Author: Christa Berry

Outlaw After-Party for Flood Relief

Still looking for a way to help out with the Central Texas flood relief? On Monday, July 6, a collection of music’s legendary outlaws and rising superstars will come together for a once-in-a-lifetime concert at ACL Live at The Moody Theater in Austin to honor Waylon Jennings, one of the most influential musicians of the Outlaw Country movement. 100 percent of proceeds from the Outlaw After-Party will go to UWATX to benefit Central Texas victims of the Memorial Day floods. OUTLAW: Celebrating the Music of Waylon Jennings, produced by Blackbird Presents, will feature performances by: Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Toby Keith, Eric Church, Kacey Musgraves, Ryan Bingham, Sturgill Simpson, Jamey Johnson, Lee Ann Womack, Chris Stapleton, Shooter Jennings, Jessi Colter and Billy Joe Shaver. Additional performances to be announced. You must be a ticket holder to the tribute concert in order to purchase after-party tickets – get your concert tickets HERE – but hurry! Tickets to the tribute are going fast.   Outlaw After-Party Benefits:  After-Party tickets are $100 each and include open bars and passed bites backstage at ACL Live. 100 percent of your ticket purchase to the Outlaw After-Party will go to UWATX and earmarked for Memorial Day Central Texas flood victims. All ticketing fees have been waived by ACL Live and Ticketfly to aid in this effort. How do I get my Outlaw After-Party tickets?  All current ticket holders will receive an email with a link to purchase tickets to the Outlaw After-Party. New ticket purchasers to the […]

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Support Central Texas Flood Recovery Efforts

CLICK THE IMAGE BELOW TO DONATE TO THE 2017 HURRICANE HARVEY DISASTER RELIEF.   UPDATE 6/8/15: There are currently four Volunteer Reception Centers open in our area (Wimberley, San Marcos, Martindale, Blanco), serving as a central meeting point for volunteers to check-in and then be assigned a task such as clean-up or donation organization. At this time no end date has been scheduled for the volunteer centers. The Volunteer Reception Centers are helpful since these are all-day opportunities, no pre sign-up required, and are often associated with multiple organizations and local government versus a single nonprofit. Wimberley Volunteering Cypress Creek Church Volunteer Reception Center 211 Stillwater Rd Wimberley TX 78676 512-753-2320 Mon – Sun 8:00 am – 5:00 pm, until further notice Provides central location for volunteers to meet and assist with coordinated volunteer efforts, such as clean-up. Volunteers will register and a get a wristband. Food will be available. San Marcos Volunteering San Marcos Plaza Park Volunteer Reception Center 206 N CM Allen Pkwy San Marcos TX 78666 512-753-2320 Mon – Sun 8:00 am – 5:00 pm, until further notice Provides central location for volunteers to meet and assist with coordinated volunteer efforts. Volunteers will register and a get a wristband. Volunteers are asked to wear sturdy shoes and appropriate clothing, and to bring masks, work gloves, mops, rakes, and light cleaning supplies. Note: Volunteers wishing to volunteer at the Springtown Mall Donation Center must first register at the Volunteer Reception Center. Martindale Volunteering Martindale Baptist Church Volunteer Reception […]

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$150,000 Grant Helps Working Austinites Become Financially Stable

We’re excited to announce that our Financial Stability program received a $150,000 two-year grant from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) Investor Education Foundation and United Way Worldwide as part of the organizations’ investment of more than $1.5 million in grants to help working families build financial stability. The grant is the second UWATX has received from the FINRA Foundation to support financial stability efforts. Since 2012, more than 1,500 Greater Austin employees have received Learn Where You Earn financial education classes with 93% reporting taking steps towards a positive financial goal. The grant will be used to expand our Learn Where You Earn initiative that provides financial education, coaching and counseling for low-income employees in their workplace. The grant will allow hundreds of employees working in Austin to attend classes on how to create and use budgets, manage checking accounts, access their credit score, repair credit, pay off debt, and save for the future. Currently, The City of Austin, Travis County Transportation and Natural Resources (TNR) and Open Door Preschools are confirmed to offer Learn Where You Earn classes to their employees. Since 2012, Learn Where You Earn has provided financial education classes to more than 1,500 employees in the Greater Austin area with more than 93 percent of class participants report taking steps towards a positive financial goal such as paying off debt, checking a credit score, or opening a savings account. Additionally, more than 85 percent of employees report understanding their credit report, knowing their rights as […]

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Recognizing local philanthropy: 2014 Employee Campaign Awards

Last week, almost 500 companies and their leaders proved just how alive philanthropy is in Greater Austin at our 2014 Employee Campaign Awards. Our Employee Campaign Leader of the Year, Laura Seaton, said it best when describing how it feels to give back: “It is an almost indescribable feeling: it is not pride, it is not joy, it is not accomplishment. It is a warm knowing that despite your own life trials and dramas, and we all have them, you have given something of yourself that truly has helped another human being feel a little whole again and a little less lost.” Excellence in Corporate Philanthropy: H-E-B, 3M and Enterprise This award is given to UWATX’s top three campaigns, companies who make important investments with a commitment to making Austin Greater and where employees also give of their time, talent and treasure. Each of these companies implement UWATX’s best practices and do so in a way that represents “excellence” in all categories. They represent the heart of philanthropy in Greater Austin and we are so honored to work with them everyday to life up the working poor and ensure that every one in our community has the chance to thrive. Best Practices: HEB This award recognizes the company that implements UWATX’s best practices, which in clued Senior Officer involvement, access to employees and use of UWATX campaign materials among several others. HEB and its partners not only implement best practices into their campaign but they do it consistently and enthusiastically. […]

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Looking for a warm meal this holiday season?

Each year, our Navigation Center sees a spike of calls during the holiday season – people looking to help by donating food, toys, gifts or their time and also calls from people looking for a warm meal for the holidays. We’ve compiled this calendar of resources that are FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC to make it a little easier to find that warm meal:     Click on the image above to see a larger version PDF. Know someone looking for assistance? Tell them to give us a call at 2-1-1 to get connected to resources in our community.  

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Greater Austin experiences marked increase in suburban poverty

Greater Austin has plenty to boast about. From a vibrant and diverse community, to welcoming neighborhoods and plenty of local live event opportunities, it’s no wonder we became the 11th largest city in the U.S. last year. There is one metric, however, that Greater Austin residents are not bragging about. A recent report from KUT.org revealed research from the Brookings Institution that proved Austin had the second-largest increase in suburban poverty among big cities. Business Insider recently named Austin #8 on its list of “The 15 US Cities Where Poverty Is Soaring Fastest.” According to its article, the poor population in Greater Austin grew by more than 100,000 individuals between 2000 and 2012. United Way for Greater Austin aims to overcome barriers to economic opportunities with strategic programming and philanthropic endeavors. We invite all who need help to utilize our free resources, including the 2-1-1 Navigation Center, an Austin-area community support line. For information on our free community resources, please call 512.472.6267 or visit our website: www.unitedwayaustin.org.

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Latest news: Austin American-Statesman view on pre-K

On Monday, the Austin American-Statesman featured our work in early childhood education and the unique challenges for our young children in Austin. The article highlighted our School Readiness Action Plan – an ambitious three-year plan to increase the percent of children who enter kindergarten ready for school to 70 percent by 2015.  As a follow up, today the Austin American-Statesman Editorial Board published their view on early childhood education, saying “…pre-K programs [are] a necessary asset for Texas children.” You can read the full article below:   Better pre-K means better future Texans By AAS Editoral Board  Wednesday, July 9 Pre-kindergarten is vital for the success of any child’s education. Aside from getting students ready for kindergarten, pre-K reduces use of special education services, lowers grade retention and improves high school graduation rates. Studies also have shown that children who attend high-quality pre-K programs have higher earnings as adults and are less likely to be dependent on welfare.Yet in Travis County, about half the area’s youngest students aren’t ready to enter kindergarten despite many efforts by local school districts, nonprofits and foundations, the American-Statesman’s Julie Chang reported Monday. An influx of new students every year, poverty and language barriers complicate the mission. With more academics being presented in kindergarten, children need a pre-academic foundation before entering that grade. In pre-K, kids not only learn new words, numbers and problem-solving skills, but they also learn social skills such as how to pay attention in class and interact with other students. Despite the difficulties, […]

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Inspiration for year’s end

If you’ve met our president, Debbie Bresette, you know how inspirational she can be with both words and actions. And she knows no stranger. And only sees the best in all situations. I think every organization deserves a leader like ours – one that’s full of big ideas and passionate for what they do. Her personality shapes this United Way – making this a positive, ambitious, motivating and ever-moving-forward place to work. So with 2013 coming to a close and our 90th anniversary just around the corner (2014!), we decided to sit down with our President, Debbie Bresette, to get just a little bit more inspiration until the new year. Why have you dedicated your life to this work? I’ve always thought that with the right people in the right setting, we could really move people to a place where we could have honest conversations about poverty. Before I worked at United Way I could see that the organization brought these people together – in the right place and at the right time – and that excited me.  I don’t want to be involved with changing one person – I want our systems themselves to change to support more people – and doing this kind of work gives me great satisfaction. Why does the work matter? I never wanted to work in a job that had no meaning – I was born into this life to make a difference – or at least try. I’ve also seen many injustices in […]

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Research shows UWATX Play To Learn makes parents happy, helps children be school-ready

After an 18-month evaluation, we have firm numbers behind something we’ve been hearing for years: UWATX’s innovative Play To Learn initiative is changing lives – read the summary of results [PDF]. [youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhsCzogMYL4[/youtube] Play To Learn is a new, scalable early intervention program designed to bridge the critical gaps in learning among children. Like all our work, the project targets low-income from low-income neighborhoods in Austin and surrounding areas.  The project is a result of an extensive child assessment process and data mapping initiative in Austin’s low-income neighborhoods. Play To Learn: A course that teaches parents how to help their children become school ready while incorporating local resources and tablet technology. The Play To Learn project falls under UWATX’s Success By 6 program. Thanks to a $1-million grant from Samsung Austin Semiconductor, 212 families enrolled in Play To Learn from May 2012 to April 2013- and an astonishing 93 percent (198 families) completed the 8-week in-person sessions as well as the year-long library portion. The Samsung grant also funded an 18-month evaluation from a team of researchers at The University of Texas at Austin School of Human Ecology – the full research report shows  astonishing results [PDF]. “Play To Learn was found to be an effective, short-term program for helping young children develop learning skills, including media use, as well as encouraging parental involvement in learning,” said Sue Carpenter, Sr. Director of Success By 6. “The program provides evidence that technology, local resources and a high-quality curriculum can make a significant difference in the […]

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Results are in: Middle School Matters changes students’ lives, earns high marks from schools

Two years ago, we set out to change the culture of three middle schools serving low-income communities with Middle School Matters, a project in our Target Graduation program. Now, we’re seeing promising results for students, hearing great feedback from teachers and seeing powerful changes on the campuses. Click through the interactive infographic to explore some of these exciting results or download the full report for the 2012-2013 school year.

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