Gov. Josh Stein visited Fayetteville on Wednesday to sign a proclamation for North Carolina to join a new program with other states called Do Your Part. It aims to improve support for military families, known as Blue Star families.
This includes working with the Blue Star Families nonprofit organization, which recently opened a chapter in Fayetteville for the Fort Bragg region.
“Do Your Part is an initiative to encourage states to think holistically about how we can support not only the service members who work in our state, but their families as well,” Stein said shortly before he signed the proclamation in a ceremony at Fayetteville Technical Community College. “North Carolina is committed to being a top state for military and military family members. That means [in] every state agency we’re thinking through how that agency can offer its services better to people who are in the military.”
The proclamation says North Carolina has 619,000 veterans and 281,603 Blue Star families. North Carolina has the fourth-largest active duty military population in the country, Stein said. Fort Bragg, with roughly 50,000 uniformed personnel, is the nation’s largest military base by population, according to the Army.
The Do Your Part program can lead to policies to help with the challenges and circumstances of military families, said Jessica Strong, a Fort Bragg Army spouse with three children. She is the senior director of applied research for Blue Star Families.
For example, military families frequently move to new communities, and some of their children may need a special education plan or other support, she said. The public school systems can arrange to work with families early so that the children’s transition to their new schools goes more smoothly.
“Policies like advanced enrollment give schools a heads up so that they know incoming military students have special needs, and can gather the appropriate resources for them before they enter the school, even before day one, not weeks or months into the fiscal year,” Strong said.
Retired Army Lt. Gen. Gwen Bingham, who spent part of her career at Fort Bragg, is chair of the Board of Directors of the Blue Star Families organization. “Your proclaiming today North Carolina as a Do Your Part state indicates to all Blue Star families that you see them and you hear them, and we’re mighty grateful to you for that,” she said.
North Carolina is the third state, following Maryland and Utah, to join the Do Your Part initiative, said Jennifer Akin, a vice president with the Blue Star Families organization.
Participation in the Do Your Part program will not require any additional funding from the state government, Stein said.
“This is something that’s predominantly idea-driven — doesn’t require resources at this point,” Stein said. “So we’re going to be looking to other states to see what they’re doing, to help military families and take those good ideas. But we’re also going to work with the General Assembly to pass whatever laws are necessary.”
North Carolina has a long history of passing laws and enacting policies to assist military families.
For example, Fayetteville Tech and Fayetteville State University have programs and partnerships with Fort Bragg for military members, their families and veterans. Fayetteville State signed a new partnership agreement with Fort Bragg in February to boost research and technology development efforts.
“Each state agency is looking to see what can we do to better serve military families,” the governor said. “But the legislature is doing its part. They passed a number of bills this year that are going to help military families when they come to North Carolina, whether it’s enrolling their kid in a new school, or it’s renewing their driver’s license remotely when they’re abroad, serving this country, or whether it’s getting to work quickly by having some certification, professional certification, apply here in North Carolina.
“So it’s an all-of-government partnership,” Stein said.
Senior reporter Paul Woolverton can be reached at pwoolverton@cityviewnc.com.
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