Military spouse builds free mobile app to help families find their footing after a PCS.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

FORT POLK, La., July 27, 2026 - Military families move every two to three years, and each move restarts the same search from zero: who cuts hair the way you like it, which mechanic will not take advantage of a family that just arrived, and where other spouses actually go. Scout Local, a free mobile app built by an Army spouse, is launching first at Fort Polk to shorten that search with a verified directory of local businesses, nonprofits, and community events that lives on a family's phone rather than in a binder or a Facebook thread.

The platform makes its community debut at Scout Quest, its first in-person event, held Saturday, Aug. 1 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at The Warrior Center. Local businesses and nonprofits are participating in a stamp-map trail format: families pick up a map, visit participating booths, collect stamps, finish the quest, and enter for event prizes.

"When we PCS, we do not get a welcome packet for the actual community - we get a housing brief and a map of the commissary."

"Everything else we reconstruct by asking strangers in a Facebook group and hoping the answer is still current," said Leanna Baker Williams, founder of Scout Local. "I built Scout Local because that information already exists in every military town. It is just scattered, unverified, and it disappears the moment the spouse who knew it PCSs out."

Scout Local is free to families and free to browse. Businesses can submit listings for review, and every listing is reviewed before it appears. The app currently offers no paid features, subscriptions, in-app purchases, Stripe Checkout, or paid digital content.

Lists of military-friendly businesses already exist as PDFs, spreadsheets, welcome-packet inserts, and static web pages that go stale the month after they are published. Scout Local is built as a mobile app for a specific reason: families need this information in the parking lot, not at a desk. The app travels with them, updates as businesses and events change, verifies community information before it appears, and is designed to follow families to the next installation.

The company is launching installation by installation rather than nationally, a deliberate choice. "A directory that is thin everywhere is worse than no directory at all," Williams said. "We are going deep at one installation, proving families actually use it, and then taking that playbook to the next base."

Scout Quest is supported by partner organizations that work directly with military families and entrepreneurs.

Fort Polk sits in Vernon Parish in west-central Louisiana, one of the more geographically isolated installations in the continental United States - a place where the gap between being stationed here and feeling part of the community can be especially wide, and where local businesses have limited channels to reach the families arriving each summer.

Scout Local launches in August on the Apple App Store and Google Play. Families can learn more and sign up for updates at joinscoutlocal.com. Businesses and nonprofits in the Fort Polk area can request a listing at no cost before launch. Claiming a listing now means a family arriving this summer can find you when the app goes live rather than months later.

Media note

Founder Leanna Baker Williams is available for interviews before and after Scout Quest and can speak to PCS transition, military spouse entrepreneurship, and community-building at remote installations. Logos, screenshots, and founder headshot are available through the Scout Local media kit.

Scout Local is a private commercial platform. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by the U.S. Army or the Department of Defense.

About Scout Local

Scout Local™ is a product of Novalyse LLC. Scout Local is a free mobile app and local directory built for military families, helping them find verified businesses, current information, and community events near each installation. The service is designed for military families and the local businesses, nonprofits, and community partners who serve them. Learn more at joinscoutlocal.com.