Needs of Air Force families focus of forum Published July 9, 2011 By Capt. Carla Gleason 56th Fighter Wing Public Affairs LUKE AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. -- "Take care of your people," has been a common Air Force phrase for years, bringing along with it service personnel such as behavioral specialists, chaplains, family advocacy representatives and other family support members. But with so many types of services available, consolidating resources to meet an installation's needs has been challenging. The Caring for People Forum, an Air Force-wide program established in 2009, was designed to do just that, providing professionals from around the Air Force an opportunity to discuss issues and develop programs to better suit the needs of the Air Force family. At the base level, it empowers Airmen and families to voice their concerns or suggestions on Air Force policy and support services while providing commanders the tools they need to establish effective action plans. "This initiative is a direct manifestation of our service's historical and cultural mindset of taking pride in improving the quality of life for Airmen and their families," said Brig. Gen. Jerry Harris, 56th Fighter Wing commander, in his May commentary soliciting participants. "It is direct proof the Air Force and wing leadership cares, wants to listen and most importantly, take action." In previous years, Caring for People Forum suggestions have lead to increased focus in areas including deployment support, family support, school support, special needs child support, Guard and Reserve family support and single Airman support. Suggestions made by Airmen and their family members have resulted in service provider social networking sites, dedicated base-level support for special-needs families, school liaison officer funding and other program improvements. In order for the program to be most effective, the installation needs participation from every segment of the population, military members, civilians, spouses and retirees. To achieve that cross-section, Luke sent out a team of volunteers in May to solicit information one-on-one. "This face-to-face contact will yield much better data than a mass, sterile email survey, mass meetings or working groups," General Harris said. "The goal is to continue what we are doing well, and identify what we could do better." This year's forum questions concentrated on 10 specific areas: · Family support - issues such as spouse employment, child care, access to services for families · Housing support - on and off-base housing needs and information · Spouse communications and spouse access to information about services · Education - school support for Airmen and families · Health and wellness - programs for active-duty personnel and their families · Reserve support · Single Airman support · Special-needs programs to support families · Deployment support for deployers and their families · Guard support Based on inputs gleaned from the answers volunteers were able to obtain, Luke leadership will have the opportunity to create visible improvements in specific areas which affect the base community daily. Issues beyond wing control will be forwarded to higher headquarters and may gain Air Force-level visibility in Washington, D.C. Look for more information about specific quality-of-life issues identified as well as proposed action plans to correct those issues over the coming months.