Clarksville Area Chamber of Commerce’s Veteran Business of the Month, Grid Square Recon
Clarksville, TN – Grid Square Recon, an idea created by Chris and Sarah Lancia, was recently selected as the Clarksville Area Chamber of Commerce Veterans Business of the Month.
The website sums it up this way – "With eleven moves during our more than twenty-five years of military service, a lack of sense of belonging to our community was a common experience. It's a reality shared by most military families. Grid Square Recon aims to change that."
Chris Lancia, recently retired from Fort Campbell, explained, "The idea behind this is to create a sense of belonging for military families who often have really shallow roots because they are constantly moving. It has been hard to get information about where we're going next.
"Inevitably, when we get orders for our next post in the military, we'll hear something from our friends' group about how "bad" the place is that we're moving to. You go to look it up, and you'll either find validation that a place is terrible or information that's like ten years old, so you're not sure about the accuracy."
For the last 18 months or so, predating his retirement, Chris and Sarah have been working on this project. Their goal is to build out a digital community, focused on the actual community surrounding a military installation, that will allow folks to have fresh, current information.
"With our platform, when you search for answers, you'll come up with information that is recent and hyper-local," Lancia said. "For example, if your child is into gymnastics or ballet and worried about moving somewhere new, you can find places and people that will answer their questions and quell their fears about what to expect at the new location.
"We started work on this, paused for a bit, and now we're hoping to launch soon. We've also found opportunities to partner with other local organizations like Blue Star Families, who are doing work in this space. We want to help bring existing networks together. In the Veterans sphere we have lots of people with great ideas who just strike out on their own, but there may be others in that space doing something complementary. By tying those things together, everyone can increase their impact."
Lancia says they have slow-rolled their efforts in Clarksville so far, likening some of their content to a travel blog, but are now ready to put this project into hyper mode and build out a resource for military families.
"Clarksville-Montgomery County has a great relationship with Fort Campbell," Lancia said. "Sadly, there are other communities that don't. This is a great opportunity to highlight the relationship we have here and showcase to other communities what it can look like.
"It's a big win for local communities because those soldiers and their families are getting off the base, going out and engaging in the community. It's a financial win, a resource win, just a lot of opportunities for local communities."
Lancia also talks about the benefits of converting retirees into Veteran families who stay in the community after service. "Long term, it can be a huge benefit. If I feel like I belong someplace, and my family loves it there, chances are I'll keep my talents and my dollars there. Buck Dellinger recently said, 'we want to make it sticky, we want military families to love it here, and see job opportunities, great schools, all that, so they say, heck, it just makes sense for us to stay here.'
