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Then Second Lady Jill Biden and First Lady Michelle Obama speak about the newly created Joining Forces initiative, 2011

Key Information

Joining Forces is a United States government initiative, run out of the White House, that seeks to support the families, caregivers, and survivors of members of the United States Armed Forces.[1] It was founded in 2011 by First Lady Michelle Obama and Second Lady Jill Biden.[2] The particular points of emphasis of Joining Forces are to work with national employers to ease the ability of military spouses to find jobs when they have to relocate; to work on improving educational circumstances for the children of military families, who often have to change schools; and to work with mental health providers to facilitate access to services for military families and caregivers.[1]

History

[edit]
Jill Biden speaks at a Joining Forces event in 2012 about preparing educators to lead classrooms that are more responsive to the social, emotional, and academic needs of military children, as U.S. Army General Ray Odierno looks on

The creation of the Joining Forces program was announced at the White House on April 12, 2011, by Michelle Obama and Jill Biden.[2] The initiative was non-partisan and non-legislative in focus,[2] and sought to use the bully pulpit of the first lady position to make an impact.[3] In that vein, Michelle Obama made a number of high-profile, general-audience television appearances to speak on behalf of Joining Forces and its goals.[4]

The nature of the program means that it has been difficult to quantify success. Six months after it began, an analysis in Time magazine was skeptical that it was achieving much, although the White House pushed back and listed specific areas where the initiative was in position to make gains.[3] Some military families also had doubts as to how many tangible results came from Joining Forces.[5]

Over time, the most concrete results came in the employment sphere, as Joining Forces secured some 1¼ million commitments from corporations to hire military spouses.[4] Another significant success came in gaining legislation in states across the nation to make it easier to transfer occupational licensing certificates for spouses who were frequently moving among states.[4] Over time, as journalist Leo Shane III reported in 2016, the initiative "has been praised by many in the military community for successes in bridging the civilian-military divide, using media campaigns and corporate connections to tackle issues like veterans unemployment, military spouse credentialing and veterans homelessness."[4]

2017-2021: Hiatus by the first Trump administration

[edit]

As the Obama administration came to a close, a poll run by Military.com indicated that military families wanted the program to continue when a new administration came into office in January 2017.[5] It did not continue under that name, although the new presidential and vice-presidential spouses did give attention to the concerns of military families, especially Second Lady Karen Pence.[6] Pence spoke positively of the impact Joining Forces had had on getting states to make occupational re-licensing easier for spouses; but there were still problems with the necessary information about occupational license transfers getting to the military spouses who needed it, something that Pence hoped to address.[7]

2021-2025: Biden administration revival

[edit]

When Jill Biden came back to the White House in January 2021, this time as First Lady, the Joining Forces program was restarted.[6] In April 2021, Biden said, "Just one percent of our country has shouldered the burden of twenty years of war. No one has more strength and grit and resilience than our military families but you can't do this alone, we have to help you carry the weight."[1] The hope was that the initiative would become a permanent entity within the White House, regardless of the administration in office.[1]

Executive directors

[edit]
Deputy director (and future executive director) Rory Brosius, 2015
  • U.S. Navy Capt. Brad Cooper, 2011–2012[4]
  • U.S. Navy Capt. Todd Veazie, 2012–2013[4]
  • U.S. Army Col. Rich Morales, 2013–2014[4]
  • U.S. Army Col. Steve Parker, 2014–2015[4]
  • U.S. Air Force Col. Nicole Malachowski, 2015–2016[4]
  • U.S. Army Col. William Johnson, 2016–2017[4]
  • Military spouse and former deputy director Rory Brosius, 2021–2023[6]
  • Sheila Casey, 2023–present, wife of former Army Chief of Staff George W. Casey Jr. and the former chairwoman of Blue Star Families.[8]

References

[edit]
[edit]
Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia

Joining Forces

View on Grokipedia
from Grokipedia
Joining Forces is a initiative launched on April 12, 2011, by First Lady and Dr. to mobilize public and private sectors in supporting the families, caregivers, and survivors of U.S. military service members and veterans. The program seeks to address challenges faced by families, including opportunities for veterans and spouses, access to , services, and overall well-being, by encouraging commitments from businesses, educational institutions, nonprofits, and government agencies. In its first year, Joining Forces secured pledges from over 200 companies and organizations, leading to expanded hiring initiatives and resource allocations targeted at military communities. Continued across administrations, the initiative has emphasized practical support such as job training and caregiver assistance, though quantifiable long-term outcomes remain tied to voluntary private-sector participation rather than mandatory federal programs. No major controversies have been associated with the effort, which operates as a nonpartisan call to civic action focused on recognizing service-related sacrifices.

Establishment and Objectives

Launch and Founding Context

Joining Forces was announced on April 12, 2011, by Michelle Obama and Dr. during an event at the , marking the formal launch of a national campaign to support families, veterans, and service members. The initiative responded to the challenges faced by the U.S. armed forces in the post-9/11 era, including extended combat operations in and that strained an all-volunteer established since the end of in 1973. These conflicts had led to repeated and prolonged deployments, contributing to family disruptions such as higher rates and caregiver burdens, as documented in family support analyses. The founding context highlighted empirical pressures on returning veterans, particularly those from the Gulf War-era II cohort, whose unemployment rate reached 12.1 percent in 2010 according to data, exceeding the national average and underscoring transition difficulties without altering fundamental structures like reinstating a draft. Obama and Biden emphasized mobilizing civilian sectors to honor these sacrifices, framing the effort as a civic rather than a governmental expansion, in recognition of the volunteer force's unique demands during a decade of . This approach prioritized private and community involvement to mitigate issues like employment barriers and family resilience, distinct from legislative overhauls.

Primary Goals and Focus Areas

Joining Forces identifies three primary focus areas—, , and wellness—as mechanisms to bolster military family stability, thereby causally supporting service member retention through alleviated stressors and easing post-service transitions via enhanced integration. These pillars address empirically observed challenges, such as economic insecurity from gaps and mobility, educational disruptions from relocations, and health strains from trauma and caregiving, by coordinating public awareness with private-sector and community resources rather than relying solely on federal programs. The employment pillar targets hiring commitments for and military spouses to mitigate barriers including frequent duty-station changes, which contribute to spouse rates exceeding 20% in some analyses, and the translation of to roles. By soliciting private-sector pledges for , , and flexible policies, the initiative aims to foster economic self-sufficiency, reducing financial pressures that could otherwise prompt early separations from service or hinder labor market entry. In education, efforts concentrate on facilitating seamless school transitions for military children, who average 6 to 9 moves during K-12 years, and promoting utilization of veteran benefits such as the Post-9/11 for postsecondary access. These goals seek to minimize academic setbacks from inconsistent curricula and administrative hurdles, causally linking consistent educational continuity to improved family adaptability and long-term outcomes like higher graduation rates, which in turn sustain military readiness by reinforcing family commitment to service. The wellness pillar emphasizes support, caregiver relief, and family resilience-building through provider training on military-specific issues like and . By prioritizing coordinated referrals to evidence-based interventions over broad awareness campaigns alone, it addresses elevated risks among veterans and caregiver burnout, aiming to preserve via healthier families and smoother reintegration by mitigating untreated conditions that exacerbate transition failures.

Implementation and Operations

Leadership and Organizational Structure

Joining Forces functions as a initiative coordinated through the Executive Office of the President, eschewing the creation of a standalone federal agency or expanded . Instead, it employs a lean operational framework centered on an responsible for liaising with agencies, private entities, and nonprofits to secure voluntary commitments addressing family needs in areas such as and . This director lacks authority to allocate federal funds or impose regulations, focusing instead on advocacy and pledge facilitation to promote self-sustaining, partnership-driven outcomes. The position of executive director has been held by senior military officers and civilian experts selected for their expertise in veteran and family support. U.S. served as the first from 2011 to 2012, establishing initial coordination mechanisms during the initiative's launch under President Obama. Subsequent leaders, including Rory Brosius from 2021 onward and Sheila Casey in 2023, maintained this non-regulatory approach, reporting directly to the First Lady's office while leveraging interagency working groups for implementation. First Ladies have provided symbolic and strategic leadership across administrations, with and co-chairing the effort since its 2011 inception. This role emphasizes public advocacy rather than executive decision-making, ensuring continuity despite presidential transitions; the initiative endured under President Trump, though with reduced visibility following an early removal of its webpage, before regaining prominence under President Biden. The bipartisan persistence underscores a governance model prioritizing high-level endorsement over institutional permanence. The organizational structure integrates councils and task forces drawn from existing federal resources, such as the Departments of Defense and , to align efforts without duplicating functions. This hub-and-spoke model facilitates cross-sector alignment while respecting decentralized, incentive-based solutions over top-down mandates, reflecting a deliberate design to minimize administrative overhead and maximize involvement.

Partnerships and Private Sector Engagement

In April 2011, shortly after its launch, the Joining Forces initiative sought involvement by encouraging businesses to commit voluntarily to hiring and training s and military spouses, framing these efforts as alignments of corporate interests with obligations rather than mandated quotas. President Obama amplified this call in August 2011 with a specific challenge for companies to hire or train at least 26,000 post-9/11 s and military spouses by the end of 2012, prompting responses from numerous firms focused on resume workshops, skill-matching programs, and relocation accommodations. These commitments emphasized incentive-based participation, such as tax credits for veteran hiring under existing , over direct subsidies, to foster sustainable without distorting labor markets. By November 2011, over 100 chief executives had endorsed expanded pledges, collectively aiming to create 100,000 jobs for veterans and military spouses by 2014, coordinated through events at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber emerged as a key partner, integrating Joining Forces into its Hiring Our Heroes program, which organized hiring fairs and spouse employment summits to address barriers like frequent PCS moves and skill underutilization. Companies such as JPMorgan Chase committed to tailored onboarding and development for military talent, while Walmart implemented flexible scheduling and job-holding policies during deployments, scaling these through internal incentives like leadership tracks for veteran hires. Participation grew rapidly, with more than 2,000 businesses engaging by December 2012, reflecting broad buy-in from sectors including , retail, and . However, the voluntary nature introduced enforcement challenges, as progress depended on self-reporting without centralized audits, leading to variability in pledge fulfillment and calls for enhanced transparency mechanisms to verify corporate claims against actual hiring data. This model prioritized scalable private incentives, such as reputational benefits and workforce diversity gains, over regulatory coercion, aligning with principles of market-driven support for military transitions.

Achievements and Outcomes

Employment and Economic Impacts

The Joining Forces initiative spurred private-sector commitments to hire and military spouses, with early pledges from onward leading to over 290,000 and spouses hired or trained by April 2013. By May 2016, cumulative efforts under the campaign had resulted in more than 1.2 million such placements since launch, surpassing initial goals amid a backdrop of unemployment rates that fell from 8.6% in July to 6.9% in July 2012. These outcomes built on pre-initiative baselines, where post-9/11 unemployment exceeded 12% in 2010, reflecting targeted interventions like the associated 100,000 Jobs Mission coalition that evolved to hire over 1 million by 2025. Military spouse unemployment, which hovered above 25% prior to based on Department of Defense surveys, saw targeted reductions through Joining Forces partnerships emphasizing flexible hiring and credential recognition, though rates remained elevated at around 21-22% into the . Demographic disaggregation reveals varied impacts: women veterans experienced unemployment rates 2-3 percentage points higher than male counterparts in early post-service years, while spouse efforts disproportionately benefited licensed professionals, comprising up to 34% of the group, via portability initiatives. Junior enlisted veterans, often facing the highest transition barriers, benefited from these programs in sustaining , with cohort analyses showing improved median earnings relative to non-participating peers. Economic stability gains from these employment outcomes have been linked to enhanced retention, as financial reduces voluntary separations in the all-volunteer force; a 2025 American Enterprise Institute assessment notes that effective transitions, including those bolstered by Joining Forces, contribute to long-term force sustainability by demonstrating viable post-service prospects and lowering reenlistment hesitancy tied to economic uncertainty. Empirical metrics, such as reduced among transitioning service members, underscore causal pathways where employment correlates with 10-15% lower attrition risks in high-mobility units, without overstating direct attribution amid factors like broader labor market trends.

Education and Wellness Results

Joining Forces contributed to the amplification of the on Educational Opportunity for Military Children, originally enacted across states starting in 2008, through Department of Defense advocacy in 2011 to encourage broader state adoption and implementation. The compact standardizes policies on enrollment timing, course placement, eligibility for extracurriculars, and graduation requirements, mitigating disruptions from frequent relocations that affect over 80% of military children who change schools at least once during their K-12 years. This has facilitated advance enrollment options, reducing family stress during permanent change-of-station moves and enabling schools to better prepare for incoming students, with reported improvements in extracurricular participation and academic continuity. The initiative also promoted utilization of benefits for transitioning service members and their dependents by supporting the launch of the VA Comparison Tool in 2016, which aids in evaluating educational programs based on costs, outcomes, and approval status. This tool has enabled more informed decisions on transferring benefits to spouses or children, aligning with Joining Forces' emphasis on family access, though specific post-launch utilization spikes are not directly quantified in program reports. In wellness, Joining Forces advanced PTSD and awareness through partnerships forming task forces for leadership , public education, and collaboration, aiming to reduce treatment stigma among families. Concurrently, the VA's Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Caregivers, established in 2011, enrolled over 23,000 primary caregivers of post-9/11 veterans by 2019, providing stipends, , and health services that correlated with increased veteran use of and reduced burden in early evaluations. These efforts supported family stability by addressing invisible wounds, though longitudinal data on direct causal links to outcomes like marital resilience remains limited in available surveys.

Quantitative Evaluations

Government reports from the Obama administration highlighted initial quantitative successes in pledge fulfillment under . By April 2012, participating companies had hired more than 50,000 veterans and military spouses, with commitments from over 1,600 firms to hire an additional 160,000 in subsequent years. These figures encompassed targeted efforts like license portability reforms, where 14 states enacted laws facilitating credential recognition for military spouses by the first anniversary. In education and wellness domains, metrics included the expansion of courses to 29 high schools serving military families, yielding a 57% rise in qualifying exam scores and impacting 30,000 students across 14 states. Wellness initiatives trained over 3 million professionals through partnerships with 135 medical schools and 500 programs, while online modules on and reached more than 120,000 providers. Volunteer commitments totaled 21 million hours for military family support. Bureau of Labor Statistics data tracked veteran unemployment declining from 8.3% in 2011 to 7.0% in 2012, 6.6% in 2013, 5.3% in 2014, and approximately 4.2% in 2015. This trend aligned with national unemployment falling from 8.5% in 2011 to 5.3% in 2015, amid post-recession recovery and concurrent programs like Hiring Our Heroes, which obscured isolated causal effects of Joining Forces. Assessments of subcomponents, such as the Military Spouse Employment Partnership, relied on surveys indicating variable job quality and limited telecommuting postings, with satisfaction mixed despite broader participation. Absent randomized controlled trials or econometric analyses isolating the initiative's effects from macroeconomic factors, evaluations remain primarily descriptive, with attribution challenges persisting due to variables like overall labor market expansion.

Criticisms and Limitations

Debates on Effectiveness

Critics contend that Joining Forces has emphasized symbolic gestures, such as endorsements and corporate pledge ceremonies, over substantive structural changes, resulting in limited causal impact on persistent challenges like spouse underemployment and retention issues. For example, high-profile summits and media campaigns garnered widespread attention but coincided with only modest shifts in outcomes, as spouse unemployment hovered at 21% in early 2024—nearly six times the rate of 3.7%—despite over a decade of and voluntary hiring commitments from participating firms. This stagnation highlights unaddressed root causes, including frequent permanent change-of-station moves disrupting careers and varying state rules that invalidate portable qualifications, barriers that pledges alone cannot resolve without targeted deregulation. Empirical evaluations underscore these shortfalls, with surveys indicating that while some spouses report increased confidence from support programs, aggregate employment gains remain elusive due to entrenched cultural and logistical hurdles not mitigated by the initiative's framework of private-sector exhortations. DoD data further reveal ongoing and attrition pressures, such as the Army's 25% non-completion rate among post-2022 enlistees, which family stability factors—including spousal career disruptions—exacerbate, even as overall FY2024 recruiting rebounded modestly amid broader economic incentives. Perspectives diverge along ideological lines: left-leaning assessments, often from administration reports, praise the campaign for elevating public awareness and catalyzing initial veteran hiring surges during economic upturns, attributing visibility to indirect retention benefits. In contrast, right-leaning analyses favor unmediated private enterprise and policy reforms like licensing reciprocity over government-orchestrated alliances, arguing that self-reliance and reduced regulatory friction offer more durable mobility than publicity-driven voluntarism, which risks substituting optics for accountability. Such debates question whether the initiative's model—prioritizing pledges over enforceable incentives—genuinely alters incentives for employers or families, especially given confounding variables like national labor markets.

Unresolved Challenges for Military Families

Surveys indicate persistent dissatisfaction among military families, with only 32% of active-duty respondents in the Blue Star Families' 2024 Military Family Lifestyle Survey recommending service to young relatives, compared to 55% in 2016. This drop correlates with recruitment shortfalls, as family endorsement influences enlistment propensity amid broader retention pressures from deployment cycles and lifestyle strains. Financial and housing inadequacies exacerbate these issues, with 50% of service members prioritizing pay concerns and 44% citing housing in the 2024 Blue Star survey. The Department of Defense's 2024 Active Duty Spouse Survey revealed that fewer than half of spouses report satisfaction with military life, 40% experience financial hardship, and 61% face anxiety, often tied to relocation costs and Basic Allowance for Housing shortfalls in competitive markets. These structural gaps persist despite policy adjustments, as civilian sector wages outpace , undermining long-term family stability without targeted incentives like enhanced dwell time or pay competitiveness. Deployment-related trauma further compounds distress, with empirical studies linking parental absences to elevated emotional and behavioral problems in children, including increased anxiety and depression rates. Spouses exhibit higher psychological strain, such as marital instability and depressive symptoms, during reintegration phases, as documented in longitudinal analyses of deployment effects. These ripple effects, rooted in repeated separations rather than isolated events, highlight causal pathways from operational tempo to familial erosion, outpacing wellness interventions by emphasizing proximity and predictability over ancillary supports.

Evolution and Recent Developments

Continuity Across Administrations

The Joining Forces initiative originated in the Obama administration (2011–2017), where it prioritized securing private sector pledges for veteran and military spouse employment, achieving commitments for over 1 million hiring and training opportunities by 2016. High-profile endorsements from celebrities and corporations drove these efforts, emphasizing public-private partnerships to address post-9/11 transition challenges for service members and families. Under the Trump administration (2017–2021), the program's webpage was removed shortly after , signaling reduced centralized oversight, though commitments from prior pledges persisted independently. Support for military families shifted toward integration with Department of Veterans Affairs reforms, including expansions in healthcare access via the 2018 VA MISSION Act, and aligned with broader policies that eased barriers for veteran entrepreneurship by simplifying business certifications and licensing. This approach favored market-driven solutions over new pledging campaigns, reflecting an emphasis on reducing government intervention while maintaining economic opportunities for veterans. The Biden administration (2021 onward) revived the initiative through Joining Forces 2.0, announced in January 2021, with renewed caregiver support pledges, including the November 2021 partnership with the Hidden Helpers Coalition to aid 2.3 million children of wounded, ill, or injured service members and veterans. Despite varying emphases—from pledge-heavy mobilization under Obama and Biden to deregulatory facilitation under Trump—the program's core non-partisan framework endured without major funding cuts, underscoring bipartisan consensus on bolstering the all-volunteer force through sustained private and public commitments.

Post-2020 Updates and Future Outlook

In April 2021, First Lady relaunched the Joining Forces initiative, emphasizing , , and wellness priorities tailored to military spouses and caregivers amid post-pandemic recovery needs. This reboot incorporated virtual engagement strategies to sustain private sector pledges, adapting to restrictions on in-person events while expanding access to telework resources for transitioning families. By 2024, Joining Forces advanced support through collaborations like the Department of Defense's Spouse Education and Career Opportunities program, offering professional coaching packages to military spouses pursuing ventures, with over 500 spouses funded for educational and entrepreneurial pursuits in related initiatives. In February 2024, the initiative released a federal guide for recruiting military spouses, aiming to address employment barriers exacerbated by frequent relocations. Events continued into early 2025, including a January celebration of Biden-Harris Administration efforts and announcements for streamlined support services for military children with disabilities via public-private partnerships. The Department of Defense reported a recruitment rebound in fiscal year 2024, enlisting approximately 225,000 personnel—25,000 more than the prior year—though retention challenges persist, with family economic stability identified as a key factor in service member decisions to reenlist. A April 2025 American Enterprise Institute report on veteran transitions critiqued fragmented government support systems, recommending data-driven reallocations toward efficient, personalized services like those from nonprofit models to improve outcomes without expanding bureaucracy. Looking ahead, escalating global tensions, including peer competitions with and , underscore the need for robust family support to sustain the all-volunteer force, as empirical retention data links spousal and portability to lower attrition rates. If federal coordination remains inefficient—as evidenced by overlapping programs yielding uneven results—private sector-led innovations may increasingly dominate, prioritizing measurable impacts on resilience over symbolic pledges.

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  73. https://www.kvue.com/article/news/nation-world/jill-biden-relaunch-joining-forces-military-family-program/507-b6474df4-d28f-4735-adaa-b45844c67a1c
  74. https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/fact-sheet-biden-harris-administration-announces-new-actions-expand-overseas-telework
  75. https://www.aetc.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/3756612/military-onesource-provides-options-to-military-spouses-family-entrepreneurs/
  76. https://www.militaryfamily.org/military-family-impact-celebrating-victories-and-moving-ahead-for-a-better-2024/
  77. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFjwUorshUA
  78. https://www.eastwingmagazine.com/p/jill-biden-announces-plan-to-help
  79. https://www.defenseone.com/policy/2024/10/military-services-upping-recruiting-goals-after-rebound-2024/400698/
  80. https://www.rand.org/pubs/commentary/2025/04/navigating-a-changing-military-recruitment-environment.html
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