Name: Velocity Credit Union Partner for: 2 years with Bank On Central Texas Partner with: Financial Opportunity Our relationship: Since the launch of Bank On Central Texas (BOCT) in 2010, Velocity Credit Union has been a member of the coalition. BOCT, a program of United Way for Central Texas, aims to bank the unbanked by offering resources that link families and individuals directly with banking institutions that offer zero- or low-cost banking options. This year, Velocity has also partnered with UWATX by attending financial education workshops, called Learn Where You Earn. At the workshops Velocity staff members are available to answer questions about banking and encourage participation in direct deposit. What we’ve accomplished: BOCT opened more than 6,000 bank accounts in its first year, saving Austinites $2 million in check-cashing fees. How Velocity Credit Union makes Austin greater: “Velocity has a strong ethic of social responsibility. They are committed to helping Austinites improve their financial wellbeing, which makes them an excellent partner.” – Faith Ryan, Director, Program Coordinator, Financial Opportunity.
Read MorePartner Profile: Foundation Communities
Posted on by Christa Berry
Name: Foundation Communities Partner for: 5+ years Partner with: Financial Opportunity Our relationship: Since 2005 Foundation Communities has provided free tax preparation assistance for Central Texas families, enabling them to claim tax credits and refunds they’ve earned without paying high fees to commercial tax preparers. For several years, United Way for Greater Austin has helped fund Foundation Communities to specifically support their Community Tax Centers. Additionally, our Navigation Center provides eligibility screenings and referrals for the tax preparation assistance program. What we’ve accomplished: In 2012, with the help of UWATX, Foundation Communities was able to secure 11 million dollars in Earned Income Tax Credits for low-income families and individuals as well as $29 million in tax refunds. How Foundation Communities makes Austin greater: “Foundation Communities is committed to the financial wellness of Austin residents – making it possible for more Austinites to overcome barriers to economic opportunities.” – Sarah Janecka, Director, Financial Opportunity.
Read MorePartner Profile: Boys and Girls Clubs of the Austin Area
Posted on by Christa Berry
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
Read MorePartner Profile: Manor Independent School District
Posted on by Christa Berry
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.
Read MoreSuccess By 6 Play To Learn Kicks Off into a Semester
Posted on by Ricky Deakyne
We’re off and running with the second installment of Play To Learn, a project of our Success By 6 program that works to bring engagement through early education to low-income families at accessible neighborhood locations. Over the course of four installments, the Play To Learn project will impact more than 200 families in Austin’s low-income communities. Play To Learn is an eight-week parent education course that teaches parents of 2- and 3-year-olds how to help their children become school ready through interactive play that fosters brain development. UWATX created an enriching curriculum that allows children to interact with others and teaches parents about developmental milestones and age-appropriate expectations. “One student wouldn’t speak at all when he was first introduced to Play To Learn. He was shy and didn’t want to participate in any of the programming,” said Kaley Horton, Success By 6 VISTA, who manages the project. “At the end of the first group, he stood in front of the class and counted to ten.” The project is the latest effort funded by a generous million-dollar grant from Samsung Austin Semiconductor. The grant initially allowed UWATX to create a first-of-its-kind baseline that showed only 13 percent of children in Austin’s low-income communities were ready to start school, far lower than the 52 percent who are ready in Central Texas overall. “Play To Learn encourages my daughter Jaelizza to step outside of her comfort zone,” said Esmeralda Martinez, parent participant. “Ever since she’s been in the program she wakes up excited to […]
Read MoreUWATX pacesetter campaigns kickoff with H-E-B
Posted on by Aviva Pinchas
While the majority of United Way for Greater Austin’s Employee Campaigns run throughout the fall, a few companies set the pace and the tone for each year’s season. As always, H-E-B is one of the first out of the gate, enthusiastic and dedicated to making a difference. “H-E-B has always been committed to giving back,” said Jeff Thomas, Senior Vice President – General Manager for the Central Texas region of H-E-B. “We are one of the largest employers in the Greater Austin area, so we know we can have a great influence on the community that we live in and work in.” Nearly a month ago, more than 50 H-E-B In-Store Coordinators joined United Way staff to get excited about campaign and see what was in store for this year. Coordinators shared their experiences in past campaigns and gave each other tips on how to make the most out of the experience, for themselves, fellow employees and the community. “I think it’s the way that they make the impact of each employee’s gift clear that really sets H-E-B apart,” said Greg Bennett, the UWATX Development Officer that manages H-E-B’s campaign. “They emphasize how what seems like a small gift can make a big impact. For example, they’ll show a $2 soft drink and say ‘The price of a soda every week can provide two weeks of one-on-one mentoring for a middle school student.’” This year, H-E-B partners have taken their work to the next level by printing signage to post […]
Read MoreIBM donates Young Explorer Learning Centers to support young children
Posted on by Ricky Deakyne
Thanks to a generous donation from IBM, United Way for Greater Austin will distribute IBM Young Explorers Learning Centers to Austin Learning Academy, Faith Presbyterian Child Development Center, Child Inc., and El Buen Pastor. The donation is part of IBM’s KidSmart Early Learning program, which operates in 60 countries, and has reached more than 100,000 teachers, serving more than 10 million students. The IBM Young Explorer Learning Center, a child-sized computer station with brightly colored Little Tikes furniture, hosts a computer equipped with applications that encourage language, technology, and math and science skills necessary for children to learn and succeed before they enter kindergarten. It also features fun and interactive games that are ideal for young patrons age three up to seven. “United Way has been great in helping us prepare our students with technological skills,” said Ann Wingler, Executive Director of Faith Presbyterian Child Development Center, “Since 50 percent of our students are low-income, their access to computers is limited. The Young Explorers gives them an opportunity to increase their technological proficiency and interact with computers on a daily-basis.” Along with fostering key skills, the Young Explorers Learning Center promotes social interaction as at least two students share the computer and engage the applications together. “IBM and United Way for Greater Austin have collaborated on various initiatives for nearly two decades,” said Beth Tracy, IBM Corporate Citizenship & Corporate Affairs Manager. “IBM views quality early childhood education as an investment not only in today’s workforce, but also for future workforce development.” […]
Read MoreA look at the work we do
Posted on by Aviva Pinchas
As United Way for Greater Austin has stepped back our grants due to financial reasons, we are maintaining our commitment to our most robust programs and reinvigorating our work in proven initiatives that support Financial Opportunity and provide access to health care. We are continuing to leverage our grants in Success By 6 and Target Graduation to help children start school ready to learn and keep them on the path to graduate from high school. We are dedicated to increasing the percent of children who enter school ready to learn to 70 percent by 2015 by continuing to lead a strong, motivated coalition of community advocates. We are devoted to helping vulnerable students graduate from high school by coordinating strong programs on their campuses, improving the quality of afterschool and summer programs and, essentially, helping students like Kevin – who participated in our Volunteer Project Leadership class and has already started leading projects in our community. In our Financial Opportunity program this year, we launched Learn Where You Earn (LWYE), an initiative that builds on our strong relationships with companies by bringing financial education courses into the workplace. So far, more than 200 individual have been part of the courses. They focused on topics like how to budget, manage their debt and save for the future. We will continue to help employees like Savannah, an H-E-B employee who attended the LWYE program and said “I want the chance to build my own life—savings, a home, all those things—and thanks to […]
Read MoreA difficult decision and a call to action
Posted on by Debbie Bresette
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 […]
Read MoreFlextronics Foundation doubles its support for United Way’s youth work
Posted on by Christa Berry
Last week, Flextronics awarded United Way for Greater Austin a $10,000 grant to fund Middle School Matters (MSM), a youth initiative to create a system of broad-spectrum services to change the trajectory of three high-need middle schools in Austin. As Flextronics continues to be a business philanthropist in support of United Way and our efforts to aid in the success of students, this grant will specifically fund the coordination of a wide array of evidence-based services, including behavioral health, case management, mentoring, tutoring, out-of-school time and parent education. “Education is a primary funding initiative at Flextronics as it has a significant, residual impact on our communities, both locally and worldwide,” said Thomas Ezrin, Senior Vice President, Human Resources at Flextronics. “Flextronics is proud to support the United Way’s Middle School Matters initiative that provides services and educational support to students at high-need middle schools in Austin.” In the 2011 – 2012 school year, the same year the program launched, MSM provided coordination that made over 1,600 student-focused interventions possible. “Without strategic funding from companies like Flextronics, Middle School Matters wouldn’t exist. We are very fortunate to have partners that invest for long-term change; by helping with United Way for Greater Austin’s youth work, these partners can see and measure the impact they’re making in our community,” said Laura LaFuente, Director of Target Graduation, United Way’s youth program. In 2010, Flextronics awarded United Way a $5,000 grant to support United Way’s Youth Program Quality Initiative – a comprehensive continuous quality […]
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