The 2012 Employee Campaign season has just wrapped up, marking a successful year of giving from Austin businesses and their employees. To say thank you, UWATX is recognizing the companies that truly stood out in their giving, including three recipients for the 2012 Excellence in Corporate Philanthropy Award: 3M: 3M is a powerful supporter of UWATX- they came in second in raising dollars directly for UWATX programs and community impact. On top of that, 3M also touts the largest number of leadership givers and supported UWATX’s new brand with a generous donation of bus wraps that toured the city for months. 3M also matches every gift, stocks a large portion of our supply closet, gave in-kind donations to support UWATX’s rebranding efforts and consistently gives the largest corporate gift to UWATX in Austin! H-E-B: In the Greater Austin area, H-E-B employees make up the single largest source of employee giving support. They run a fun, educational, and competitive UWATX campaign in each of their stores, and truly embody the best in corporate philanthropy. Their success grows from strong leadership: From Charles Butt’s support of philanthropy, to Jeff Thomas’ personal investment of time and guidance, to store leaders championing the UWATX campaign across the region and individual employees who lead fellow Partners in giving back. Enterprise: Enterprise was the success story UWATX couldn’t stop talking about this year. Their campaign saw huge increases in total giving, giving to UWATX and a very high participation rate. Enterprise stressed the value of […]
Read MoreSpotlight: Heather Beckel Luecke on crafting a brand for our community
In November 2011, Heather Beckel Luecke joined the UWATX team and took on the challenge of re-launching the United Way brand locally. This May marks the one-year anniversary of our new name and look. Q from UWATX: What brought you to UWATX a year and a half ago? A from Heather: I was looking for a new professional challenge and was connected to Lauren Paver through a mutual friend. We had some great conversations at Bennu coffee shop and then I formally interviewed with her, Debbie Bresette and Aviva Pinchas – and I thought: “I want to work with all these really smart women!” What’s been the biggest challenge of jumping in to the nonprofit sector and of re-launching a legacy brand like United Way? In terms of the biggest challenge of re-launching a legacy brand – it’s a FUN challenge because it’s difficult. To stay within the rules of the brand and respect the brand but at the same time dust off the cobwebs, make it more local and push the envelope a little bit. The biggest challenge for me of working in the nonprofit sector is getting used to a different way of thinking about an allocation of resources to tackle social issues. I’ve never had to deal with this in for-profit or political advocacy work where the question is asked upfront: “Okay what marketing dollars do you need to make this happen?” UWATX board member Gayle Greer turned us onto a TED Talk by Dan Pallotta that […]
Read MoreWhiteGlove Health discontinues services
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 […]
Read MoreSpreading the word about children’s mental health
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 […]
Read MoreIntroducing: UWATX Young Leaders Society
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsdV9X8bhUs[/youtube] United Way for Greater Austin is introducing a new iteration of our Young Leaders Society – a giving society for young professionals. This version has a few exciting changes: Rather than giving $1,000 to UWATX themselves, young leaders will have the option to raise a portion of their contribution. That means individuals can leverage their networks to get support. YLS will focus on UWATX’s Target Graduation program – helping students stay on the path to graduation and being successful in school, work and life. YLS members will participate in volunteer projects with middle school students, changing lives not just with their dollars but with their time also. On top of on-going volunteer events, YLS members will also have the opportunity to participate in networking and professional development events, taking advantage of UWATX’s more than 400 business partners and connecting to other new and emerging Austin leaders “We’re relaunching this group to reflect the amazing city that we are part of – a city filled with young, vibrant talent,” said Debbie Bresette, President of UWATX. “We are here for this city, and YLS is another step towards better serving our community and growing philanthropy.” Get to know the YLS Founding Committee, learn more about the exciting projects they’ve participated in so far or sign-up for a volunteer project.
Read MoreSpotlight: Catherine Morse on her role as evangelist
Since 2011, Catherine Morse has shared her passion for early childhood and commitment to community service with the UWATX Board of Directors and Success By 6 Leadership Council. Now, we are proud to announce that Morse, named an ABJ Woman of Influence in 2011, begins an 18-month term as Vice Chair of the Board before taking on the role of Board Chair in 2015. When I’m thinking about my role in all of this, it’s about being an evangelist – an advocate that shares the knowledge I’ve gained to drive solutions. – Catherine Morse What inspired you to get involved with UWATX? Three years ago, Samsung Austin Semiconductor made a $1M gift to Success By 6 to celebrate expanding our business in Austin and to provide support for the community after the recession. It also opened the door for my relationship with United Way for Greater Austin. Before that gift, I didn’t know much about United Way or Success By 6. Since then, I’ve met the inspirational leaders here – Debbie Bresette as President and Sue Carpenter leading the charge for early childhood – and I’ve learned so much about the need in this community. When you look at the data, it’s shocking, and I continue to be involved because those numbers move me to action. How do you see UWATX’s role in the community, now and in the future? Today, United Way is a powerful convener, pulling together nonprofits, businesses, individuals and government on key issues, setting goals and […]
Read MoreHOW TO: Be one of the helpers
When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’ – Mr. Rogers This week, tragic events in West, Texas and Boston, Massachusetts have tested our communities. At the same time, a powerful message has spread – one of hope, kindness and togetherness. At United Way, we are a strong network – a network of local organizations serving our local communities, a network of philanthropists giving our time and resources and a network of people sharing our compassion. If you’re looking to make a difference in this time, here’s how you can get involved: Give to United Ways in affected communities – United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley continues to help Boston To support our neighbors, donate now to the recovery in West, Texas. UWATX will pool these dollars along with United Ways across Texas to ensure this community has the support it needs in the days and months ahead. If you’d like to give in another way, please contact us. Spread the word about how to help – Share this blog post to let others know about their options or this Facebook post Share posts from our sister organizations in Boston and Waco Follow 2-1-1 Texas on Facebook and encourage your friends and family to call our Navigation Center at 2-1-1 for the latest information Let people know how to get help – Call our […]
Read MoreThe power of female philanthropy: 500 givers, $1.2M, nearly 10K lives
This week, our Women’s Leadership Council (WLC) celebrated another successful year of female philanthropy at the home of long-time supporter Anne Smalling. Here are a few highlights from the event: This year’s WLC co-chairs, Jennifer Foster (Dell) and Lauren Hammonds (Blackbaud), welcomed our guests and thanked them for their gifts of time, resource and advocacy. We recognized Betsy Abell and the generosity of the Buena Vista Foundation. We announced the collective impact of our WLC members: $592,000. Thanks to a matching gift from the Buena Vista Foundation, that means a total of $1.2M is being invested in UWATX’s Success By 6 (SB6) program, changing the lives of Austin’s youngest and most vulnerable children. Sue Carpenter, Senior Director of SB6, provided an inside look into this year’s successes – including impacting 9,900 lives and other results listed above – and next year’s exciting initiatives. At the end of the evening, members left with cakes from Nothing Bundt Cakes and a renewed passion for Central Texas philanthropy. Get involved: make a gift today, get informed about WLC or learn more about how your company can benefit from sponsoring this inspiring group of dedicated women and reach out to get involved.
Read MoreHands On makes a $2M impact
Hands On Central Texas makes a $2M impact from United Way for Greater Austin Last year, our Hands On Central Texas program, Austin’s largest volunteer network, made quite a difference, and here are just a few highlights: Our in-house team of two volunteer managers coordinated 13,000 volunteers – that’s 92,000 hours of doing good Through our Hands On database, approximately 10,000 additional volunteers got connected to meaningful projects We worked with more than 500 organizations, businesses and groups We adapted our Volunteer Project Leader program for middle school students and started classes at Webb Middle School. Our first class of students did so much good work, we expanded it to Decker Middle School and Mendez Middle School – the other campuses served by Middle School Matters. We did the math: based on the value of an hour of volunteering, for only the hours we directly managed, Hands On Central Texas made an impact of more than $2 million! We couldn’t have done it with out you: we – our team alongside the companies, individuals and organizations that came out for our Days of Caring and other projects – made Austin greater. Thank you!
Read MorePolicy proposals for Austin children – the full details
In our community, low-income children are our fastest growing demographic – growing two times faster than in the state, which is twice as fast as the national growth rate. Recently, policy proposals from state and national officials have put children in the spotlight, and with growing conversation about how to best serve vulnerable children, our Success By 6 program has compiled some insights on the importance of quality care and different policy suggestions about how to support children and parents. The Research We spoke with a panel of experts (Dr. Elizabeth Gershoff, Dr. Aletha Huston and Dr. Elliot Tucker-Drob)from The University of Texas about nationally-recognized research in the area. Here’s what they had to say: In Oklahoma and Florida (where universal preschool has been adopted), parents are taking advantage of the opportunity (75 and 76 percent adoption, respectively). However, quality and outcomes vary based on funding – Oklahoma is seeing greater results because of a greater investment. Research has shown that preschool provides a $7 return on every dollar invested. Research specifically on Head Start shows early results and then fade-out by first grade. Researchers are working to understand these numbers, but have found that looking at longer-term outcomes – like being employed and staying out of jail versus first grade testing – still show the benefits of Head Start. Preschool helps close the achievement gap: research from UT shows that preschool can make up for differences in the home environment and help children be more successful in school. This effect […]
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