Each month, the Austin Business Journal hosts a Face 2 Face speaker series at Whole Foods, featuring leaders of all types of industries. This month’s speaker was Terry Lundgren, CEO and Chairman of Macy’s. Macy’s is a $28 billion corporation with 176,000 full-time employees and 800 stores. Macy’s is also the 7th largest Internet company. Lundgren commented that while the company embraces technology as a powerful source of commerce, he believes “people first, technology second.” Terry Lundgren has been high on the Macy’s ladder since 1997, with his roles including president and chief merchandising officer, among others. He started his career in retail in 1975, slowing climbing his way from trainee to management to buying to director of stores before becoming an executive. His advice to young adults entering the workforce: “Bloom where you are planted,” meaning not to focus so much on where you are going next, but to perform your current job better than anyone else to get noticed. When moderator Colin Pope asked if it is lonely at the top, Lundgren responded that he has a great team of management and board members. “When we make decisions, we move forward together. Success has many fathers, but failure has none.” Lundgren is notorious for showing up to his stores unannounced, to get a real feel for the atmosphere and customer service being provided. He says he enjoys watching and learning from his star performers. He believes localization is the reason Macy’s has been able to grow while maintaining […]
Read MoreUWATX Celebrates VPL Students With Documentary Screening
Posted on by Ricky Deakyne
Students and staff from Webb, Decker and Mendez Middle Schools joined Young Leaders Society members at the Alamo Drafthouse last week for a fun end-of-year celebration. The UWATX Volunteer Project Leader (VPL) middle school program aims to transform youth into active community leaders by teaching them leadership skills they need to make meaningful and lasting change in their communities. This year, our 110 VPL students from the three campuses completed 28 volunteer projects. This resulted in 1,565 hours of time given to improving their Manor, St. John’s and Dove Springs communities! Members of the Hands On Central Texas team, who work with these kids each week, and YLS members handed out certificates and t-shirts to the students who were dedicated to the program during the 2014-2015 school year, as well as special plaques for the principals of each school. They also received popcorn and their choice of snacks and drinks during the film as a special treat. Underwater Dreams is a documentary about the story of a group of Hispanic high school students from a Title I school who build and enter an underwater robot in a national robotics competition. The students constructed the robot out of low-cost materials from Home Depot, and beat out all of the competing colleges, including powerhouse MIT. The documentary was meant to inspire the middle school students to pursue STEM fields, as well as any other dreams and future goals they have, regardless of their upbringing. Jesse Garcia, a YLS member and engineer at […]
Read MoreSupport Central Texas Flood Recovery Efforts
Posted on by Christa Berry
CLICK THE IMAGE BELOW TO DONATE TO THE 2017 HURRICANE HARVEY DISASTER RELIEF. UPDATE 6/8/15: There are currently four Volunteer Reception Centers open in our area (Wimberley, San Marcos, Martindale, Blanco), serving as a central meeting point for volunteers to check-in and then be assigned a task such as clean-up or donation organization. At this time no end date has been scheduled for the volunteer centers. The Volunteer Reception Centers are helpful since these are all-day opportunities, no pre sign-up required, and are often associated with multiple organizations and local government versus a single nonprofit. Wimberley Volunteering Cypress Creek Church Volunteer Reception Center 211 Stillwater Rd Wimberley TX 78676 512-753-2320 Mon – Sun 8:00 am – 5:00 pm, until further notice Provides central location for volunteers to meet and assist with coordinated volunteer efforts, such as clean-up. Volunteers will register and a get a wristband. Food will be available. San Marcos Volunteering San Marcos Plaza Park Volunteer Reception Center 206 N CM Allen Pkwy San Marcos TX 78666 512-753-2320 Mon – Sun 8:00 am – 5:00 pm, until further notice Provides central location for volunteers to meet and assist with coordinated volunteer efforts. Volunteers will register and a get a wristband. Volunteers are asked to wear sturdy shoes and appropriate clothing, and to bring masks, work gloves, mops, rakes, and light cleaning supplies. Note: Volunteers wishing to volunteer at the Springtown Mall Donation Center must first register at the Volunteer Reception Center. Martindale Volunteering Martindale Baptist Church Volunteer Reception […]
Read More7 Ways to Spend Memorial Day in Austin
Posted on by Ricky Deakyne
Happy Memorial Day! Whether you are taking a mini-vacation or just excited to lounge around the house for an extra day, we’ve compiled a wide array of Memorial Day events taking place around Austin for you to check out. 1. Head north to Round Rock to spend Memorial Day the American way–watching baseball of course! The AAA Round Rock Express will face the El Paso Chihuahuas at 7 p.m. on Monday. The highest price you’ll pay for a GA ticket is $15, and you can even grab lawn seats for only $7 each. 2. Give back while enjoying jazz music at the Austin Jazz Festival on May 24th at Austin 360 Amphitheater at the Circuit of the Americas. This is an all day event beginning at 10 a.m. Local, regional and national acts will play and the event benefits the East Austin Music Academy, an afterschool program focused on intensive music instruction for school-age children. 3. “Carry the Load” on May 24th at the Austin Memorial March. This is a 20.15 mile walk at Reveille Peak Ranch in Burnet, TX, and provides an opportunity to share in remembrance of those who gave their lives in service to our country. Registration is free. 4. Spend the day at Lake Travis. Bring a picnic or rent a house with family and friends and enjoy one of Austin’s most beautiful areas. Remember, personal motorized watercrafts are banned this weekend. 5. There are many great concerts taking place this weekend. On Satuday, catch Purity […]
Read MoreUWATX Unveils the SRAP 2015-2018
Posted on by Ricky Deakyne
SRAP 2012-2015 In 2012, UWATX unveiled the first phase of the School Readiness Action Plan (SRAP), an ambitious three-year plan to increase the percentage of children who enter Kindergarten school ready. This plan is made possible by a large community coalition made up of caring community leaders, advocates, parents, service providers and educators, all dedicated to improving life for Austin’s children. The 2012-2015 Action Plan included strategies to leverage public funding, engage public officials and business leaders and target existing services more strategically. It also proposed increasing per capita spending on early childhood by 20 percent and targeting existing programs to focus on younger children. The results we’ve seen from the first phase of this plan are clear and positive: it is creating real change in the lives of young children and families in Central Texas. Since the plan went into effect in 2012: The percentage of children who entered kindergarten “school ready” increased by 5 percent, from 49 percent to 54 percent last year. The number of vulnerable families receiving home visiting services in our county nearly tripled, improving health outcomes for the children and dramatically reducing the likelihood of child abuse in these homes. The City of Austin increased their Health and Human Services funding for early childhood by nearly $1 million over the three year period. The Austin Public Library more than doubled the number of bilingual storytimes in low-income communities as a response to community advocacy. View all results from the 2012-2015 Action Plan. This plan […]
Read More$150,000 Grant Helps Working Austinites Become Financially Stable
Posted on by Christa Berry
We’re excited to announce that our Financial Stability program received a $150,000 two-year grant from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) Investor Education Foundation and United Way Worldwide as part of the organizations’ investment of more than $1.5 million in grants to help working families build financial stability. The grant is the second UWATX has received from the FINRA Foundation to support financial stability efforts. Since 2012, more than 1,500 Greater Austin employees have received Learn Where You Earn financial education classes with 93% reporting taking steps towards a positive financial goal. The grant will be used to expand our Learn Where You Earn initiative that provides financial education, coaching and counseling for low-income employees in their workplace. The grant will allow hundreds of employees working in Austin to attend classes on how to create and use budgets, manage checking accounts, access their credit score, repair credit, pay off debt, and save for the future. Currently, The City of Austin, Travis County Transportation and Natural Resources (TNR) and Open Door Preschools are confirmed to offer Learn Where You Earn classes to their employees. Since 2012, Learn Where You Earn has provided financial education classes to more than 1,500 employees in the Greater Austin area with more than 93 percent of class participants report taking steps towards a positive financial goal such as paying off debt, checking a credit score, or opening a savings account. Additionally, more than 85 percent of employees report understanding their credit report, knowing their rights as […]
Read MorePrincipal Alejandro Góngora Wins OST Award
Posted on by Katherine Aus
The end of the school year is a time to stop and celebrate successes, and that’s especially true for Austin’s Out-of-School Time (OST) community who works tirelessly year-round. Each year, the Central Texas Afterschool Network (CTAN) bring students, families, providers and funders together for the Breakfast of Champions event, to recognize excellence and the important work these collaborators do. Educators and afterschool professionals submitted more than 100 nominations this year to nominate OST champions in 12 award categories. The winners are chosen by a nominations committee, made up of volunteer OST leaders and staff. This year, it’s a privilege for UWATX and the Target Graduation team to join the larger community in applauding one of our key partners, Principal Alejandro Góngora, who received the award for “Best OST Collaborator.” Principal Góngora of Decker Middle School in Manor ISD has been a tireless collaborator with United Way through a variety of channels related to our Middle School Matters program. This award is a testament to his responsiveness, creativity and commitment – especially after the loss of federally funded afterschool programming last year. OST staff from Camp Fire and our Volunteer Project Leadership (VPL) programs are quick to commend Principal Góngora for his willingness to collaborate on events, participate alongside students in the classroom and assist with everything from communication to translation of materials. We’re grateful to Principal Góngora for embracing collaboration before, during and after the school day. This award is a reflection of his leadership and the hard work of […]
Read MoreMay Face 2 Face Recap with Alejandro Ruelas
Posted on by Ricky Deakyne
May’s Face 2 Face speaker series, sponsored by the Austin Business Journal and Whole Foods, hosted Alejandro Ruelas, the co-founder of LatinWorks. LatinWorks is a cultural branding agency headquartered in Austin. “My advice to corporations when entering the multicultural space is to not just check off the ‘appeal to minority ethnic groups’ box. Companies need to really focus on the way their minority clients live and work, and cater to the like mindsets of different cultures.” — Alejandro Ruelas LatinWorks began in St. Louis, but later moved to Austin. Ruelas said some of the reasons for the move to Austin included the diversity of the city’s people, affordability, growing size of the city and the large pool of minority graduates from the University of Texas advertising program. LatinWorks is the most awarded multicultural agency in the advertising industry. The agency has won nine Cannes Lions, was recognized as Multicultural Agency of the year (twice by Adweek and three times by Ad Age), among many other national and international awards. LatinWorks was named by Ad Age as one of the top ten advertising agencies in the country on two separate occasions in 2010 and 2014. LatinWorks clients include Anheuser-Busch, PepsiCo, Lowe’s, Domino’s Pizza and Target, among others. Ruelas said his biggest mistake when starting LatinWorks was that he took on too much work himself and did not delegate enough. “One of my biggest mistakes when building my company was to not trust the talented staff that surrounded me. I stuck my […]
Read MoreEmployee Campaign Leader of the Year 2014
Posted on by Ricky Deakyne
Each year, we host the Employee Campaign Awards to recognize the donors and leaders who work hard to make employee campaigns successful at their workplaces. For the 2014 Employee Campaign Awards event last Friday, we added a new, very important award: Employee Campaign Leader of the Year. Employee campaign leaders are vital to the success of every employee giving campaign for United Way. We look forward to highlighting an outstanding “ECL” each year moving forward, and this year the very first award of this kind goes to Laura Seaton of Travis County. “It is a warm knowing that despite your own life trials and dramas, and we all have them, you have given something of yourself that truly has helped another human being feel a little whole again and a little less lost.” — Laura Seaton Laura Seaton lived and worked in public service for Maui County, but circumstances brought her to Austin, Texas where she started working in public service with Travis County in 2010. Laura participated in the United Way for Greater Austin campaign three years in row, and goes above and beyond carrying the message to every employee in her department, Transportation and Natural Resources, and across the county as an ECL. Laura takes her responsibility of being an ECL very seriously. She implements rigorous best practices, personalizes the campaign so each employee feels more connected and does it all with a smile. Laura was assigned to be an ECL, yet she loves the role. When asked […]
Read MoreRecognizing local philanthropy: 2014 Employee Campaign Awards
Posted on by Christa Berry
Last week, almost 500 companies and their leaders proved just how alive philanthropy is in Greater Austin at our 2014 Employee Campaign Awards. Our Employee Campaign Leader of the Year, Laura Seaton, said it best when describing how it feels to give back: “It is an almost indescribable feeling: it is not pride, it is not joy, it is not accomplishment. It is a warm knowing that despite your own life trials and dramas, and we all have them, you have given something of yourself that truly has helped another human being feel a little whole again and a little less lost.” Excellence in Corporate Philanthropy: H-E-B, 3M and Enterprise This award is given to UWATX’s top three campaigns, companies who make important investments with a commitment to making Austin Greater and where employees also give of their time, talent and treasure. Each of these companies implement UWATX’s best practices and do so in a way that represents “excellence” in all categories. They represent the heart of philanthropy in Greater Austin and we are so honored to work with them everyday to life up the working poor and ensure that every one in our community has the chance to thrive. Best Practices: HEB This award recognizes the company that implements UWATX’s best practices, which in clued Senior Officer involvement, access to employees and use of UWATX campaign materials among several others. HEB and its partners not only implement best practices into their campaign but they do it consistently and enthusiastically. […]
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