Newsroom

Help save State employees’ ability to give through their workplace to the charity of their choice! As you may know, the 83rd Legislature ends next week. Among the important matters being discussed is the State Employee Charitable Campaign.  We are asking you to contact the Governor’s office and Legislators listed below to advocate for the passage of Senate Bill 217 that keeps the State Employee Charitable Campaign alive.    Why we are asking you to take action? Senate Bill 217 recommends the continuation of the annual State Employee Charitable Campaign, which allows for all State employees to support their local communities by donating to charities of their choice. Last year, State of Texas employees gave more than $9,000,000 to charities through this campaign. The State Employee Charitable Campaign is the only payroll deduction campaign for State and higher education employees. The SECC bills must be passed by both Houses (the House has passed its bill, the Senate has not). If the Senate bill does not pass, or is vetoed by the Governor, the SECC would cease to exist as of September 1 and employees throughout the State would not be able to support their communities through their workplace. We need your help to save more than $9,000,000 raised by State employees for charities through the State Employee Charitable Campaign.   Here’s how you can help: Contact Governor Perry and the Legislators listed below to let them know of your support for Senate Bill 217 and the importance of continuing the State […]

For the past couple of years, UWATX has worked with WhiteGlove Health to provide health care services for low-income families and the educators serving them. We were very disappointed to learn from WhiteGlove CFO Doug Cannon that they will cease providing services at the end of May.  This is a business decision WhiteGlove has to make, which we understand, but it is unfortunate that workers and families are losing access to affordable high-quality health care. WhiteGlove has offered almost two years of great health care service pro-bono as a gift back to our community at child care centers supported through UWATX’s Success By 6 program. They also provided a grant that allowed us to coordinate the services to their maximum effect .  Through this partnership, services were provided at Ebeneezer Child Development Center, Faith Presbyterian Child Development Center, Mainspring Schools, Trinity Child Development Center, and SafePlace Child Development Center. The project with WhiteGlove was an innovative model for health care that has flourished in other communities – to bring mobile healthcare units to low-income child care centers where the families and workers have the greatest need and. This model resolved constant issues of transportation for the working poor and misunderstanding about what health care options were available and needed for young children and their families. We hope that our public officials continue to look for ways to address the need in our community for affordable health care for everyone. At UWATX, we will continue to seek out opportunities to help families in need overcome […]

Today is National Children’s Mental Health Day – for us at UWATX, it’s an opportunity to shed light on a side of students’ lives that often gets overlooked. In Texas, more than 154,000 children from 9- to 17-years-old are dealing with a severe emotional disturbance. Even more common, an estimated one in five children have a diagnosable mental disorder, the most common being depression. The complicated emotional life of teens – attempting to manage the transition to adulthood including stress about important standardized tests – becomes even more complex for low-income children, who often deal with added stressors: When I was a teacher, students regularly came up to me and revealed problems in their home life, sometimes really troubling situations that I didn’t have the skills or resources to address. Amber Welsh, Middle School Matters Coordinator and former middle school teacher Food insecurity  Poor housing Lack of access to health care Inadequate transportation Neighborhood violence For most, a combination of these stressors leads to normal mood swings and changes in behavior. For some, the problem escalates to a disorder that requires treatment and, without help, that can lead to bad grades, suspensions, dropping out or, in the worst case, suicide. To avoid these scenarios, children and teens need a supportive casino pa natet environment to manage the stressors in their lives. Yet many schools lack the resources to provide this support. “When I was a teacher, students regularly came up to me and revealed problems in their home life, sometimes really […]

Out-of-school time (OST) – those hours before or after school or during the summer and other breaks – is often times a lost opportunity. For many parents, the gap between their work schedules and the regular school schedule or the challenge of finding a program to fill Spring Break or other vacations can be daunting. Studies show this is where many can fall behind, since this time amounts for 76 percent of a students’ waking hours. Among other things, our Target Graduation program focuses on improving OST and helping parents find quality programs. 1.1 million Texas children are left unsupervised after school for an average of 7 hours per week Not only do OST programs provide a safe place for children and youth, they also have a positive impact on academic and non-academic skills. This is a time children begin to explore career options, develop team building and leadership skills, in addition to just having fun. So we asked our experts how parents could maximize this time for their children. You can improve your child’s education with quality out-of school programs that include: A tangible product or performance that reflects the youths ideas Trying out new skills with support from program staff Direction from program staff, answering questions and working as part of a team Team building activities and ice breakers that help develop a sense of belonging Taking responsibility and contributing to the final product or performance Teaching their peers and lead events Making some decisions about topics, roles, […]

Let’s be honest: many of us need a good tap on the shoulder to remind us to give back, and the holidays are a perfect reminder. As our families come together, we realize all that we have to be thankful for, we come to appreciate our community even more and it’s often a powerful inspiration to give. But there’s also another motivator: the Dec. 31 tax deadline. Right now, if you give a gift before Dec. 31, federal tax laws allow you to deduct that gift from your income and save a bit this coming tax season. The Council of Nonprofits reported that 20 percent of online giving for the entire year occurs on December 30 and 31  – so that deadline seems to be just the right tap on the shoulder for many people. But this year, with the nation’s “fiscal cliff” looming, there has been a lot of talk about capping or re-evaluating the charitable deduction. With that tap on the shoulder weakened, this could mean a devastating ripple effect. Individual donations to nonprofits equaled $298 billion in 2011. These are investments from families, parents and neighbors in our communities or in issues we care about – a way of “buying in” to a cause or a future. 20% Portion of online giving donated on Dec. 30 or 31 $298B Total individual donations to nonprofits And the need for those investments continues to grow. Our Navigation Center, which connects those in need to valuable resources, has seen it […]

Name: Boys and Girls Club Partner for: 40 years Partner with: Target Graduation   Our relationship: Long-time partnership For 40 years, United Way of Greater Austin (UWATX) has partnered with the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Austin Area. Due to their expertise in out-of-school time programs, the Boys and Girls Clubs are an extremely valuable member of UWATX’s  Youth Program Quality Initiative subcommittee. Currently, a number of assessors and trainers dedicate time to plan and implement the cycle of improvement. Sharing knowledge and experience In Fall 2012, UWATX will release an Out-of-School (OST) Time Agenda, a detailed plan with buy-in from local stakeholders to create and improve the OST system in Central Texas. Without valuable partners like the Boys and Girls Clubs offering guidance and knowledge, this Agenda wouldn’t be as comprehensive. What we’ve accomplished: Through this partnership, the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Austin Area and UWATX are providing Central Texas youth with higher-quality OST time activities and programs.  With their support, YPQ was able to provide trainings to 388 youth workers and assess the quality of 78 out of school time programs. How Boys and Girls Club makes Austin greater: “The Boys and Girls of the Austin Area understand the importance of quality out-of-school time – they’re experts in this field.  They’re a long-time partner who are actively involved and willing to share their expertise.” – Laura LaFuente, Director, Target Graduation

Partner: Manor Independent School District (ISD) Partner for: 5 years Partners with: Target Graduation Our relationship: Implementing proven solutions to support the growth of students United Way’s relationship with Manor Independent School District (ISD) started through the District’s involvement in the Youth Program Quality (YPQ) Initiative, a continuous comprehensive quality improvement system for out-of-school time programs. Based on four key areas (safe environments, supportive environments, interaction and engagement), YPQ is proven to impact positive youth development. Through its partnership with UWATX, Manor ISD is able to assess and implement improvement plans for its programs to advance youth development. Partnering in many ways In addition to being a partner through our youth work, Manor ISD also provides volunteer engagement opportunities to UWATX corporate partners like Goldman Sachs on their campuses. They have also worked with our Financial Opportunity program to deliver financial literacy training to students’ parents and families. What we’ve accomplished: Through this partnership, in the 2011- 2012 school year Manor ISD and UWATX helped coordinate 559 interventions for Decker Middle School students. How Manor ISD makes Austin greater: “The Manor ISD is a wonderful partner to work with – they make the coordination aspect so easy. They’re always open to collaboration and identifying opportunities to continuously improve the work we all do for the students.” – Laura LaFuente, Director, Target Graduation.

Today, United Way for Greater Austin announced a difficult decision to reduce funding to some of our nonprofit partners. We made this financial decision with careful consideration and regret the negative impact it could have on organizations and the people we all serve throughout our community. This decision came as the result of fundraising shortfalls. A significant percentage of our annual revenues are generated from workplace-giving campaigns and, unfortunately, these have fallen by $3.1 million since fiscal year 2008. Although UWATX has seen a decrease in campaign giving over the last three years, we continued to support our nonprofit partners at consistent levels – with grants in education, financial opportunity and access to health care. We have used money from our financial reserves to make up the decrease in campaign donations and distributed $3.84 million in grants to nonprofit partners in fiscal year 2010 and $3.4 million in fiscal year 2011. In order to continue serving our community long-term, our total giving this year is going to be $2.2 million in grants and we are decreasing the number of agencies receiving grant funding. In addition to decreasing the overall 2012 grant funding amount and number of agencies receiving grant funding, to reduce costs we are cutting our overhead with decreases in operational costs and head count. Though we are cutting grants, our nonprofit partners will still continue to receive designated dollars through campaign. Over the years, these dollars have gone down alongside our overall campaign. We hope today’s decision will […]

We are happy to announce our marketing partnership with USA Football! For  summer 2012, USA Football will host the IFAF Under-19 World Championship in Austin, TX. Games are June 30 – July 7. Through our partnership,  not only are tickets affordable at under $12 a piece, but 50% of all ticket proceeds will benefit the United Way for Greater Austin and our charitable endeavors. USA Football is a national nonprofit organization that governs the football sport in the United States.  Their organization is also the official youth football development partner of the NFL and the NFL Players Association. The U-19 World Championship brings together eight teams of high school-age players who represent four continents in celebration of football through competition and cultural exchange.  The eight-day tournament culminates in a gold-medal championship game. USA Football is heavily involved in the betterment of young people through football throughout the country.  The Under-19 World Championship, along with the International Bowl, are the  two most prominent organization events and feature some of best high school football players from around the world. Watch a video about this summer’s games here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHVV4MbFpkI To  purchase your tickets in support of this great cause, visit: http://u19wc-unitedway.eventbrite.com Make sure you enter the offer code: unitedway Other great community partners who are also USA Football partners are: State Firemen’s & Fire Marshals’ Association Operation Homefront of Texas Boys & Girls Club of Austin Area Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Texas Girl Scouts of Central Texas AVANCE Austin Affiliate of Susan […]