| 417 Pregnant and parenting teens have received education to ensure their
babies have healthy development. |
| 191 Individuals and families in financial crisis received the education needed
to recover from financial difficulties. |
| 290 Runaway and homeless youth received emergency shelter and counseling to reunite them with their families. |
"Being a man or a woman is a matter of birth. Being a man or a woman who makes a difference is a matter of choice."
Byron Garrett
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Happy New Year!
Thank
you for your continued generosity and commitment. United Way is glad
to be your partner in supporting the entire network of local services
and the causes you care most about. It is heartening to see so many
individuals and companies stepping up at a time when needs are
growing. Together we are accomplishing more than we could alone!
All
year long in 2007 we saw examples of how our partner agencies, working
together in a united way, are making a lasting, positive impact in our
community. Our focus on three key areas is allowing us as a community
to align our resources in ways that are making a significant
difference. I'd like to share some recent accomplishments and findings
that your generosity makes possible through our local United Way.
2007 Community Impact Report
Financial Stability
To help hardworking families regain financial stability and independence:
- Established the Dislocated Worker Assistance Fund
and made grants to Partner Agencies. Currently, outreach workers are
meeting with dislocated workers to connect them with community
resources to help cope with and manage the loss of income through job
retraining, financial counseling, and other services including
temporary assistance for basic needs. United Way has established a
special fund to meet the growing needs of dislocated workers and to
date has made grants for: additional GED classes; emergency food; basic
needs including housing, transportation, and utilities and case
management to assist with reentering the labor force.
- Continued our Home Foreclosure Prevention
partnership, referring more than 1,800 callers to HelpLink 2-1-1 to
connect with programs for foreclosure assistance, mortgage assistance,
and other agencies providing basic needs including emergency food,
utilities and medical assistance.
- Our local United Way has been a part of a coalition to increase usage of the Earned Income Tax Credit
since 2001, with the HelpLink phone number being used on all
promotional materials to inform people about the tax credit and connect
them with volunteer assistance for filing. This year, United Way is
adding a workplace and community outreach effort to urge eligible
low-income families to turn to free tax preparation sites and avoid the
expensive payday loan companies.
- United Way made a special grant to fill a six-month funding grant to the Sensible Shelter Individual Development Account
program in Greene County which helps low-income families save money and
increase assets for important purposes such as homeownership,
education, and business capitalization.
Positive Youth Development
To help ensure that all of our local youth succeed in school and life:
- Continued
our youth initiative including co-sponsoring the second annual Great
Kids Great Communities Conference on Youth in October to build assets
for youth - external support systems like positive adult role models
and internal qualities like encouraging creativity and fostering
motivation.
Health and Well-Being
To improve the health and well-being of individuals and our community:
- Increased our focus on health care issues and are working with others on the serious challenges of access and affordability
including serving on the Uncompensated Care Task Force and joining
local, state, and national efforts to support the Children's Health
Insurance Program.
- Published the 2007 Community Assessment Update and Priorities Report
to identify emerging needs, affirm ongoing needs, and develop a deeper
understanding of core services. Unfortunately, but not surprisingly,
the Update affirmed that the needs identified in the 2004 Community
Assessment still remain. With increased poverty in all three counties, overall needs are growing.
Campaign Still Needs Support
United
Way of the Greater Dayton Area staff and volunteers are working hard to
bring in a successful United Way Campaign by mid-February. We are
seeing positive increases from many employee campaigns and individual
gifts, yet as in recent years, we still must reach more contributors to
offset losses causes by the changing corporate landscape in our region.
Please do whatever you can to help us to hope into a reality for our neighbors in need in 2008. Log on to our new website at www.dayton-unitedway.org and send the link to your friends and colleagues, asking them to join you in supporting your United Way.
Thank
you once again for your support that is so important to our efforts and
to our community. And, on behalf of the entire United Way staff, best
wishes for the New Year!
Marc R. Levy
President
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