
Military Leaders Economic Security Toolkit
This toolkit helps leaders and service providers support the economic security of service members.

Economic Security Supports Military Readiness
A military family's economic security is critical to mission readiness. This toolkit helps define economic security issues and provides tools and resources to help you support your service members.
Housing Availability »
Food Security »
Financial Well-Being »
NEW Data on Food Security
Learn more about food security in the military community and how it's impacting service members and spouses.
Know the Issues Affecting Our Service Members
Housing Availability

The current hot housing market is impacting many military families. Those relocating are facing rising rents and home prices, paying out of pocket for temporary lodging, waiting longer for on-base housing and paying more per month than their housing allowance covers.
Every PCS comes with its unique set of challenges but there are resources available to help service members pin down the tools they need to make their next PCS a power move. Learn more about how Military OneSource can help connect service members and their families to support for their next relocation.
Affording Housing
Finding Housing
Expenses During PCS Transition
Food Security

Food security is having access at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life for all household members. Food security is critical for overall health and well-being, and peak service member performance. Learn how to quickly assess food insecurity.
Mrs. Patricia Montes Barron, deputy assistant secretary of defense for Military Community and Family Policy highlights the 2023 Military Family Readiness Academy series, Military Families and Food Security: A Call to Action. This free virtual professional development series offers multi-disciplinary programming opportunities for service providers, to include an asynchronous course, live panel discussion, and interactive workshop. Join the 2023 academy series to explore food insecurity’s impact on military families and discover how to apply your knowledge to the communities you serve.
Visit https://oneop.org/mfra/foodsecurity/ to learn more about OneOp’s Military Family Readiness Academy and to register for live events and access the self-paced course.
Help promote food security in your military community.
The 2023 Military Family Readiness Academy, Military Families and Food Security: A Call to Action, offers resources and tools to help service providers promote food security for military families.
What Leaders Need To Know
Learn How To Identify Food Insecurity
Food Security Resources and Programs
Financial Well-Being

Financial well-being is when a person can fully meet current and ongoing financial obligations, can feel secure in their financial future, and is able to make choices that allow enjoyment of life.
Identifying Economic Concerns
Helpful Financial Tools
Additional Information To Help Service Members
Check out the resources and tools at your fingertips to help military families bolster their economic security and relieve financial stress. Whether it's helping them with financial well-being, housing availability or food security, the information below provides a great start. You can also download the free MilProvider app to easily access and share these Military OneSource resources, products and more with your service members.
Additional Housing Availability Information
- Homeless Veterans Assistance Center — A website that describes Veterans Affairs services for homeless veterans and their families.
- Housing Help for Veterans — Information about government housing assistance for veterans, including VA loans for buying or improving a home.
- Housing and Urban Development Rental Assistance — A description of rental assistance services from HUD.
- Housing and Urban Development Home Ownership — Information that tells prospective homeowners what they need to know about buying a house.
- Military OneSource Housing Benefits — Information from Military OneSource about housing and moving benefits for service members and their families.
- Military OneSource Housing Resources — Information from Military OneSource to help service members and families find their next home.
- Veteran Resource Center Hotline (HUDVet) –— A national list of links and contact information for organizations that assist and serve veterans.
- Short Sale Assistance for Military Homeowners — A press release announcing a policy making it easier for service members to have a “short sale” on their home when they have to move as part of their duty.
- Military Relief Options for Service Members — Information to help debt servicers implement military relief legal protections for borrowers with Freddie Mac-owned mortgages.
- Servicemembers Civil Relief Act — Explains the law that provides service members with certain legal protections during their military service.
- Housing and Community Leadership — An explanation of USDA housing services for veterans in rural areas.
Additional Food Security Information
- OneOp 2023 Military Family Readiness Academy — Military Families and Food Security: A Call to Action — Access live events with experts, a self-paced course and professional engagement opportunities. Service providers can also earn continuing education credits or certificates of attendance.
- OneOp programming supporting food security — Take advantage of OneOp’s Food Security in Focus collection offering live and on-demand webinars for family service providers covering different aspects of food security.
- Food security resources for DECA benefits – Learn how commissaries promote food security by providing quality products at low prices and tips on nutrition.
- Nutrition assistance programs — A listing of some of the federal nutrition programs eligible to military families.
- USDA National Hunger Hotline – USDA National Hunger Clearinghouse connects individuals to food assistance and other nutrition and social services information.
- Maintaining mission readiness with defense resale entities — Learn how military commissaries and exchanges provide service members with cost savings and efficiencies.
- Strengthening Food Security in the Force: Strategy and Roadmap — Read more about how the DOD is focusing on the food security of service members and their families.
- Military Family Program within the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service — Education and resources assisting service members and families with many life issues.
- Childhood Food Insecurity Online Course, Oregon State University Continuing Education —A free online course from Oregon State University covering various topics associated with child health and wellness.
- Food Insecurity Within the Military: A Review of Existing Research —An overview of the prevalence of and potential risk factors for food insecurity from Military REACH at Auburn University.
Additional Financial Well-Being Information
- Office of Financial Readiness — Financial resources to support your mission of helping service members achieve financial well-being.
- MilSpouse Money Mission® — A resource that helps educate and empower military spouses to elevate their families by making smart money moves.
- DoD Mobile App: SEN$E — A downloadable mobile app available from your Google Play or the iOS app store.
- Office of Financial Readiness Leader Cards — Topic-based cards to help start the conversation with your service members toward building their financial health.
- Financial Well-Being Assessment — An online tool to identify financial strengths and areas to improve.
- Financial Resources for your Military Career — Financial resources to support you throughout your military career.
- Basic Needs Allowance — Eligibility and application information for a monthly allowance for active-duty service members with dependents whose gross household income falls below 130% of federal poverty guidelines.
- Military Service Resources
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- Navy Touchpoint Curriculum Leadership Training — This curriculum helps leaders understand the financial challenges they may start seeing in this role
- The MyNavy Family app - Connects Navy families to information and resources to help them successfully navigate the complexities of the Navy lifestyle. The app is available on the Apple App and Google Play
- Marine Corps MarineNet — The Marine Corps provides leaders with training materials in the Instructor-led Courses section on the Education Action Points page. Topics include: The Need for Personal Financial Management, Financial Warning Signs, and Military Retirement.
- Air Force Touchpoint Curriculum Training — Air and Space professionals can complete required training through the MyVector link. Curriculum helps navigate to a successful financial future.
- Army Financial Front Line — The Army’s Financial Frontline is an educational platform for Soldiers, Family members, Service Leaders, and Providers to access financial readiness resources for milestones throughout a Soldier and Family member’s lifecycle.
- Military Relief Societies — From emergency assistance to education and community resources, these organizations can help service members who need financial relief.
- Office of Financial Readiness Calculators — Financial calculators provide a powerful tool to help service members with all kinds of money-related decisions.
- Financial Literacy Education Commission — The Financial Literacy Education Commission provides resources targeted to support financial education for Service members and families.
- Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Office of Servicemember Affairs — Works to help military families overcome unique financial challenges by providing educational resources, monitoring complaints and working with other agencies to solve problems faced by servicemembers.
- Family Supplemental Subsistence Allowance — FSSA is available to service members who are OCONUS and meet eligibility requirements based on household income level and household size.
- The Military Spouse Employment Partnership — MSEP connects military spouses with employers committed to hiring military spouses.
- Military Child Care Options — Affordable, quality and licensed child care options available to military families with children.