Yesterday morning saw the official relaunch of our Armed Forces Community programme at the autumn Portsmouth Business Leaders Forum, held at 2000 Lakeside.
The vision of the programme is to create a community that not only values the service of veterans in the city, but also actively supports their transition to civilian life and their well-being. On average, 16,000 people leave the Armed Forces annually, transitioning to civilian life and often requiring tailored support in employment, housing, and community integration.
We believe that successful integration requires active engagement and collaboration with various stakeholders. To achieve this, we will create partnerships with local businesses, schools, and community groups to create initiatives that provide resources, training, and employment opportunities, making Portsmouth a welcoming and supportive hub for the Armed Forces. This will ensure that veterans and their families receive the services, and support they need.
We will also focus on promoting the Armed Forces Covenant, encouraging more businesses to support and employ veterans and their families, promote the recruitment of veterans, and foster a supportive business environment, and facilitating recognition through employer awards.
Six of our partner organisations signed the Armed Forces Covenant at the Portsmouth Business Leaders Forum event where the programme was relaunched: The Harbour School, Liquid Friday, Phillip Gibbs Insurance Brokers, Portsmouth Water, TRACOuk, and new Patron Citrus.
Steff Jones, Operations Manager at Shaping Portsmouth, said “Our new Armed Forces Community Leads, Kate Mizon and Andy Moss gave us a great run through of their vision for the revamped Armed Forces Community programme. We’re lucky to have such passionate people driving the programme to new levels. Kate and Andy demonstrated precisely how the name change from Armed Forces Covenant to Armed Forces Community will be realised in wider actions which will positively impact Portsmouth’s ex-service personnel and significantly their families and dependents who are as much a part of the Armed Forces Community, whilst showing us the key role the Covenant still must play.
“It was great to see six different Shaping Portsmouth partners signing up to the AF Covenant during the event and many attendees took time out to mention to our team how much they’d learned from the launch presentation. A big thanks to everyone involved but especially Kate and Andy.”
