Understanding the Impact of Department of Defense Youth Programs on Bridging the Civilian-Military Divide

Through its funding and implementation of youth programs, the Department of Defense (DoD) serves communities throughout the United States. The three predominant programs - STARBASE, the National Guard Youth ChalleNGe, and the Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (JROTC) - serve more than half a million young people each year. These programs operate in different ways but have a shared commitment to providing service to communities and positive outreach. In this way, these programs have the potential to influence a substantial proportion of the U.S. population and may serve to bridge the civilian-military divide. While these programs operate in many parts of the country, there is no existing approach to assessing how well the programs are fulfilling the outreach goals of generating awareness of and interest in the U.S. military. To assist the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Manpower and Reserve Affairs in doing this, RAND Corporation researchers developed an analytic framework to help assess the outreach channels that enable these programs to positively influence their communities and society more broadly. The findings in this study may enable DoD youth program leadership and other stakeholders to conduct outreach to youth and community members more effectively. It should be noted that the research presented in this report does not explore or test each potential channel of outreach. Rather, it documents many of the key channels through which program influence may be realized going forward. The report concludes with recommendations for program leaders to consider as they work toward improving program outreach.