Name: Local nonprofit helps military families navigate financial challenges
Uploaded: 2025-11-03T20:43:54.112Z
Duration: 2 min 40 s
Description: A San Diego-based nonprofit is providing crucial financial support to military families and veterans struggling with economic uncertainty, offering both immediate assistance and long-term planning to help service members achieve financial stability.

A San Diego-based nonprofit is providing crucial financial support to military families and veterans struggling with economic uncertainty, offering both immediate assistance and long-term planning to help service members achieve financial stability.

San Diego

Support the Enlisted Project (STEP), a nonprofit organization based in San Diego, provides financial planning advice and emergency assistance to military families and veterans experiencing financial difficulties. The organization connects clients with financial counselors, offers immediate help for basic necessities, and works to ensure long-term financial stability.

STEP has expanded its services beyond California to Oregon, Washington, and Hawaii, and has assisted more than 9,000 military and veteran families in overcoming financial crises. The organization also distributes food, diapers, and other essential items, and aims to scale its program nationwide.

Local nonprofit helps military families navigate financial challenges

Juggling the military life is challenging for families and it's become even more difficult due to the government shutdown, but there is already a local nonprofit that's offering financial planning advice for service members and veterans. For Jaquita Edwards, getting out of the military after serving 10 years in the Navy brought a lot of financial anxiety. She went from having a stable job to relying on a monthly check from the VA, leaving her worried about running out of cash. She was a primary breadwinner in her household and she was also raising her five nieces and nephews. I could be homeless. I could be, my kids probably would have been taken away from me. All of these things could have happened. That's when she got connected with the nonprofit Support the Enlisted Project, also known as STEP, which just opened this brand new warehouse in San Diego. Tony Taravainen is the CEO. We designed it specifically to help military families and transitioning veterans get through a financial crisis, but specifically do it in a way that makes this their last crisis. STEP connects service members and veterans with the financial counselor. Part of that free service includes getting them immediate financial help if needed. We have the ability to write a check to restore or retain basic necessities along the way. And that's when the financial counseling comes in, helping them create a plan to stay within their budget. We're going to walk with them for the next year and help them recognize the small wins and the big wins that they're doing and really work to institutionalize those behaviors. And that's the program we're working to scale across the country. Data from the Military Family Advisory Network shows almost 93% of service members and their families identified financial stress as a major concern. And a household pulse survey data shows more than 40% of service members report difficulty paying for their usual household expenses. Something that's also included in the assistance STEP provides. It's about 300, 250,000 pounds of food a year, 250,000 diapers, and in total about a million dollars worth of other merchandise that comes through this warehouse that gets donated to the community. STEP has expanded its reach to Oregon, Washington, and now Hawaii. In total, the program has helped more than 9,000 military and veteran families permanently overcome financial crisis. And Jaquita says she's thankful STEP is around to help get service members like herself back on track. Because without them, I don't know where I would have been. I'm not going to lie and say that I know or I would have figured it out because I wouldn't have because that was my last resort. For more information about the STEP program, head to TeamSTEPUSA.org. Marie Cornell, ABC 10 News.

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