The Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Energy, Installations & Environment has recognized four installations as recipients of the 2024 Air Force Community Partnership (AFCP) Awards.
The AFCP Awards honor installations who develop mutually beneficial partnerships with their local communities to improve quality of life for Airmen, Guardians and their families; enhance readiness; modernize services; provide efficiencies; expand capability; and strengthen community relations.
The four award categories are:
- Improves Quality of Life for Airmen/Guardians and Families: Recognizes partnerships that have a profound impact on the quality of life for Airmen, Guardians, and their families through community engagement programs and events, improving living/working conditions, and through programs available to service members and their families.
- Provides Cost Savings, Avoidances, and Efficiencies: Recognizes partnerships which have a significant overall cost benefit for installations and communities.
- Advances Community Relations: Recognizes partnerships which advance community relationships between installation and local communities and create new and innovative methods to increase community involvement.
- Enhances Mission Effectiveness: Recognizes partnerships that provide new ways to enhance mission effectiveness, including improving resiliency, sustainability and preparedness to improve efficiency of mission requirements.
"We are committed to recognizing and honoring installations that continue to achieve innovative partnerships with their local communities and the positive impact those partnerships have, not just at the local level but in the Department of the Air Force as a whole," said Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Energy, Installations, and the Environment Dr. Ravi Chaudhary. "The ties between our bases and the surrounding communities are foundational to the resilience of our installations and the well-being of our Airmen, Guardians and their families."
The 2024 awards highlighted partnerships formed during the last two fiscal years between installations and their local communities across four categories. This year's awardees are:
Improves Quality of Life for Airmen/Guardians and Families
Cannon Air Force Base
Cannon AFB, the City of Clovis, and Curry County, New Mexico, through the Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration (REPI) program, created the Ogallala Land and Water Conservancy to protect water resources critical to operations at Cannon AFB, advancing sustainable land use practices across 2.4 million acres of local forestry and agricultural lands and saving 12 billion gallons of water over three years.
Provides Cost Savings, Avoidances, and Efficiencies
Royal Air Force Fairford
RAF Fairford and the Royal Air Force, United Kingdom executed the Royal International Air Tattoo, the world's largest air show, working together to reduce service member entrance fees and grounds upkeep costs and share equipment and facilities. These combined efforts saved hundreds of man hours and direct costs to the U.S. Air Force, Airmen and their families.
Advances Community Relations
Offutt Air Force Base
Offutt AFB signed a Community Partnerships Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the installation, Nebraska Governor, both U.S. Senators & the base's Congressional Representatives, eight local Mayors, three Chambers of Commerce, and Nebraska's Army and Air National Guard. Through this MOU, Offutt AFB has increased collaboration with non-profit organizations, expanding opportunities for servicemembers.
Enhances Mission Effectiveness
Ellsworth Air Force Base
Ellsworth AFB, the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, and the West River Electric Cooperative Association entered an agreement to request and obtain a Department of Energy Grant to install a $1.2M Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) on the installation, providing redundant, resilient energy to key Department of the Air Force assets.
Chaudhary recognized the awardee installations at the Department of the Air Force town hall prior to the start of the Association of Defense Communities Installation Innovation Forum in San Antonio, Oct. 28.
Since 2013, the Air Force Community Partnership Program has been dedicated to supporting Department of the Air Force installations as they seek to collaborate with local communities to tackle shared challenges with mutually beneficial solutions. This collaboration has led to more than 600 partnership agreements and over 1,000 initiatives across the DAF enterprise.
