What Happens When the World’s Most Powerful Navy Stays at Home

COVID-19 hit our Navy communities hard. People were mandated to stay home, basic services were closed and people were searching for a recreation outlet. Navy MWR responded by encouraging community members located on 70 bases from around the world to "Stay active/Stay informed/Stay connected" by accessing the resources on the "Navy MWR at Home" website and other platforms. Resource categories include Cooking, Entertainment, Fitness, Kids, Library, Recreation, Virtual Travel, Social Services, and more. The entire MWR team provided content for worldwide virtual programs and resource opportunities. The Navy MWR Esports Program was created in real-time to provide sailors opportunities through competitive sports using video games. There were 12 tournaments scheduled over 10 weeks, and the tournaments were broadcast live on the newly created Navy MWR Twitch channel. The tournaments drew a crowd of more than 1.55 million live views and corporate sponsorship was secured to offset the costs.

Learning Objectives
Following this session, learners will be able to:

1. Understand the process used for rethinking program delivery, on a global scale.
2. Develop real-time partnerships to create programming and support program delivery costs.
3. Understand how a “community” spread around the world, can be unified through virtual programming.