Free mobile app sponsored by Citi helps service members and their families’ transition to post-military lives.
McLean, Va. — Military.com announced today their popular app, Transition by Military, now has additional information specific to spouses and military members with disabilities. The app, which is supported by Citi Community Development, has over 27,000 downloads and was released in August of 2016. Transition provides a linear timeline of tasks and action items paired with information and resources for finances, education, transition documentation, health and benefits, and employment.
A recent survey of military families revealed that 60% of respondents did not have enough in their savings to cover three months of living expenses. The app can be used as far out as 18 months before separation and takes the user through four months post-separation to enable families to better prepare for the variety of professional and financial decisions made when transitioning out of service.
The National Military Family Association is an advisor to the app expansion, sharing expertise to identify and incorporate elements that would be helpful to spouses. In the updated app, users that choose “spouse” during registration, will have access to the full checklist that their military member sees as well as articles and resources on health benefits, moving information, employment support and information on VA benefits many spouses don’t know about. Roughly 250,000 military members leave the service each year and traditionally, about half of those are married meaning an estimated 125,000 military spouses are also transitioning to civilian life each year.
“Military spouses are the backbone of the military family and are critical to the success of the active duty service member,” National Military Family Association Executive Director Joyce Wessel Raezer explained. “Giving spouses the tools to be part of transition planning means more military families will thrive after they leave the service. We are thrilled to partner with Military.com to make more resources available to spouses through the new enhancements to the Transition by Military app.”
The enhanced app also features information for those military members leaving the service with a disability. According to the 2016 Military One Source Demographics report, over 21,000 service members leave the military with a medical or disability-related condition. The content in the app allows the member to choose the “disability” option on registration so they will receive information about how to navigate the VA system, what health benefits they may be entitled to, and also includes specific information for wounded warriors and women veterans that otherwise the user may not have been aware of.
Citi, the app’s sponsor, has provided longstanding support for military members, veterans and their families through Citi Salutes, a company-wide initiative led by Citi Community Development and dedicated employees.
“Military spouses and service members with disabilities have unique and wide-ranging needs. By supporting the expansion of the Transition App, we aim to provide a diverse and responsive set of resources that can enable more individuals and families to become economically resilient.” said Ruth Christopherson, Senior Vice President of Citi Community Development and Citi Salutes. Ruth is a retired Colonel, South Dakota National Guard.
Citi’s support for the app expansion is the most recent of the company’s efforts focused on strengthening financial resiliency for people with disabilities. Earlier this year, Citi Community Development, the City of New York, and National Disability Institute (NDI) announced the launch of Empowered Cities, a national initiative enabling municipalities to expand financial empowerment and economic inclusion for people living with disabilities and their families.
Other changes to the app include a streamlined login and profile creation process, enhanced user experience and auto-populated fields with user information in the job search and Military Skills Translator functions.
The Transition App is available for free on Google Play and in the Apple App store and while it’s designed to take the member through the process from eighteen months out, the app is designed to guide the service member or their spouse at any point in the separation process and provides information they may have missed.
About Citi
Citi, the leading global bank, has approximately 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 160 countries and jurisdictions. Citi provides consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, transaction services, and wealth management.