Governor Spencer Cox has declared September 25 through October 3, 2021, as Blue Star Welcome Week in Utah. Blue Star Welcome Week is an initiative to recognize the roughly 600,000 active-duty and transitioning military families who move to new communities each year. More than 70% of military families live off-base in their local civilian communities, and many often do not feel a strong sense of belonging to those communities.

Governor Cox and UDVMA are proud to support the efforts of Blue Star Families as they proactively strive to improve military families’ sense of belonging by forging strong connections between our military family members and their local neighbors.

The declaration reads: 

WHEREAS, Blue Star Families annually designates the last week in September as Blue Star Welcome Week; and

WHEREAS, during this week we recognize the more than 600,000 active-duty and transitioning military families who move to new communities each year; and

WHEREAS, the majority of these “permanent change of station” (PCS) moves occur during the summer; and

WHEREAS, only 27 percent of military family respondents to the 2020 Military Family Lifestyle Survey reported that they feel a sense of belonging to their local civilian community; and

WHEREAS, a sense of belonging is important to the wellbeing and readiness of active-duty military families; and

WHEREAS, we recognize and take pride in the social, economic, and cultural contributions our military families make in Utah; and

WHEREAS, we commit to ensuring that military families feel a strong sense of belonging and respect in our state and local communities;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Spencer J. Cox, governor of the great state of Utah, do hereby declare the week of September 25 through October 3 as Blue Star Welcome Week.

We encourage Utahns to get involved this week and every week after to show their appreciate and support for the military families here in Utah. To learn more, please visit https://bluestarfam.org/welcome-week/. 

A .pdf version of the declaration may be downloaded here.