On President’s Day I had the opportunity to be interviewed on Army Wife Network’s Army Wife Talk Radio about what MSJDN has been doing to help military families. It was amazing to retell the steps since our formation, discuss the common forms of resistance we encounter from state to state, and talk about how help from our nationally-recognized partners completely changed the way bar licensing authorities treated our requests for rule changes. I’m really proud of everything you, our members, have accomplished. As I am fond of saying, we are capable advocates because we are attorneys, but we have been able to get the job done because we are military spouses!
If you missed the interview, you can catch the recorded radio show here. The interview about MSJDN begins at about minute 68 and is around 20 minutes long. Listening to this interview will be helpful to new members, state representatives preparing to present rule-changes in their jurisdictions, and anyone who has found themselves answering questions about what we do and why we do it.
Because I talked so long about how awesome you guys are, I didn’t have a chance to pass along the links that I wanted to share with the audience. There are a great number of resources out there and I wanted to make sure we had a forum to list them, so I’d like to highlight them here.
(1) MSEP is the Military Spouse Employment Partnership program. Their website contains videos about PCS & job-searching, has a list of job fairs and hiring events nationwide, and has a job search feature that allows you to link up with employers specifically looking for military spouse employees and partnered with the MSEP program.
(2) USA4militaryfamilies.com is a website operated by the DoD State Liaison Office. It contains an exhaustive list of licensing activities and contacts, state by state. Though attorney rules are governed primarily by court rule changes and approved by state supreme courts, this is a very helpful site to see who your military supporters are and which states are active or resistant in accepting the challenge to improve military spouse life through licensing accommodations.
(3) You may have heard that Blue Star Families has started a new Spouse Network for educators, healthcare professionals, and entepreneurs. Our own Board Member, Laura Dempsey, is host of the introductory web meeting for this new network, and you can catch it at www.bluestarfam.org/network. If you are a solo practitioner this could be a great resource for you.
(4) Many of our members are on the MOAA Spouse Council. MOAA is the Military Officer’s Association of America and they have a really great spouse page called “Making it in the MilLife.” Their recent Military Spouse Career Symposium highlighted the amazing work of their legislative committee for military spouses, and it’s a valuable resource for job fair announcements and keeping an eye on the business needs and trends of military spouses.
(5) The National Military Spouse Network (NMSN) founded by Sue Hoppin is a really great resource for networking and making a name for yourself as an entepreneur. Sue organized an amazing networking event in Washington, D.C., in October 2012 and plans to do another event this year. At her previous event Craigslist founder Craig Newmark spoke to attendees about rallying together for a common and powerful voice, something the members of MSJDN have really taken to heart.
I hope this list of resources is helpful and provides a good starting point for people looking to connect with the broader business world of military spouses instead of just contacts inside the law. Keep up the great work team!