to transistion the program to a new bidded project that we are competing for so that programs will be continued as much as possible. We will assist staff throughout the transitioning process.

    Impacts
    What was accomplished under these goals? All Extension personnel work at Army Community Service to provide services that are required by the military.Educational programs and activities are specific within the programs that personnel work. Family Advocacy--The agent teaches anger management, couples communication, child abuse prevention, and passenger safety(car seat safety) She is certified as an instructor for the Child Passenger Safety program for Texas. The program assistant for the department is also a certified passenger safety technician. They hold car seat inspections and provide new parents with a program to teach them to install their car seats in their vehicle correctly. They also hold community events so that families can come and have their car seats inspected and find out if they are installed correctly or if they are damaged and need to be replaced. Anger management is taught by an the Extesnion agent on a weekly basis. She teaches several different anger management classes. She provides classes for units, for individuals referred to anger management education and general stress management that is helpful with anger management. She has had approximately 500 participants in anger management classes. The Exceptional Family Member program has an Extension Agent that provides assistance to families with special needs. She organizes and ssets up speakers for support groups, she runs activities for families in the communty and also provides educational programs on the services available to families. She also provides advocacy support to families. The Relocation Readiness program provides educational programs in different areas. Extension Agents teach English as a Second Language, run workshops for newly arriving families and assist with the inprocessing system. They also provide educational classes and group activities for international spouises on living in the United States for the first time. they run a support group for these spouses as well as classes and groups for spouses of deployed soldiers. Many times a soldier may be stationed at a remote site that the family may not move to. Theses are know as Waiting spouses. The program also provides educational programs and activities for this segment of the population. They also provide information and referral to over 9,000 incoming calls and clients to the Army Community Service building each month. Employment Readiness provides educational programs and indvidual help to family members seeking employment. Our agent is certified as an employment couselor and provides classes or resume writing, interviewing skills, resumix classes, and participates in all job fairs and other activites in the Ft. Bliss area. She has been very successful in having her class attendees attain employment. Resliency training is a growing issue with the military. Agents and Program Assistants teach classes and hold programs and activities to assist family members in meeting the challenge of being a military family. They bounce! Classes include problem solving, communication skills, suicide prevention, and other life coping measures. Army Family Team Building and the Mobilization and Deployment programs work together in meeting the needs of family members by teaching classes on basic military language to leading support groups to money management. They also document volunteer hours for support groups and make sure all military regulatiions are adhered to.

    Publications


      Progress 09/01/13 to 08/31/14

      Outputs
      Target Audience: The target audience for this grant are the military members, Family members and civilians of Ft. Bliss, TX. It also reached residents of the El Paso, TX community as Ft. Bliss is in the center of the city.. Changes/Problems: The only change is we no longer have a program assistant in the SFAC program. The position was turned into a civil service position and the Extension program assistant was no longer needed in the area. The position was changed to a program assistant for Volunteer programming. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? One agent completed instructor training for passenger safety. This has allowed for more technicians to be trained at both Ft. Bliss and Ft. Hood. She has also assisted with Extension trainings in the state. All other staff have attended training that is job specific this past year. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? All results are continually shared with military leadership at Ft. Bliss. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Programming will continue as it has. Programs will contiue to meet Army standards. If program has emerging needs it will work with the military to meet those needs.

      Impacts
      What was accomplished under these goals? The program assistant was added back into the volunteer program this year. This was not an added position but a reassigned position. The program assistant for volunteer programming assists the program manger in placing volunteers into volunteer postioin throughout the Post. She is also a member of the installation volunteer management board that meets quarterly. They assist in the training of volunteers to use the volunteer management system that is part of the accrediation process. This computer program allows all volunteers to track their hours and file completed training into the system. the program assistant is the troubleshooter for the program with volunteers and manages the program at Ft. Bliss. She also assists with all volunteer events, special projects, and recognitions for the installation. The agent in Family Advocacy has become a certified instructor for passenger safety. This has allowed for more technicians to be trained at Ft. Bliss, Ft. Hood and she has also assisted with Extension programs in the state. The agent teaches classes for family advocacy in stress managment, couples communication, child abuse and prevention with child care providers, and is in charge of the passenger safety program. The program assistant for the program is also a certified technician for the passenger safety program and can install car seats for families. The program assistant also assists with all other programming that is provided by either the civil service employees or the extension agent. She also maintains the accrediation files for the program. Both staff members assist with the entire programs events and special months of Child Abuse Prevention Month and Domestic Violence Prevention Month when targeted displays and activities are held. The Exceptional Family Member Program agent provides resources to families that have a special needs family member. She is active with the schools and communty agencies that assist famiies. She works with the child development centers to ensure accomidations are provided for children when needed. She has begun support groups for famiies by coordinatng specialists to lead educational programs on certain topics of concern to families. She also provides information for families to prepare for ARD meeting with the schools for their children. The Employment Readiness agent continues to assist family members find jobs in a depressed job market in El Paso. She teaches classes on how to apply effectively for governament jobs, interviewing techniques, teaches classes on resume writing and then follows up with clients in reviewing their resume's individually. She is active in job search and has an 80% placement rate. The program assistant in financial readiness has provided educational programming that is not subject matter specific for newcomers briefings and assists the civil service trainers in their training. She also maintains all accrediatioin files for the section. Mobilization and Deployment continues to be busy. The staff along with all Army Community Service staff meet all planes that deploy troops to and from the the theater of operations. This is done on a 24 hour basis--all planes are met or have staff present when they are leaving. The agent also teaches Family Readiness Groups (FRG) required classes such as treasurer and leader training, newsletter writing, and volunteer reporting. She is also in charge of registering and keeping records of all FRG's on the installation. Resilency training is also taught the agent teaches this with a team as it is a 3 day training. All trainers are trained in the curriculm that the Army has approved. These classes teach how to "bounce" when military life becomes overwhelming. The program teaches stress relief techniques, problem solving and coping strategies. I also has a section on community resources to assist. Program assistants are also involved with the teaching. Army Family Team Building is a volunteer education program that has a program assistant that helps with teaching the classes and coordinating all classes and activities. Relocation and Information and Referral has been combined at Ft. Bliss. Agents teach classes for "Hearts Apart" a program for spouses. This program provides educational programs and activities for when the service member is stationed away from home. They also have family activites when appropriate. The agents also teach senior leader spouses resources in the community when they are new to the community. They provide tours and prepare the newly arriving spouses for their leadership roles in the community. Program Assistants provide newcomers briefings to all incoming service members 4 days a week. They also maintain the ACS front desk and update and maintain a resource directory as required by accrediation. There are over 9,000 individual contacts each month.

      Publications