OneOp creates award-winning series

Published Oct 30, 2025 by
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Dr. Kayla Reed Fitzke and fellow team members’ goal to increase service providers’ knowledge of economic security, skills to support military families’ economic security, and awareness of available resources resulted in an award-winning, collaborative project.

Fitzke is an associate professor in human development and family science and director of the ECU medical family therapy doctoral program. She is a subcontract principal investigator on the OneOp collaborative grant, which earned several awards at the National Extension Association for Family and Consumer Sciences conference for its 2024 Military Family Readiness Academy — the application was titled “Expanding Professional Readiness Through the Military Family Readiness Academy.”

  • 2025 Excellence In Multi-state Collaboration Award, 3rd Place National Winner
  • 2025 Communications: Internet Education Technology Award, 3rd Place National Winner
  • 2025 Excellence In Multi-state Collaboration Award, 2nd Place Southern Region Winner
  • 2025 Communications: Internet Education Technology Award, 2nd Place Southern Region Winner. (Southern Region: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Puerto Rico, & Virgin Islands)

    Two college professors standing together in the bleachers of a football stadium.

    Dr. Kayla Fitzke, left, and Kim Smith at ECU’s Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium.

“The behind-the-scenes work that goes into a successful multi-state, interdisciplinary collaboration — spanning nine different universities and multiple disciplines — that included working with our Department of Defense subject matter experts, may be what I’m most proud of regarding the 2024 MFRA,” Fitzke said. “Together, we delivered high-quality, research-informed professional development that represents the full spectrum of Family and Consumer Sciences Extension.”

In an evaluation survey: 98% reported learning new information and resources from the webinars; 90% of course participants gained a better understanding of the barriers military families face in achieving financial readiness; and 72% of participants indicated plans to make changes to their work as a result.

The MFRA (i.e., Economic Readiness and Military Family Well-Being) annually focuses on a high-priority issue that military families face. In 2024, this issue was economic security.

Fitzke and Kim Smith are ECU’s representatives on the OneOp inter-university cooperative agreement project. The ECU collaboration team, in which Smith is program coordinator, marketed to reach as many professionals as possible and developed and facilitated one of the three webinars, “Balancing Military Spouse Employment with Family Economic Well-Being.” This webinar addressed the ways in which the Department of Defense endeavors to positively influence the career trajectories of military spouses, contributing to their families’ economic stability and overall well-being. Fitzke served as a moderator and co-wrote an accompanying blog with Dr. Nichole Huff, another subcontract PI at the University of Kentucky.

“Recent research and government data indicate a decline in peoples’ financial well-being since 2016, particularly among military families,” Fitzke said. “Service members who experience financial challenges are less likely to stay on active duty, report being more dissatisfied with their work, and are more likely to indicate higher levels of stress at work and in their personal lives. These effects are felt throughout the family. The 2024 MFRA was designed to equip professionals who work with military families with the skills necessary to support a family’s well-being while navigating the terrain of economic security.”

Headshot images of college professors.

The 2024 Military Family Readiness Academy team.