Program areas at United Service Organizations
Uso centers - uso centers are the foundation for our connection to the military community and enable uso to also provide outreach support to areas where no physical uso center exists. Uso centers provide a home away from home for Service members and their families around the world. 2022 presented unique challenges as Service members were deployed and repositioned throughout europe to support nato allies and ukraine. Uso established new centers in poland, romania, and other remote areas to support Service members exercising with our allies. During 2022, the uso had more than 250 locations supporting over 5.8 million visits during the year. See schedule o for more information about these centers.uso centersuso centers provide a home away from home for Service members and their families around the world. Uso centers offer an inviting and comforting place where Service members and their families can connect by internet or phone, play a video game, catch a movie, have a snack or just put up their feet and relax. During 2022, the uso had more than 250 locations supporting over 5.8 million visits during 2022. Uso centers can be found in 38 u.s. states as well as the u.s. Territory of Guam, and in countries overseas, including australia, chad, cyprus, djibouti, germany, greenland, honduras, hungary, italy, iraq, japan, jordan, kenya, kuwait, lithuania, niger, poland, qatar, romania, saudi arabia, slovakia, south korea, spain, syria, turkey, United arab emirates, and the United kingdom.the uso has four locations that primarily serve wounded, ill and injured Service members, their families and caregivers. These centers provide a home away from home for wounded Service members, many of whom visit multiple times daily between medical appointments. Created for our nation's healing heroes and their families, these centers may feature classrooms, sports lounges, communal kitchen and eating areas, business centers, healing gardens and more.the uso also operates a fleet of vehicles that takes the uso's services out on the road to Service members and their families in areas of the country where there are not permanent uso centers or expanded support is needed, for however long we are needed. The vehicles, which operate in the u.s. and europe, range in size from canteens to large recreational vehicles. In addition to supporting training exercises and bringing uso services to nearby installations, the mobile uso program also deploys to support our Service members in local or national emergencies, such as hurricanes or wildfires.the uso has supported families of the fallen during every dignified transfer at dover air force base since march 1991. The staff and volunteers of this uso center coordinate among uso locations across the country to support and comfort families who have just received tragic news as they travel to and from dover air force base.
Service member, military family program, and expeditionary programs - uso provides a catalog of programs focused on wellness and resiliency for Service members and their families. These programs include the uso reading program keeping Service members connected to their children through story-time; uso holidays providing programming to help Service members feel connected and supported during the holidays throughout the year; uso care package and uso2go kits ensuring Service members deployed to remote locations have some of the small comforts of home. See schedule o for more information about the programs offered and accomplishments during 2022.
Public awareness and outreach - the uso's marketing and communications outreach programs aim to address the civilian-military drift - a natural disconnect and lack of understanding between those who have served and those whom they defend who have never served and may not know or be related to anyone who has. In 2022, the uso launched the european expansion & family support campaign to bring awareness to the american people and encourage support Service members either deployed or permanently stationed in europe in support of our nato allies and ukraine and their families. In addition, through its website and mail, the uso collected more than 1.36 million messages of appreciation from the american public which are being distributed or displayed at uso locations across the world. See schedule o for more information. Public awareness and outreachthe uso's marketing and communications outreach programs aim to address the civilian-military drift - a natural disconnect and lack of understanding between those who have served in the military and those whom they defend who have never served and may not know or be related to anyone who has. In 2022, the uso launched the european expansion & family support campaign to bring awareness to the american people and encourage support for the more than 100,000 american Service members either deployed or permanently stationed in europe in support of our nato allies and ukraine and their families. The multichannel campaign included out-of-home advertising (digital roadside billboards and transit, times square and airports) that delivered nearly 200 million impressions, social media campaigns that reached millions of unique individuals to help educate americans about our work in eastern europe, and a psa delivered to audiences through television. In addition, through its website and mail, the uso collected more than 1.36 million messages of appreciation from the american public which are being distributed or displayed at uso locations across the world.
Uso entertainmentuso entertainment serves as the premier entry point for entertainment industry partners to deliver a diverse range of first-class programming to the footsteps of Service members and their families through in-person tours and the military virtual programming (mvp) series. In 2022 the uso delivered 27 in-person tours and 42 mvp sessions to over 40,000 Service members and military families across 30 countries and 427 military sites around the world, including tours to australia, colombia and greenland. Entertainment also provided worldwide, limited on-demand content through the uso mobile app, offering unique programming leading up to super bowl sunday, including the documentaries all madden and the great brady heist and game day commentary from the nfl network. In addition, uso partnered with hbo max to air its hit docuseries gaming wall street.uso transition programthe uso transition program extends the uso experience to active duty, reserve, national guard and military spouses at any point in their career and educates them on professional services available to them to better prepare them as they transition from the military and settle into their new communities. The program also supports military spouses at any point in their military journey as they transition from one installation to the next.the uso transition program focuses on these key areas: employment, education, financial wellness, mentorship and increased access to relevant veteran resources in their communities when separation from Service occurs.by leveraging the unique position of having uso locations across the globe, the uso is able to engage with transition-focused programming earlier in the Service members' career, resulting in higher educated, more financially stable, and better-connected Service members and military spouses.through the creation of an individualized action plan, transition specialists collaborate with individuals to identify their personal and professional goals and build a roadmap to achieving those goals, identifying services and resources that are the best fit for their needs and geographic location. Uso transition program also offers opportunities for Service members and military spouses to learn relevant and valuable information as they overcome the challenges that transitions can create through various programming. In 2022, new offerings focused on military spouses were added, to include a resume writer specifically equipped to support spouses, dedicated spouse transition specialists, and specific interview preparation offerings. The program also supported more than 53,000 people through virtual and local programming with 16.1k plans completed.in addition to the core programs listed above, uso local teams design and produce programs that are tailored to the specific needs of Service members and their families in their geographic area. This flexibility in programming is critical due the significant geographic scope of uso operations as well as the diverse needs of Service members and their families. These locally developed programs also serve as an innovation laboratory for future uso wide core programing.