Author: Aviva Pinchas

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 […]

The Charity Governance blog points out that in fiscal year 2007, the IRS received 85,771 applications for 501(c)(3) status: Do we need 85,000 new charities? Somebody thinks so. (Only 68,000 of those made it through the process to become IRS-recognized nonprofit organizations. Glad the gatekeepers are so rigorous!) It’s not hard to throw up your hands and cry Enough already! We have too many nonprofits! The down-side of there being so many nonprofits is easy to understand. It means: Inefficiency. Duplication of effort. Lower level of professionalism. Marketplace confusion. On the other hand some of these new nonprofits are tiny, serving extremely narrow or localized niche issues that no one else is dealing with. Others are smart, fast innovation factories that are unfettered by bureaucracy and limited thinking. These are the organization that will quickly be competing for donor dollars with established nonprofits — the organizations that will force us all to be smarter. What do you think? Are there too many nonprofits already?

I just read this very interesting article on MSN Health & Fitness and by the looks at it, I think I’m on the right track. Are you? Giving for Your Own GoodThis may come as a surprise to the “Me Generation,” but happiness doesn’t come from living in a big house, buying the latest techno-gadget, and getting stamps from exotic locales in your passport. In fact, a 2005 poll by Time Magazine found that helping others was a major source of happiness for 75 percent of Americans. “Volunteering is an opportunity to be socially engaged and contribute to the lives of others,” says Stephen Post, a professor at Case Western Reserve University who co-authored the book Why Good Things Happen to Good Peoplewith Jill Neimark. “It’s not material goods that make us happy—it’s having purpose and meaning in our lives.” In fact, some recent research suggests that we’re actually hard-wired for helping. Even thinking about helping others is enough to stimulate the part of our brain associated with feel-good chemicals like oxytocin. Helping others doesn’t just make us happier, there’s also evidence it makes us healthier too. “Recent research out of England shows that cities with higher rates of volunteerism had the lower rates of depression and heart disease,” says Post. Don’t have a lot of free time? No worries. People who volunteer just two hours per week (100 hours per year) enjoy lower rates of depression and better physical health. How does your city compare? The Corporation for National […]

The winner of the 2008 March Giving Madness raffle was Karen Peoples. Here she is with Bill Cryer (Executive Counsel for Public Affairs, Samsung) and David Balch (President, UWCA) in front of her new 50″ Samsung HDTV. Thanks to everyone who purchased tickets in the raffle. And thanks again to Samsung for their generous donation. “We like to see our donations encourage others to give, and there is no better group than United Way to accomplish this. When we join with United Way so often one plus one equals a lot more than just two.” – Bill Cryer (Executive Counsel for Public Affairs, Samsung)

In a recent study published in the journal Science, and reported at Forbes.com, people are actually happier after giving money away than when they choose to spend it on themselves. The results of the study may seem surprising and counterintuitive. After all, don’t most of us, when asked what we would do with our lotto winnings, speak first about spending the money on ourselves and our immediate family, rather than how we will give it away? Working with graduate student Lara B. Aknin and Harvard Business School assistant professor Michael I. Norton, Dunn began by asking 632 Americans from across the U.S. to rate their general level of happiness, as well as to report their income, how much they spent on themselves and how much they donated to charity. As researchers sifted through the numbers, they found that happiness didn’t correlate with personal spending but, rather, with how much they gave away. Click here to read the rest of the article.

A recent article in the NY Times reports that differences in life expectancy for richer and poorer Americans have grown in the last two decades, paralleling the growth of income inequality in the last two decades. This illustrates the importance of closing the opportunity gaps for both Financial Stability and Health, as the two are clearly interrelated. One of the top goals of “Healthy People 2010,” an official statement of national health objectives issued in 2000, is to “eliminate health disparities among different segments of the population,” including higher- and lower-income groups and people of different racial and ethnic background. United Way Capital Area seeks similar goals within its Health Focus Area, addressing gaps in care, including access to services for older adults, primary care and behavioral health supports. Don’t forget to save the date for Hands on Central Texas’ Echoes of Color Film Series in April, as these issues will be the focus of that month’s presentation of Unnatural Causes, a film that sounds the alarm about America’s glaring socio-economic and racial inequities in health – and search for root causes.. Click here to read the rest of the article.