A bright future for Dyess, community partners

  • Published
  • By 1st Lt. Nicole Ferrara
  • 7th Bomb Wing Public Affairs
DYESS AIR FORCE BASE, Texas --  When sequestration took effect, dollars that were once being used to support to less mission-critical areas had to be reallocated in order to mitigate impacts to Department of Defense employees, readiness and modernization.

One casualty wrought by the budget cuts was Dyess' on-base library. For months following the facility's closure in 2013, the 7th Bomb Wing explored numerous avenues for providing Dyess Airmen and their families access to the information and services previously offered by the library, but to no avail.

Now, thanks to the Air Force Community Partnership Program, a framework for integrating the capabilities and resources of military installations, state and local communities and private entities to achieve mutual value and benefit, Dyess is in talks with the Abilene Public Library and Abilene Library Consortium, developing a new concept in libraries that would connect Airmen with these resources.

By encouraging its installations and community partners to re-evaluate the way they do business, the Department of Defense is seeking to use innovative approaches to reduce the cost of installations and mission support by 25 percent; the Air Force Community Partnership Program is one such approach. In addition to reducing future Air Force mission costs, the program is intended to enhance the vitality of local economies by developing efficiencies to meet similar or shared objectives, and improve social stability by delivering community services that build strong community members, including Airmen and their families.

"The Air Force Community Partnership Program is about practicing the art of the possible," explained Capt. Tom Plunkett, partnership broker on behalf of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Installations, Environment and Logistics. "It's seeking alternatives to the status quo and determining how we get to yes in order to save money, manpower, and time."

When installations leaders commit to using the Air Force Community Partnership process, an Air Force Partnership Broker Team is assigned to facilitate their participation and help fast-track priority partnership projects to implementation. Since the program's inception in 2012, 47 military installations and their neighboring communities have participated, yielding more than 1,000 innovative ideas, 250 proposals being actively worked, and an additional 57 agreements realized.

In August 2014, Dyess launched a series of seven workshops attended by installation leaders, community leaders and stakeholders to identify, prioritize, evaluate and implement partnership initiatives. During the first brainstorming meeting, 67 ideas were generated. Through subsequent engagements, participants identified the initiatives with the greatest value to pursue, which were then refined and further developed.

As it stands today, there are plans to establish agreements between federal and local sources for bulk-purchasing materials, and to enable Dyess and surrounding communities to share disaster recovery resources. In addition to the library partnership, Dyess is teaming up with local public and private educational organizations to implement a practical consulting program, and a shared webpage is being developed that will enable Dyess' Security Forces and Fire Departments, to further the collaborative partnership with  the Abilene Police and Fire departments in order to easily-identify opportunities for cross-training on emergency services.

At the final meeting of the initial seven-step process on April 1, representatives from Dyess, the cities of Abilene and Tye, and Taylor County signed a charter that established a sustainable process for continuing to build a pipeline of new partnership concepts.

And while Dyess and its neighbors are excited about the potential for increased partnership capacity, their participation in the program also fostered greater appreciation for the relationships and projects that took place prior to the inception of the Air Force Community Partnership Program, which began with the Abilene Chamber of Commerce's donation of city land to establish Tye Air Base, now Dyess Air Force Base, nearly 60 years ago. In fact, through the process, leaders from Dyess and the local community were able to generate a list of more than 40 base-city collaborations that have enhanced the Dyess mission.

"As strong as our past is, I think our future is brighter," said Col. Michael Bob Starr, 7th Bomb Wing commander. "The relationship between Dyess Air Force Base and the Big Country community is so strong to begin with, I didn't think it could possibly get any stronger -- but it has. I have been very impressed by the effort, energy and enthusiasm demonstrated by base and community leaders as we've explored new ways to work together."

Likewise, Abilene Chamber of Commerce president, Jason Smith, confessed that when he first heard of the AF Community Partnership program, he was skeptical.
"It sounded a lot like what Abilene was already doing," said Smith. "Months into the process, I now feel differently. Col. Michael Bob Starr is a true believer in the 'Abilene way,' and has been a wonderful partner since he moved back to Dyess. He and his team have been instrumental in putting together meetings that resulted in a number of advances on several issues, including lowering the red tape for joint projects."

To view past and on-going partnership initiatives between Abilene and Dyess Air Force Base, visit http://www.dyess.af.mil/photos/slideshow.asp?id={32440CAF-9607-4E7D-99CA-D991786AE3C8}.