Blog
Reveille Grounds: Fostering Belonging in the Veteran Community
Feb 21, 2024
In the heart of Baltimore, Katie Kilby, founder of the Baltimore Military Muster and the visionary behind Reveille Grounds, is creating a transformative space for veterans and military-connected community members. Reveille Grounds, an innovative veteran engagement and impact hub that opened its doors in late 2023, goes beyond being just a shared space — it's a movement designed to foster belonging and provide robust support systems during the transition to civilian life.
Cultivating Belonging
Raised in a military family and married to a combat-wounded Marine, Katie has been immersed in military culture since childhood. Over the last decade, she’s held pivotal roles engaging wounded warriors and families and working with national nonprofit programming focused on veteran transition.
Armed with insight and fueled by purpose, Katie founded the Baltimore Military Muster in 2017, a meetup-style event connecting veterans, families, and service providers.
Recognizing the challenges veterans face when transitioning into communities lacking the camaraderie of their service days, Katie envisioned a veteran-centered, place-based approach. The Baltimore Military Muster became a platform where military-connected communities converged, creating a space for individuals seeking services and solutions to connect with organizations offering them.
The Evolution to Reveille Grounds
The success of the Baltimore Military Muster paved the way for Reveille Grounds, an innovative veteran engagement and impact hub that officially opened its doors in late 2023. Situated in a reclaimed 19th-century warehouse, Reveille Grounds is an open-concept space featuring a coffee bar, co-working space, wellness center, meeting rooms, and gathering spaces. It offers a comprehensive range of resources, activities, events, and workshops designed to facilitate community building and support for veterans and military-connected individuals.
Reveille Grounds is more than a facility — it's a catalyst for positive change, and an organization that is built off of the idea that a rising tide lifts all ships.
Mutual Benefit: A Model for Shared Accountability
Positioning veterans at the center of solution-making, Katie devised an innovative mutual benefit shared accountability framework to guide the creation and evolution of Reville Grounds. She explains, “We built a Venn diagram linking our three stakeholder groups: the military-connected community, service providers offering resources, and businesses/employers.”
The collaborative approach aims to break down silos and foster partnerships that amplify positive outcomes as organizations and community members work together, and recognize that where one mission ends, another begins.
Positioning veterans at the center of solution-making, Katie's innovative framework facilitates mutual value. An example: Reveille Grounds helps companies achieve talent and retention goals by building an agile, loyal veteran workforce supported by Reveille’s social infrastructure. The collaborative approach ensures that employee orientation and training opportunities are enriched by Reveille’s unique knowledge and experiences.
“Asking what communities and partners need versus prescribing solutions allows us to put the people closest to problems at the center of answers.”
The Future of Service
Within just months of opening, Reveille Grounds has become a beacon of community, connection and belonging. Diverse partnerships, events and offerings keep people engaged, uncovering resources they may not have known existed or realized they needed. Communities are gathering for various events, strengthening the bonds within the veteran community.
Katie is now focused on building partnerships to secure Reveille Grounds' future as a vital resource. She calls on Maryland’s business community to creatively support this collaborative ecosystem, emphasizing that this model works for both veterans and businesses. Reveille Grounds stands on the belief that service evolves beyond discharge, and empowering veterans' ongoing service will drive social change.
You can learn more about Katie and Reveille Grounds at ReveilleGrounds.com, and be sure to check out the Maryland’s Rising Stars podcast to hear more inspiring stories of innovators and changemakers across the state.
About the Maryland’s Rising Stars Podcast sponosored by UnitedHealthcare
Through the Maryland’s Rising Stars podcast series, we’ll meet and hear the stories of our state’s phenomenal young professionals, entrepreneurs and visionaries who are making a big impact through their work. They’ll share their passions, their visions for the future, and how they are driving transformation in their industries and communities each and every day — and we’ll also get an early look at the emerging leaders who represent the future of Maryland, and whose ideas, innovations and commitment to service will shape our state for years to come.
