BHMC Outreach/Thank You Emails

E-mail Draft Language – Initial Outreach (Outside Department of Defense):

Hello,

My name is [Insert Name] and I support the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) in improving the health, well-being, readiness, and resilience of geographically dispersed Service members and their families. I am reaching out to ask your assistance with the DoD’s Building Healthy Military Communities (BHMC) pilot, which is a multi-year effort across seven states to better understand on-the-ground resources and some of the challenges faced by these resources in supporting local communities.

Our team is traveling to [Insert City, State] on [Insert Date] and identified your organization based on the services you provide. We would benefit greatly from facilitating a discussion regarding the mission of your program or organization, the population(s) you serve, and some of your successes and challenges. We hope to have multiple conversations with organizations like yours across seven pilot states in order to better understand the strengths of the communities and salient issues impacting the communities in which Service members reside. The information you provide will help inform a strategic plan that will enable DoD to better support Service members and their families that may not live near installations.

Would you be available on [Insert Date] from [Insert Start Time] to [Insert End Time] to meet with us?

Please refer to the one-pager (attached) for additional information about our efforts. Upon your response, my team, cc’d here, will coordinate follow-up with you to answer any questions you may have and schedule a time to meet if possible. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Thank you for your support!

Regards,

[Sender]

E-mail Draft Language – Initial Outreach (Within Department of Defense):

Hello,

My name is [Insert Name] and I support the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) in improving the well-being, readiness, and resilience of geographically dispersed Service members and their families. I am reaching out to ask your assistance with the DoD’s Building Healthy Military Communities (BHMC) pilot.

The BHMC pilot, which was briefed at the Manpower and Reserve Affairs (M&RA) Secretariat meeting on 19 MAY 2016, is a multi-year effort across seven states to better understand on-the-ground resources and some of the challenges faced by these resources in supporting local communities. This effort aims to meet the requirements of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Instruction (CJCSI) 3405.01 on Total Force Fitness (TFF). CSJCSI 3405.01 (attached) outlines TFF as a framework for improving health, readiness, and resiliency of Service members through eight domains of fitness. The DoD is also launching the pilot in response to Senate Report 114-63, which calls for a pilot for the “enhancement of recruitment, retention, readiness, and resilience” of the total force (see excerpt attached).

Our team is traveling to [Insert City, State] on [Insert Date] and would like to meet with your leadership at [Insert Military Base Name] to better understand some of the resources supporting well-being, readiness, and resilience that are available to Service members and their dependents at the installation. The information you provide will help us support current programs and services, identify existing gaps and needs of Service members, and develop a strategic plan that will enable DoD to better support Service members and their families that may not live near installations.

Would you be available on [Insert Date] from [Insert Start Time] to [Insert End Time] for us to meet?

Please refer to the one-pager (attached) for additional information about our efforts. Upon your response, my team, cc’d here, will coordinate follow-up with you to answer any questions you may have and schedule a time to meet if possible. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Thank you for your support!

Regards,

[Sender]

E-mail Draft Language – Follow-Up Thank You (Everyone):

Good [morning/afternoon],

Thank you very much for meeting with the Building Healthy Military Communities (BHMC) pilot team last week in [Insert State]. We appreciate your support as we work to improve the health, well-being, readiness, and resilience of geographically dispersed Service members and their families.

The information that you shared helped us to better understand the strengths and challenges of the communities in which Service members and their families reside. The key insights you provided will be compiled into a report that will inform a strategic plan to better support Service members and their families that may not live near installations.

We look forward to engaging with you again and our continued partnership in supporting Service members. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Regards,

[Sender]

Brief Talking Points:

• The goal of the Building Healthy Military Communities (BHMC) pilot is to better understand the challenges faced by Service members and their families in accessing resources that may impact force readiness, well-being, and resilience.

• Results of the pilot will inform the Total Force Fitness (TFF) Capabilities Based Assessment and help establish an enduring capability for TFF in support of remote Active Duty, Reserve, and National Guard members and their families.

• Senate Report (S.R.) 114-63 from the FY16 Department of Defense (DoD) Appropriations Bill allocated $3M in funding for the BHMC pilot to USUHS/CHAMP to support the execution of a pilot to “ensure enhancement of recruitment, retention, readiness and resilience”.

• The pilot will be conducted in three phases over the course of three years: 1) Planning, 2) Implementation, 3) Evaluation.

  • The pilot is currently in the planning phase. Phases 2 and 3 will be conducted iteratively to allow for periodic evaluation and adjustment of interventions, as necessary.

• The BHMC pilot leadership team consists of Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Consortium for Health and Military Performance (USUHS/CHAMP); the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness (P&R), Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Readiness), Personnel Risk and Resiliency (PRR)) within the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness (OUSD P&R); and the National Guard Bureau (NGB).

• The following states were selected as sites in which to conduct the BHMC pilot: Minnesota, Mississippi, New Mexico, Maryland, Indiana, Florida, and Oklahoma. Selection criteria included:

  • Representation of multiple Services across the state

  • Demographic diversity within the states

  • Existence of NGB’s Joining Community Forces (JCF) programs and current initiatives

• A rapid needs assessment will be conducted in each pilot state to assess existing resources, gaps in resources, and specific needs of each states’ population. Results of the assessment will inform the development and tailoring of the pilot interventions.

• A measurement and evaluation process for the pilot is currently in development. Metrics collection will commence with the rapid needs assessments and continue through pilot execution.