Newsroom

A new report from the U.S. Census Bureau highlights that American workers with a bachelor’s degree earned about $26,000 more on average in 2008 than those with only a high school diploma. The report, Educational Attainment in the United States: 2008, emphasizes just how important having a college degree has become. Education is indeed one of the main keys to prosperity. Find out how United Way Capital Area is working to support educational efforts in early childhood with Success By 6, and also with middle school students with a new collaboration called 1 Hour for Kids, that will launch very soon. The findings in the report are from data collected as part of the Census’ annual Social and Economic Supplement, which was conducted in February, March and April at about 100,000 addresses nationwide.

Want your voice to be heard for Education in Austin? The Austin AISD invites you to attend a Community Conversation with Dr. Meria Carstarphen, finalist for Superintendent of the Austin ISD. When: Saturday, March 7, 10 a.m. – Noon at Reagan High School Cafeteria, and Tuesday, March 10, 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. at Travis High School Cafeteria. The Community Conversations are sponsored by the Austin Association of Public School Administrators, the Austin Council of PTA, the AISD District Advisory Council, and the AISD UpClose Program. For more information about Dr. Meria Carstarphen, click here.

On Friday, January 23, 2009 a team of 60 amazing ACE Hardware store owners and mangers from all over the country performed 6 hours of volunteer service to give Promiseland Preschool a facelift as part of the Child Care Facility Improvement Project through United Way Capital Area. As one of the coordinators for the day, I had a fabulous time. This group was enthusiastic from start to finish, even to the point of arriving early on one of Austin’s “Duck Adventure” vehicles. Although the project was an ambitious one you folks just rolled up your sleeves and went at it without hesitation! Here is a run down of your amazing day! Performed 360 hours of service Moved an entire play structure Built a wooden swing structure with two swings Renovated a storage shed (i.e. installed windows, shelves, built a 12 foot porch with benches, including a ramp for kids to put their tricycles away each day Constructed two tricycle paths Constructed 2 sand boxes and hand customized 2 picnic tables Unloaded a truck full of sand Assembled and hung 14 cabinets in 5 classrooms Stabilized and installed new locks on 10 cribs in the Infant Room Customized a 10 X 14 room into a storage room, including media storage Assembled a gazebo and built a floor in it Installed 50’ of chain link fence to separate the playgrounds You even found time to paint, trim trees and cut back bushes! THANK YOU ACE Hardware for partnering with United Way Capital […]

Thank you to all the United Way Success By 6 supporters who adopted a child care center for the holidays. Why is the work of Success By 6 so important?Click here to learn more. Ebenezer Child Development CenterAdopted by: Carmel Borders and Betsy Abel Faith Presbyterian Child Development CenterAdopted by: Tabatha and Cameron Brown MainSpring SchoolsAdopted by: Open Door PreschoolAdopted by: The Women’s Giving Network Executive CommitteeSafePlace (Stockton-Hicks Child Development Center)Adopted by: Trinity Child Development CenterAdopted by: The nonprofit child care centers are United Way Success By 6 funded partners that serve low-income families. Your gifts and contributions helped brighten their holidays – and the future of our children. From left to right: United Way Women’s Giving Network Executive Committee members Brenda Strama, Tabatha Brown, Mary Ellen Sax, Sydney Heard, Bonnie Pepin, Susan Marler, Marie Baker, Peg Hart, Jennifer Sanderson, and Trisa Thompson. From left to right: Janell Fotovich, Heather Mason, and Charlene Hamlet, members of Applied Materials’ Women’s Professional Development Network, collected and delivered gifts to Trinity Child Development Center as part of the Child Care Center Adoption project. KPMG delivers their gifts to Mainspring Schools

In a recent U.S. Dept. of Education report, an estimated 13% of Travis County residents are illiterate. http://nces.ed.gov/naal/estimates/index.aspx This appalling finding is another reason United Way is collaborating with E3 and others in our region, to ensure that children have the opportunity to start school healthy, happy and ready to learn with our Success By 6 program. If we don’t get involved to turn these findings around, Central Texas will not maintain its prosperity, companies will move away and find the educated, literate workforce elsewhere. Get involved with our efforts around education, Give, Advocate or Volunteer. Be part of the solution. Be a part of the change you want to see.Live United!

Check out this short clip on the News 8 Austin website about how youth in Central Texas are learning valuable skills and growing garden goods at the same time. Youth Launch, the agency that sponsors the program, is one of our funded agencies and Gifts In Kind partners. Click here to watch the video. Do you have a van in good condition you were thinking about donating? YouthLaunch is seeking a 15 passenger van for use in their Urban Roots program. They are in need of a van to transport youth to and from our organic farm and produce to and from farmers’ markets and hunger relief agencies. Click here to contact them (choose “Vehicles” to see the entire Gifts In Kind ad).

As mentioned before, education really is one of the main ways anyone can get out, or stay out of poverty. Check out this graphic from the U.S. Department of Labor. It really sums it all up. Basically the more educated you are, the greater your earnings potential and income over your lifetime will be and the less likely you will be unemployed. Note: Data are 2007 annual averages for persons age 25 and over. Earnings are for full-time wage and salary workers. Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey.

I was able to get a second interview with a blast from the past, my friend Enrique Romo who works at UT’s Diversity & Community Engagement Dept & is a current participant in the HAL program. Here’s what he had to say….

Okay, sorry for the delay. I promise I wasn’t sleeping. I was eating and had some meetings. Yeah, can you believe it? I get no breaks around here! So how do people slip into the darkness aka poverty? What causes poverty? A major reason is wages have not kept pace with the rising cost of housing, healthcare, childcare, and education in our area. Consequently, many hardworking families struggle to earn enough income to support themselves and their families. United Way is a member of The Basic Needs Coalition of Central Texas. They produce a great fact sheet outlining these causes, I’ve summarized a few here; Low wages – In Travis County, almost 22% of households make less than $25,000 per year. Much of employment is in service jobs that pay low wages and have few, if any, benefits. Education opportunities – Employment and income earning potential are directly related to education attainment. A high school diploma increases a person’s lifetime earnings potential by $1 million; a college degree increases that to $2 million. Illness and Healthcare Costs – A 2005 Harvard study concluded that illness and medical bills caused half of the 1.45 million personal bankruptcies in 2001. Surprisingly, most of those bankrupted by illness had health insurance. More that ¾’s were insured at the start of the bankrupting process. A common procedure such as an appendectomy and associated hospital bills, can easily cost in excess of $30,000. Remember, Texas also has the highest rate of uninsured in the whole […]

Target recently presented a grant to United Way Capital Area at its Night of Giving. The grant will help United Way Capital Area’s Success By 6 Books to Partners project provide age-appropriate books to children aged 0 – 6 being served by the agencies that are part of the Home Visitation Collaboration. L to R: Ramiro Munoz (Target), Marchele Lee (United Way Capital Area), Chondra Barton (Target), Robert Werner (Target) The Success By 6 Home Visitation Collaboration is a group of organizations targeting high-risk families with infants and toddlers who are overburdened due to health, social, and /or economic conditions, and who do not have access to other effective early childhood interventions such as Early Head Start or high-quality child care.