GOODFELLOW AIR FORCE BASE, Texas -- Goodfellow and San Angelo are at the forefront of partnership agreements within Air Education and Training Command. They are the only base and community to win the AETC Community Support Award and the Altus Trophy two times since its inception, and have the most partnership agreements signed throughout the Air Force.
Director of Community Partnership and Encroachment, Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Air Force, Teran Judd, visited Goodfellow members and the city of San Angelo community leaders to update them on the way partnerships are adapting across the Air Force.
“We were extremely pleased to host Mr. Judd at Goodfellow Air Force Base and San Angelo,” said Col. Robert Ramirez, 17th Training Wing vice commander. “The relationship and mutual support between Goodfellow and the local community is one of the strongest in the Department of Defense. We are always happy to showcase this partnership.”
The newest form of partnership agreements, Intergovernmental Support Agreements, will allow installations and communities to have a more streamlined process for agreements to be approved and implemented. Base commanders will have the power to approve up to 15 million dollars for a partnership with their community.
“We are always looking for new ways to increase this mutual support, which is why we invited Mr. Judd to visit,” said Ramirez. “His insight into what partnerships other communities have already accomplished provided us with several potential support agreement options to explore.”
Previously, installations and communities primarily relied on Memorandums of Understanding or Memorandums of Agreement to forge partnerships. They must be renewed from year to year unless otherwise specified within the agreement.
“The good thing about the services switching to IGSAs is the length of time the agreement will be in place is longer,” said Judd. “When it was first established it was a 5 year agreement, now it is 10 years and we hope to lengthen that in the future.”
The mission of partnerships is military installations and local communities partnering to achieve mutual value and benefit.
These partnerships can vary from ROTC programs with local colleges, to joining with local organizations to aid military spouses and dependents in building resumes and helping find jobs in the local area.
The purpose of an IGSA is to help both the community and the base accomplish a goal that may not have been possible without joining together.
This allows for bases and their communities to improve training, education and the sharing of resources.
“Communities and the Air Force have been partnering for years,” said Judd. “But now we are establishing that partnership handbook that will allow others to use what someone has already done and fit it to their base and community easily.”
Additionally with the new agreement process bases are now going to be a part of regional teams to help each other establish agreements that they may all have a common need for, such as: trash services, landscaping and road maintenance.
“This was a fantastic opportunity to show how our community, San Angelo and Goodfellow, partnerships fulfill senior Department of Defense leadership’s intent to strengthen alliances at a grassroots level,” said Community Partnership Specialist, Stephanie Grunze-Swanson. “Through his visit, all involved were better able to see and understand how base-community partnerships, some which are seemingly small, all enrich our local and base communities.”