(upbeat music)
- Hi, I'm Mike Miller
from the Defense Personnel and Family Support center.
- Hello, I'm Adam Cyr
from the DOD Military-Civilian Transition Office.
- We're happy to talk to you again today
about the Transition Assistance Program, TAP.
During our first video,
we talked about the foundations of TAP
and how TAP was designed.
Today we want to answer questions we received
from our supporters
that really were surrounding all the other things
that are part of TAP and make TAP functional,
but aren't part of the statutory program.
So to do that,
we want to first lay a foundation
and give you a quick overview of TAP again,
and then go into the definitions, the players, the partners
inside the beyond TAP ecosystem.
So Adam, can you kind of tell us exactly
what TAP is and how it functions in this space?
- I'd love to Mike.
So tap is a mandatory statutory based program
that begins 365 days before separation.
From there it moves to a core five days of curriculum,
and then 90 days before separation,
there's a checkout or capstone event
that confirms you're ready to transition.
It serves 200,000 service members a year.
It's a standardized curriculum across 185 locations.
And the biggest thing I want to emphasize to you
is this is just a foundation for successful transition.
So now that you kind of understand what is TAP,
Mike, do you wanna go in
on what the rest of the landscape looks like?
- Sure so that's very helpful.
So as we look at TAP,
we we'll look at TAO as that foundation.
It becomes clear that it's very valuable.
It's very essential, but it can't possibly take,
and be the end state for a successful transition.
For a successful transition to occur.
It's gotta happen at the local level.
It's got to have multiple players
who are providing all the things that are beyond TAP.
All those elements that create
that complex dynamic ecosystem of relationships
and programs and services
and benefits that all come together
to answer the question of what's right
for this service member, this person's family,
this person's support system in this location at this time.
That's far beyond TAP
And so with that,
can you kind of describe for us some of the players
and some of the things that are occurring
in that ecosystem that are filling those gaps
to make it relevant and meaningful
to that particular service member at that place in time?
- Absolutely, Mike, I'd love to talk about
two of our most successful employment
based opportunities first.
And that's the DOD SkillBridge program
and then traditional hiring fairs.
DOD SkillBridge, or the career skills program for the army.
Is a training program where six months before separation,
a service number can go join a company,
an employer, anything company like that,
and basically get training experience
while we're still paying their salary,
taking care of their healthcare.
And what it's doing is it's creating an easier path
for transition and a higher likelihood of success
for employment, because they've got that experience
before they even get out of the military.
Also there's the hiring fairs.
So hiring fairs are the traditional way
to get out service members on installations.
It's one of the easiest ways for employers
to interact with service members on installations.
These exists in the traditional format
in just a massive hall they're on the web now,
we're hosting them OCONUS.
Most importantly we're starting to have them
in communities as well
with organizations like the VA or, you know,
through things like Hiring Our Heroes.
So what I recommend there
is if you're transitioning service member
talk to your transition manager,
or if you're an employer talk to the transition manager
about the schedule of events
to see if that's something that you can be a part of.
So Mike, that really covers a large part
of what the employment landscape looks like,
but what else exists in the TAP landscape?
- So that is a very good overview and a foundation.
But what we find is that there's a lot of other things
that are still occurring
with a lot of other key important players.
One of those is all the private public resources occurring,
whether it's from a federal agency,
or it's from an institution of higher learning
or from a think tank.
There's all types of research coming out every day
that tells us what's working, gives us metrics,
gives us outcomes and outputs
and helps us better understand what's right,
and what works best in that time and space.
So that's very important
to understand the role they're playing
and how they're contributing
and what they're providing to the conversation.
At the same time, there are publications,
whether they be public publications or private publications
that will consolidate that information
and put it in a format
that allows those supporters out there
that are looking to understand the ecosystem
to have a better capability to do so.
At the same time, we look at all of this, it's good,
but at the end of the day,
it's like a lot of things in life.
Success comes at that local level.
And so what really matters
is when I'm leaving the service in Texas
and relocating to Iowa,
that I have the ability to understand
and be embraced by that local community
that I'm going to in Iowa.
And that's where community based operations come into play
and community based partners.
So when you talk a little bit about that
and what's going on in those communities?
- I'd love to Mike.
Community based organizations
are one of the easiest ways to get involved
in the beyond TAP landscape.
These are veterans service organizations
that are providing direct support to service members,
veterans, and their families where they live.
So they're no longer on the installation.
Now they're in the community
and this is the best way to kind of get involved
and provide them services.
The most successful model that we've seen
is what's called an umbrella organization.
So umbrella organizations have found a way
to pull together all of the veteran based resources
in the community into one place and make a one stop shop.
So a service member never has to go anywhere else.
They just go to the organization and everything's there
from employment, from higher ed, from health,
from financial, from housing,
whatever you need all in one place.
And a great way to find all of these is the VA
has a...
It's called a Veteran Experience Office.
And on there
is what's called the Community Veteran Engagement Boards.
And a lot of these are listed across the United States,
a great way to get involved
and to get into contact with them,
to find out how you or your organization can get involved.
So Mike these organizations and these programs
that we've mentioned today
are some of the most successful ways we've found
people who wanna get involved
to help transitioning service members and veterans
in the beyond TAP space.
Is there anything that we missed?
- I think you've covered it very well.
And I think it's important to recognize
that at that community level,
where we pull in all of those elements
that are supporting service members,
it doesn't matter where the supporter sees themselves.
There's a place for them.
So it doesn't matter
if we're talking about veteran homelessness
or the suicides or the financial needs
or housing needs or counseling needs
or family childcare services
or anything in the entire spectrum of the ecosystem.
There's a way to integrate yourself
in those local communities that are working
with the state and federal partners
that provide this umbrella capability.
Because at the end of the day, like we mentioned before,
the solutions are local.
The support is local, the jobs, the housing, the healthcare,
that's all local.
It's all those solutions.
Those partners are what really make the difference.
And when you have a person
who has successfully transitioned them, their spouse
and their family,
it's because they were able to integrate
into that local community, make the community better.
As the community served them
they began to serve the community.
So the ecosystem works.
The ecosystem is the key,
TAP is that foundation that provides the information
and the ecosystem provides the services,
provides the connections, provide the support
that leads to a service member transition successfully,
very visible, very present, contributing in a meaningful way
to their local community,
making the nation better.
That success, that's what makes us happy.
So with that, our final thoughts from you Adam before we go.
- Today, we really went across the landscape,
but we really did not get to drill down
into how to get involved with some of these organizations.
So if you have me back,
I'd love to kind of discuss with you about how,
you know, really in depth,
what we can do to kind of talk
to some of these organizations.
- That's a wonderful idea.
And for you that are listening.
If you have further questions,
we plan to have future video chats
that we'll drill down to those topics
that you're interested in.
So with that,
we look forward to seeing you again.
We look forward to hearing your comments
and your recommendations back for future discussions.
And I can't wait to see you next time.
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