AFA F2 Grant Delivers Child Care Solutions for Eglin Families

The Air & Space Forces Association’s partnership with Operation Child Care Project (OCCP) was on display during a bustling November weekend in the Florida Emerald Coast, marking the beginning of a long-term impact many military families will benefit from. 

AFA’s United Forces & Families (F2) Program granted $5,000 in funding support to OCCP’s HomeFront Helpers Pilot, which will directly address the unique child care challenges of military families stationed near Eglin Air Force Base and Hurlburt Field. The grant provided $250 stipends to each of the 20 “Helpers” who attended the weekend cohort event and completed all online training, ensuring the Helpers meet and exceed DOD standards for in-home child care requirements. 

Over the course of the next year, these fully trained and vetted Helpers will plug into the local community to fill the child care gaps as private caregivers for Hurlburt and Eglin families. These Helpers and the others that join the program as needs evolve will: 

• Work one-on-one with requesting military families
• Be connected to military families in need of child care through the OCCP Case Management system.
• Fulfill staffing needs when local child care centers, both on-base and off-base, are faced with staffing shortages.

“We know that at the core of most, if not all, quality of life issues that military families face is a lack of access to affordable quality child care. With almost 75% of our Helper cohort being military spouses, prior service members, or retired military spouses they deeply understood the challenges today’s military families face,” said Kayla Corbitt, CEO of Operation Child Care Project and Army Spouse. 

“Our partnership with AFA furthers our mission of bringing military family voices to the table to ensure that programming and solutions are designed by families for families,” remarked Corbitt.

Newly minted Helper, Megan Cunningham, shared that she “wished this program existed” when she was serving as an Active duty Airman while also raising two children as a single mother. 

“I got out because I didn’t have reliable child care that supported my shift work as part of Security Forces,” Cunningham said with tears filling her eyes. “I truly wanted to continue serving.”

Cunningham said she relocated back to the Eglin area following her transition as it felt most like home to her. Her heart for service is now finding fulfillment in the HomeFront Helpers pilot to provide trusted child care options to local military families who face the very same challenges that she did many years ago. 

The program’s effectiveness was also largely due to the leadership and collaboration from the Early Learning Coalition (ELC) of the Emerald Coast. ELC provided direct and expedient connection between OCCP and critical contacts within the State of Florida’s Department of Children and Families (DCF). Representatives from ELC and the Florida DCF provided critical online and in-person education for the Helpers and facilitated professional development trainings.

“Our mission is to support the success of every child and their family. This program is another step towards our vision of every child receiving quality early education and care,” said Dana Hodges, CEO of the Early Learning Coalition of the Emerald Coast. 

AFA continues to recognize childcare as one of the critical components of family readiness through its ENGAGE publications, legislative priorities, sessions at the Air, Space & Cyber Conference, and United Forces & Families grants to support programs like the HomeFront Help pilot.

“Operation Childcare Project’s HomeFront Help Program is an incredible example of the forward-thinking, collaborative solutions our United Forces & Families program seeks to amplify and grow,” said Kari Voliva, AFA’s Vice President of Member and Field Relations. “Access to safe and reliable childcare is not a ‘nice to have’ benefit. It is a mission requirement for today’s Air and Space Forces.”

Corbitt added that this first-of-its-kind program was designed to be replicated across the forces, to provide an augmented level of care to Air Force and Space Force bases around the nation. OCCP is already scouting areas for the next rollout. 

To find out more about the HomeFront Helpers program, visit www.occproject.org.