The National Military Spouse Network is the premiere organization supporting the professional and personal growth of the nation’s military spouses. The White Paper is designed to jump start the conversation on military spouse employment and entrepreneurship, and will inform a series of four invitation-only round-table discussions held throughout 2019 to develop and put in place viable solutions to military spouse unemployment. Each of the round-tables will focus on one key aspect outlined in the white paper.
Here are five tips for eliminating entrepreneur barriers
1. Collect Information
To better understand the barriers and challenges to entrepreneurship among military spouses, steps should be taken to collect data and report out on difficulties, pain points, and lessons learned.
2. Act
To reduce unemployment and underemployment among military spouses, reintroduce legislation that:
• incentives businesses to hire them by expanding the targeted groups under the Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) to include military spouses.
• calls for an assessment that includes information on small business activities of military spouses on installations.
3. Support
To improve transparency and reduce the complexity of seeking employment while being stationed overseas, DOD should work with the U.S. Department of State to issue clarifying and location-specific guidance.
4. Inform
To ensure military spouses are aware of DOD’s recent clarifications regarding the operation of small businesses on base so they can make informed decisions about where to live and how to supplement, rather than compete with, military exchanges, commissaries, and MWR activities.
5. Educate
To enhance collaboration and better ensure consistency in the application of DOD’s recent clarification on small business operation on military installations, require that all services provide installation commanders with the appropriate training to develop consistent guidance and compatible policies and procedures across services and installations.
