Blue Star Families: survey finds military spouses face 23% unemployment/underemployment; local programs aim to help

Yolanda Rayford, executive director of the Maryland chapter of Blue Star Families, presented the organization’s local programs and a snapshot of its annual Military Family Lifestyle Survey during the Southern Maryland delegation’s March 20 meeting.

Rayford said the snapshot covers responses collected from May to June of the prior year and included about 6,100 respondents nationally; she emphasized that the Maryland chapter will collect new data this May and share the complete state-level statistics with the delegation. The survey data shown to the delegation highlighted military spouse employment challenges — Rayford said military spouses face a roughly 23% unemployment or underemployment rate — as well as child-care shortages, housing-cost pressures and food insecurity for some families.

“Seventy percent of active-duty military families live off the installation, so how do we get them to connect with one another and the resources they need?” Rayford asked, describing programs designed to bring services into communities near Pax River, Lexington Park and Waldorf. She described the chapter’s Nourish the Service program, which uses a Maryland Veterans Trust Fund grant and corporate partners to run food-distribution and community events, and START (Serving, Thriving and Reading Together) book programs at Lexington Park Library that combine storytelling and shared meals.

Rayford said Maryland’s chapter runs two staff members in the region with support from dozens to hundreds of volunteers and that the organization will provide the delegation with slide materials and data for local distribution.

Delegate Edith Patterson and other delegation members thanked Rayford and said local VFW posts and community groups already provide supplemental support, while asking Blue Star Families to help amplify awareness of available services through legislative newsletters and local partners.

Rayford noted the data presented was from the prior year and that responses may change after the chapter’s next data collection cycle this May; she promised to send full data and program details to the delegation staff for distribution.