On October 23, 2024 Georgetown University and ZeroMils will co-host the first national Change Forum of its kind, bringing together senior leaders from across the public, private, and nonprofit sectors, in an effort to improve military recruitment. This is not your typical convening — the Military Thriving Change Forum at Georgetown is a nationwide, private sector-led effort that will result in actions and impact at the local level.
In addition to framing the problem, participants will create actionable, measurable plans to be implemented at community-wide engagement activities throughout 2025. Those events will see hundreds of military and Veteran employees from Fortune 500 business resource groups and small business owners serving shoulder to shoulder with young people through best in class nonprofits. This whole of nation approach will change the narrative, communicating a positive message of military service and influencing perceptions and propensity to serve.
A series of strategic, targeted and engaging discussions with national leaders and subject matter experts will set the scene for afternoon breakout sessions — where multiple public-private organizations will forge partnerships and plan local collaborations to effect change. We will be joined by senior executives from corporate America, nonprofit CEOs, and government leaders from across DOD, DOL, and the VA.
In addition to the 250 military and Veteran connected leaders coming together at Georgetown on 10/23, we are expecting thousands more to join forces virtually via livestream that day. Veteran and military spouses representing dozens of nonprofit partners, Veteran service organizations, small business owners and employees from business resource groups will participate including the title sponsor of the Change Forum, Wells Fargo. Additional corporate partners like CVS Health, RTX, Amazon, Dominion Energy, First Command, Neighborly, American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Thundercat Technology, Vehicles for Veterans and National University – all of whom are contributing time, talent, and treasure to this important initiative.
Our greatest challenge, thus far, is meeting the overwhelming response from Veteran and military spouse leaders interested in attending the Change Forum. We’ve overcome that challenge, by adding a livestream option, in partnership with CVS Health, for those who can’t join us in person, so our entire community can be heard and seen too. Visit our Military Thriving Change Forum landing page to see more detailed information about the speakers and agenda.
Together with our partners we can usher in a Military Thriving future in which we support a stronger, healthier military community by reestablishing trust between our national institutions and the trailblazers of tomorrow. Our goal is clear. By channeling local leadership through a nationally-driven strategy, we will empower Veterans, military spouses and their families to rewrite the narrative, changing negative attitudes toward our military and our civic life one community at a time.
Join us for the livestream on October 23 to create a Military Thriving movement and change the narrative.