Hey, if George and Weezy could do it, so can United Way. We knew that “change” had to be made and it was going to be hard but if we’re going to address issue like poverty, we wanted to be as effective as possible. We are now focused on three areas that help people move up from poverty; Education, Financial Stability & Health. We believe these are the building blocks to a better life. Our financial stability work is at the heart of our approach to poverty and financial hardship. We not only address the symptoms of the issue, but we are also addressing the root causes (the old teach a man how to fish philosophy).
So what are we actually doing? Check out our Financial Stability Strategies…
When it comes to making families financially safe, we are focused on employment, housing, and financial management initiatives. By doing so, we hope to help families make more money and increase their assets.
|
|
Maximize & Increase Income Strategies |
Build Saving & Assets Strategies |
|
Employment |
Workforce Development/Training |
Higher Education |
|
Housing |
Transitional or Rental Housing |
Home Ownership |
|
Financial Management |
Earned Income Tax Credit |
Credit repair and debt reduction |
Defining Success
We’re committed to measuring the success of our efforts. If something works, we pursue it. If something doesn’t, we change it or find a new approach. It’s really that simple. And here are some examples of how we’ll gauge our overall success…
- Significant increase in the number of individuals employed at wages above the “Family Budget Estimator”
- Greater percentage of individuals and families living in safe, affordable housing
- Larger percentage of individuals and families effectively managing their resources/incomes
- Increased number of institutions that provide services that support the financial needs of low-income and low-asset families
Coming up, I’ll be posting some of the agencies we fund that are tied to this work and share their success stories.
See ya in the next hour!
Mando