February 2018 Convening Recap: Blue Star Families Military Family Lifestyle Survey Results and Discussion

Posted on: February 26, 2018  |  Posted in: Community Blog, Information of the Month

On February 23rd, the San Diego Military Family Collaborative welcomed Hisako Sonethavilay of Blue Star Families to present the 2017 results of their Military Family Lifestyle Survey. Over 60 military providers, agencies, and families gathered to learn valuable information on what unique issues and trends are affecting military families nationally. After the panel the SDMFC discussed in small groups to answer these questions: 

  1. The 2017 Blue Star Families Military Family Lifestyle Survey finds the top issue that most concerns military spouses and service members to be, “Amount of time away from the family” and for veterans, “Military pay/benefits.” Do you feel that this may or may not be the case in SD?
  2. From today’s presentation, can you shed light on trends you are seeing while working with military families?
  3. Where may there exist gaps in service for military families?
  4. What resources or agencies can be leveraged in San Diego to address some of those gaps?
  5. Any additional thoughts on ways SDMFC can address these gaps?

Some highlights of each group’s discussion included:

  • All groups agree that “Time Away From Families” and “Pay/Benefits” are the top issues of concerns for Service Members, Spouses, and Veterans
  • Trends of Childcare and Divorce/Relationship Problems are additional trends providers are seeing in San Diego
  • Communication of services and resources to spouses, service members, and commands remain a gap in service
  • Creating a Resource Workshop Fair as a possible future action step

Download the full discussion here

SDMFC Monthly Convenings are every 4th Friday of the month, 10:00am – 12:00pm @ Mission Valley Library. Join us on March 23rd for our next one! 

Keep connected to our convenings, newsletters, and other community events at https://www.facebook.com/sdmilfam/

Please see below if you would like to watch the panel on Facebook LIVE, see the fact sheet shared at the convening, or to read our panelist bios.

See here for the Facebook LIVE stream of our February 2018 Convening

See the full Blue Star Families report and other survey resources here: https://bluestarfam.org/survey/

Expert Biography

Hisako Sonethavilay – Hisako Sonethavilay is the Senior Advisor for Survey and Research at Blue Star Families and leads the organization’s key research and legislative policy initiatives including its annual Military Family Lifestyle Survey. Hisako’s interests stem from her own experiences as a Marine Corps spouse and desire to advance military family research and community development. Hisako holds a Master’s of Social Work degree from George Mason University and is a Licensed Social Worker in the state of Virginia.