Newsroom

Hi all. We just heard that our MLK Day of Service video was selected to be aired on KLRU PBS Austin’s DOCUBLOGGERS show! Yeah, we’re excited! Check it and tune in! Tune in on Thurday, April 24, 2008 at 7:30pm or visit the DOCUBLOGGERS website to view the video! MandoDirector, Hands On Central Texas

Congratulations to Gayle Skiera, who is a member of the United Way Capital Area Financial Stability Leadership Council, for winning the BiGAUSTIN 2008 Business Plan Contest at the Big idea day on April 18. Gayle Skiera and The Money Academy Team Gayle is the founder and CEO of The Money Academy, which provides hands-on experience with money, coupled with lessons on key financial distinctions, that empower kids to see the value of using money as a tool for creating wealth. Kids of all ages create their own plan for using money that includes the habit of saving to invest, to donate, and to plan for large purchases. The interest in these clubs spread quickly and they are now in school all over Austin. For more about The Money Academy, visit: http://www.themoneyacademy.net/index.html or visit their blog at: http://themoneyacademy.blogspot.com/

Samsung Austin Semiconductor, a leader in semiconductor innovation, provided onsite support to the staff of United Way Capital Area by lending the time and expertise of Steven English, a senior Samsung quality assurance engineer. Steven facilitated “How to Lead Effective Meetings” training for United Way Capital Area staff, ensuring effective and efficient meeting facilitation. The training was well-received, giving staff the tools to make the best use of not only their time, but volunteers’ time as well. UWCA staff learned how to conduct effective meetings and even had the chance to put their newly acquired knowledge and skills into practice. Steven is knowledgeable, engaging and a downright cool trainer! He and Samsung’s contributions show there is more than one way to impact the work of United Way Capital Area in our community. Thanks to Steven and Samsung for their support! Do you or someone you know have a skill or training background you would be willing to share with United Way? If so, contact Lauren Paver at lauren.paver@unitedwayaustin.org or 472-6267.

The Young Professionals Organization (YPO) takes part in a positive volunteer experience with their family members! On April 5, 2008 the YPO members and their families came together to support Ebenezer Child Development Center. Volunteering as a family demonstrated the power of families who choose to volunteer together and make a positive impact in the Community. Moms and kids sorted and organized clothes, cleaned toys, washed windows, shoveled gravel, and cleaned and organized a Resource Room. Dads and teens helped put in a children’s playground and shovel lots of gravel! They installed cabinets, fire extinguishers and baby safety locks on cabinet doors. At the end of the day Ebenezer Child Development Center was upgraded to help it maintain its accreditation for now and the future. Thank you YPO group for making a long lasting impact at Ebenezer and for helping Ebenezer Child Development Center promote the growth of the total child. YPO volunteers please share your stories! Thank You,Diana SantosCorporate and Volunteer Relations DirectorHands On Central Texas

Financial Fitness Week is fast approaching. The kick off event is this Wednesday. The website is up and running with a list of free financial classes and great information about all kinds of topics related to finances. Check it out at: http://www.financialfitnessaustin.org/ United Way Capital Area is a partner in Financial Fitness Greater Austin (FFGA), which is a public education and awareness campaign designed to help consumers better manage their personal finances. This is achieved through the collaboration and coordinated effort of several organizations in the Greater Austin area including businesses, financial institutions, schools, not-for-profits, government agencies and the media. These groups came together this year to stress the importance of financial literacy, inform consumers where they can get help, and provide free educational seminars and activities throughout the week. Programming is offered to all demographics and income levels and covers all facets of personal finance. Our hope is to make this an annual event for Austin, and part of a year-round initiative to keep our community financially fit.

Several of us attended Unnatural Causes on Wednesday, and were offered an eye-opening look at what it means to be healthy (or not) in this country. All too often, the easy culprit for disparities in health is healthcare coverage, and the ongoing debate around healthcare seems to have no end in sight. Unnatural Causes demonstrated that how healthy you are and how long you are going to live can be clearly determined by what neighborhood you live in, your economic class and how educated you are. The film showed extensive studies Louisville has done by districts to show that the lower income districts were more likely to have diabetes, heart issues, etc. Realizing many of the factors were higher stress (with no outlet to relieve it unlike higher income families have the money and time to take vacations, etc.), no grocery stores close so the easiest, cheaper, closer option was fast food, etc. Health is very much environmental, even stemming to studies done about people who had “stressful” childhoods – their parents worrying about making ends meet, etc. they were more likely to have health issues. In short, it’s not just about healthcare, but that health, education, financial stability are interrelated and contribute to being healthy and having a long life. It was clearly evident from the film and following discussion that it is in all of our best interests to bring about greater health equity in the community–healthy Central Texans are less of a tax burden and healthcare liability […]

I just did a short write-up on our new Community Engagement Blog for the screening of UNNATURAL CAUSES. Don’t miss out on this great opportunity to view a very revealing PBS film on health disparities. Click here to go to the blog for event details! Thanks,MandoDirector, Hands On Central Texas

Several United Way Capital Area Staff members attended the Grand Opening of LifeWorks’ Emergency Shelter for Youth, Teen Mothers and Babies today. Everyone was clearly impressed with the expanded and remodeled shelter. The shelter is the only facility in Central Texas that serves any youth in need, regardless of their situation. Click here to read more about LifeWorks. United Way Capital Area invests in several Lifeworks programs, including Steps to Success, Integrated Behavioral Health Services and Outreach, REAL Space and the Passages Program. Shown here are Susan McDowell, Executive Director of Lifeworks and David Balch, President and Chief Professional Officer, United Way Capital Area.

This recent study reported at CNN.com is one that makes you sit up and pay attention–can there really be more than 91,000 infant victims of abuse and neglect in one year’s time in the U.S.? “It is a particularly vulnerable group,” said study co-author Rebecca Leeb, of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “We were struck by the fact there was a clustering of maltreatment with the very, very early age group.” The first thing you might ask after reading an article like this is, what can we do about this problem? Fortunately for Central Texans, there is an innovative program that works to prevent such abuse and neglect from happening. The Hospital Visitation to the Parents of Newborns, under our Education (Early Childhood) focus area, is one of United Way Capital Area’s newly funded programs that works to provide support during the newborn period that in many at-risk cases is lacking or non-existent.

You’ve probably read this article at CNN.com in which Patricia Guerrero relates her story of how she went from $70K to a food bank in a matter of months. Daryl Brock, the executive director of Second Harvest Food Bank in California’s San Bernardino and Riverside counties, said they have seen some major changes. In the last 12 to 18 months, Brock said, the agencies he supplies have begun seeing more middle-class families coming to their doors. “Our agencies have said there is an increasing number of people coming to them for help,” Brock told CNN by phone. “Their impression was that these were not people they normally would have seen before. They seemed to be better dressed. They seemed to have better cars and yet they seemed to be in crisis mode.” As we start to hear more stories like this one from the downturn in the economy, we should keep in mind that a families in similar situations have an array of options in Central Texas that help them gain their financial footing–these options go beyond simply drawing unemployment and visiting the food bank. Take another look at our Theory of Change, where we outline key strategies that help individuals achieve financial stability. Take another look at our newly funded programs in the Financial Stability category. If you visit one of the sites of our new programs like Foundation Communities, or Capital IDEA and read some of their success stories, you’ll discover something very much the opposite of the […]