Military Thriving Change Forum at Georgetown University - LIVE

About this event

A Military Thriving Change Forum at Georgetown University: The Role of the Private Sector in Calling the Next Generation to Serve is an action planning session, intended to rewrite the narrative of national service for young people, one city at a time. The in-person event at Georgetown is sponsored by Wells Fargo with the virtual live stream presented by CVS Health.


On October 23, 2024 Georgetown University will host the first national Change Forum of its kind. Our goal is to create a private sector led movement that increases propensity to serve, by projecting positive examples of military service through veteran employee engagement in local communities. This starts by bringing together senior leaders from across the public, private, and nonprofit sectors in an effort to help change the narrative about Veterans in the workplace and society and improve propensity for service, in and out of uniform.

Last year, the U.S. military missed its annual enlistment goals by 41,000 recruits Military service is also becoming a less likely path for young people with only 9 percent having the propensity to serve – the lowest in a decade. Trust in institutions among youth are also at all-time lows while self-reported mental health issues are higher. While DOD has launched promotional campaigns to combat negative viewpoints the numbers have not improved, and the US is likely to miss its military recruiting goals for the second year in a row.

As Veterans, we believe the most effective way to reverse these trends is through direct engagement with youth at the local level. This is why we’ve invited 250 leaders representing government agencies, several dozen Fortune 500 companies and the nation’s most impactful nonprofits, academia, and think tanks to Georgetown on October 23rd — to create actionable, measurable plans to be implemented at community-wide engagement activities throughout 2025.

The events stemming from the Change Forum next year will see thousands of military and Veteran employees from business resource groups, small business owners, and nonprofits serving shoulder to shoulder with young people to improve their communities..

Our hope is this whole of nation approach will change what has been called the “broken Veteran Narrative” — communicating a positive message of military service and influencing perceptions and propensity to serve.

We believe this is achievable — not only because dozens of corporate, nonprofit, and government partners are coming together to collaborate and address the issue head on with purpose and commitment — but also because Veterans, like you, everywhere can play a role in calling the next generation to serve.

This is why we’ve created a virtual livestream for the event, and why we’re inviting you to actively participate on October 23rd — as well as at 2025 community wide engagement events that we will announce at the Change Forum.
As Veterans, it’s on us to change the narrative and shatter misperceptions about our service in the military, and to our country.

Join us from 8:30 AM to 1:00 pm EST on 10/23 for the Military Thriving Change Forum Live Stream by RSVPing here, at our LinkedIn Live event.

You can be part of the Military Thriving movement. You can take action. You can change the narrative.