WASHINGTON » The Obama administration launched a national campaign for U.S. military families yesterday that calls on companies, individuals, civic and religious groups and schools to find ways help veterans, reservists and their families navigate work, school, psychological stress and day-to-day life.

Think of the new Joining Forces initiative as the military version of first lady Michelle Obama’s campaign against child obesity. It’s a largely nonlegislative effort that puts the imprimatur of the White House and Cabinet agencies behind a nonpartisan cause and rewards organizations that step up by publicizing their efforts.

The initiative is meant to outlast Barack Obama’s presidency and to create a permanent support network for a volunteer force that is only about 1 percent of the U.S. population.

Walmart, Sam’s Club, Sears, Kmart, Siemens, Sears Holdings, Best Buy, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other groups announced commitments as part of yesterday’s launch. These include promises to hire service members and their spouses and to facilitate job transfers for those who must move as part of their service. They also include initiatives for job training and financial assistance.

The president’s wife and Jill Biden, the wife of Vice President Joe Biden, announced the effort at an event at the White House with their husbands.

Michelle Obama said the initiative was “a challenge to every segment of American society.” Jill Biden said individual Americans could do their part by arranging car pools, recreational activities and free professional services for the military families in their communities and showing them compassion and small acts of kindness.

The women are taking the campaign on the road starting today, with events scheduled at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, followed by stops later this week in Texas, Colorado and Ohio.

At Fort Campbell, a sprawling Army installation on the Kentucky-Tennessee border, more than 50,000 family members use child development services, after-school programs and the eight schools on post. Its staff welcomed news of the new initiative.

“We’re on the right track,” said Rick Rzepka, a spokesman for the base. “People realize now that the soldier is half of the Army’s team, and the other half of the team is the families.”

The Joining Forces initiative is to be coordinated through the Center for a New American Security, a Washington-based research center. An advisory board will include retired Gen. Stanley McChrystal, who was forced from his post last year as commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan after he and his aides mocked Obama administration officials in a Rolling Stone article, and Patty Shinseki, a longtime military spouse who is married to Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki.

Many U.S. communities with large bases already know the importance of reaching out to military families, said Deborah Bonito, wife of Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska. She helped start a local initiative when her husband was the mayor of Anchorage.

Bonito praised the White House initiative, saying she thought that Michelle Obama had spent a lot of time behind the scenes learning about military families and pushing for better pay and benefits.