More Topics in Common Ground

Military Family Points of Contact

Military families with children attending schools that have received a Purple Star Award have an assigned military family point of contact. To access a list of Purple Star Schools and contact information for the military family point of contact, please click here. If your school does not have a military family point of contact and you require assistance, feel free to contact WVDE Coordinator, Robert Mellace at rmellace@k12.wv.us.

American Academy of Pediatrics

American Academy of Pediatrics website includes sections focused on educating the public and providing strategies for addressing the effects of deployments on military-connected children and their families.

American Red Cross

The American Red Cross offers a variety of resources within the military family section of their website, including free and confidential Reconnection Workshops for adults and children. The workshops include focuses on effective communication, stress solutions, trauma talk, emotional grit, connecting with kids, diffusing anger, caregiving for ill and/or injured service members, building confidence and coping skills.

Department of Veterans Affairs

The Department of Veterans Affairs Homepage provides official information on a variety of benefits and healthcare available to qualifying veterans.

West Virginia Department of Veterans Assistance (WVDVA)

The WVDVA provides services and benefits assistance to veterans across the state. The department operates 16 field and claims offices throughout the state, with staff members conducting more than 250 benefits consultations daily. A comprehensive guide to benefits and resources information is included on their website. 

Department of Veterans Affairs Mental Health

The Department of Veterans Affairs Mental Health website provides support for a variety of mental health conditions and other challenges. If you are a veteran in crisis or are concerned about one, a toll-free number provides assistance anytime day or night.

Fry Scholarship

Information at www.benefits.va.gov/GIBILL/Fry_scholarship.asp may provide Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits to the children and surviving spouses of Servicemembers who died in the line of duty while on active duty after September 10, 2001.

GI Bill

The GI Bill website is the home for all education benefits provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Helmets to Hardhats

Helmets to Hardhats offers information on the fastest way for military, reservists, and guardsmen to transition from active duty to a career in the construction industry.

Military Child Education Coalition (MCEC)

The Military Child Education Coalition (MCEC) works to ensure inclusive, quality educational opportunities for all military-connected children affected by mobility, transition, deployments and family separation.

Military Interstate Children’s Compact Commission (MIC3)

The Compact deals with the challenges of military children and their frequent relocations. It allows for uniform treatment as qualifying military children transfer between school districts in member states. At this time, all 50 states and the District of Columbia are members. Note: The Compact only applies to public schools. To review WV MIC3 contact information: https://mic3.net/interactive-map/.

Military OneSource

Military OneSource is a free service provided by the Department of Defense to service members and their families to help with a broad range of concerns including money management, spouse employment and education, parenting and child care, relocation, deployment, reunion, and the particular concerns of families with special-needs members.

Military Transcripts for College Credit

Members of the Army, Coast Guard, Marine Corps and Navy may request a Joint Services Transcript as an academically accepted document approved by the ACE used to validate military occupational experience and training along with corresponding ACE college credit recommendations. Members of the Air Force or Space Force may request transcripts from the Community College of the Air Force.

Minuteman Scholarship

The Minuteman Scholarship is a program provided in coordination with West Virginia’s U.S. Army Ambassador, Johnnie Ross. Eligibility requirements include, but are not limited to, being in the Army National Guard or in the U.S. Army Reserve or eligible to enlist. The deadline for nominations is August 4, 2023. For complete details, please contact West Virginia’s U.S. Army Ambassador, Johnnie Ross at jdross@aep.com.

Mission: Youth Outreach

Mission: Youth Outreach, provided by Boys and Girls Clubs of America are partnering with joint military services with a goal to improve the lives of military families on military installations and within civilian communities. 

My Air Force Benefits

For information about Air Force Benefits, visit the official military benefits website of the U.S Air Force.

My Army Benefits Website

For information about U.S. Army benfits, visit the official military benefits website of the U.S Army.

MySECO

MySECO (Spouse Education and Career Opportunities) – A website (provided by Military One Source) providing military spouses with 24/7 access to online education and career information, resources, scholarships, tools and assessments. Using the Spouse Education and Career Opportunities career assessments, spouses may begin to explore their interests, skills, passions and personality type to analyze education and career opportunities. Available tools provide spouses the opportunity to develop an individual career plan, or MyICP, and build their resume. In MySECO military spouses may also take advantage of the Military Spouse Employment Partnership job search, which connects spouses with hundreds of partners who have committed to recruit, hire, promote and retain military spouses.

National Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

The United States Department of Veterans Affairs offers information and videos designed to help patients and providers learn about PTSD and effective treatments. 

National Guard – West Virginia Military Family Assistance

West Virginia Military Family Assistance offers counseling and referral services for families of military service members. Family assistance counselors maintain contact with families of deployed service members on a monthly basis. 1703 Coonskin Drive Charleston, WV 25311 866-986-4326 They have offices in Charleston, Parkersburg, Camp Dawson, Martinsburg, Lewisburg and Glen Jean.

Prevent Suicide WV

Prevent Suicide WV is a collaborative program resulting from the consolidation of the West Virginia Council for the Prevention of Suicide (WVCPS) program component and the Adolescent Suicide Prevention and Early Intervention (ASPEN) project and the statewide suicide prevention program for West Virginia, working to ensure that we don’t lose our fellow West Virginians to suicide. 

Purple Star School Military Family Points of Contact

Military families with children attending schools that have received a Purple Star Award have an assigned military family point of contact. To access a list of Purple Star Schools and contact information for the military family point of contact, please click here. If your school does not have a military family point of contact and you require assistance, feel free to contact WVDE Coordinator, Robert Mellace at rmellace@k12.wv.us.

Sesame Street for Military Families

Sesame Street for Military Families provides videos, activities, and handouts which you may use in your work with families as they experience new situations and challenges arising from deployment, multiple deployments, when a parent returns home and is changed due to an injury or does not return. The website’s content was developed in cooperation with the Military Health System, lists resources by topic, is very user friendly, and is primarily geared towards supporting the social and emotional needs of young children.

StopBullying.gov

StopBullying.gov provides information, training and resources about how to prevent, react and respond to bullying. There is a section specific to providing for the needs of educators and parents of military-connected youth. It addresses deployments, creating a military-friendly school, and lists additional online resources.

Teach West Virginia

Visit a section of our state’s teacher recruitment website designed to encourage and guide veterans in their efforts to pursue initial teacher certification. 

Thrive Initiative

The Thrive Initiative is a series of developmentally-comprehensive, evidence-informed, universal and targeted parenting programs for military and civilian families. The Thrive Initiative is developed through a collaboration between the Department of Defense’s Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Military Community and Family Policy and the Clearinghouse for Military Family Readiness at Penn State.

United States Department of Education (USDE)

United States Department of Education (USDE) website provides a section specific to veterans and military families, with information about education benefits, job training programs and other services.

Veterans Upward Bound for WV

Veterans Upward Bound is a United States Department of Education TRiO Program dedicated to helping Veterans of the U.S. Military take full advantage of the educational opportunities available to them. VUB provides services and materials (at no cost to program participants) for the purpose of facilitating enrollment into and successful completion of studies at institutions of higher learning. Veterans throughout West Virginia have received services from our Veterans Upward Bound program since 1990. Former VUB participants have earned degrees from colleges and universities in West Virginia and other states.

Workforce West Virginia

The Workforce West Virginia website provides a section specific to assisting veterans in their efforts to find jobs in the civilian workforce.

Disclaimer: While this website is designed to provide online resources and information to students, educators, and military families about a wide variety of programs and services provided by an assortment of entities, the WVDE and Common Ground Partnership are in no way officially or implicitly endorsing any activities of these organizations and are not responsible for the content of their websites.