The Foreign Service Journal, November 2018

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | NOVEMBER 2018 69 Service community, both in the United States and overseas. FLO has grown from just three staff members to 26 when fully staffed to meet ever-increasing demands for advocacy, programs, service and support. FLO’s main areas of current interest are summa- rized below: • The Community Liaison Office program has increased from a handful of CLOs to more than 225 positions at posts worldwide, staffed by some 270 employees who are supported by three staff members in Washington. • Family member employment has become infinitely more complicated, and the six-member FLO staff help job-searchers understand the global employment initiative (GEI), whose advisers assist 5,000 family members annually; the expanded professional associates program (EPAP), which offers 400 Foreign Service entry-level equivalent positions used to fill in staffing gaps and other needs; and professional development fellowships, which assist recipients in defraying the costs of training and other professional development activities. • The Education and Youth program has two specialists who annually give some 1,300 families information about schooling options and allowances for children with special needs. • The Crisis Management and Support Services’ two-person team gives guidance and assistance to employees, family mem- bers and CLOs dealing with personal preparedness, sudden departure from post due to an evacuation or other emergency, or personal concerns such as marriage, divorce and elder care. Dur- ing a recent five-year period, FLO supported more than 50 sepa- rate post evacuations. In one recent year, they gave preparedness briefings to 2,400 employees. • Unaccompanied tours have always existed, but never as frequently as now. At any given time, between 15 and 20 posts are described as having “unaccompanied status” or “limited accompanied status.” In a recent year, FLO briefed more than 1,000 Foreign Service employees on resources available during an unaccompanied tour. • Expeditious naturalization. FLO acts as the liaison with the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of U.S. Citizen- ship and Immigration Services in expediting naturalization for foreign-born Department of State spouses. Since 2006, more than 1,000 foreign-born spouses have been successfully naturalized. • Outreach to the Foreign Service community. FLO’s website, state.gov/flo, attracts more than 350,000 visitors each year. Two communication and outreach specialists maintain this extensive digital presence. We also have a social media specialist and two data management specialists. FLO’s “A to Z Site Map” illustrates the variety and depth of information available. n