We are excited to present Get Together Austin, an initiative led by United Way for Greater Austin, along with some of Austin’s most beloved musicians, to ensure every child in our community has the chance to succeed. We recruited 16 local, caring musicians who gave their time and talents to raise awareness about the need for high-quality preschool for low-income kids and the need for our community to come together as one to make this happen. We shot these musicians singing their own take of the song “Get Together” by The Youngbloods, a song about joining together to create positive change; we could not have picked a better song to portray our message. Artists involved: A. Sinclair, Abram Shook, Calliope Musicals, Colin Gilmore, Dale Watson, Dana Falconberry, Gina Chavez, Golden Dawn Arkestra, Grupo Fantasma, LaTasha Lee & the Black Ties, Magna Carda, Quiet Company, Royal Forest, Sara Hickman, Shakey Graves and Wild Child. We shot the video with production crew Arts+Labor in iconic Austin locations, from Zilker Park and Barton Springs pool to various murals, including our own “You’re My Butter Half” mural. We strived to get artists from a variety of genres, demographics and backgrounds to showcase the diversity of Austin itself. Our early childhood education initiatives work with other community organizations to provide a variety of services tailored to each family and child, including parent education classes and affordable quality childcare and preschool programs. 90% of young children that receive these services are ready for school upon entering […]
Read MoreSpotlight: Russell Bridges, 3M
Posted on by Ricky Deakyne
3M is one of UWATX’s Top 15 campaigns, meaning they pledge among the most in terms of dollars during their employee giving campaigns out of our more than 400 partners. We also have a dedicated “3M closet” at UWATX offices, which 3M graciously stocks with office supplies for the whole year. We are grateful for the generosity of 3M employees in general and especially to Russell Bridges, Government and Community Affairs Manager at 3M in Austin and one of UWATX’s best advocates. Russell has served as our 3M campaign contact since 2000. He has hosted special events, promoted our giving societies, identified 3M members as board members, coordinated volunteer activities and served on United Way committees. This year, 3M held one Day of Giving on June 8 to kick off their campaign in which the corporation pledged to match any employee pledges 2 to 1. Additionally, all employee pledges made in June were matched 1 to 1, and all pledges made through the end of campaign were matched .50 to 1. In just the one Day of Giving, employees pledged $323,463, providing an additional corporate match of $646,926. This means 3M raised almost $1 million for Greater Austin in only one day! We asked Russell why he has been involved with UWATX for so long and to give us an inside look at what makes the 3M campaign so successful each year. How long have you been involved with United Way and in what capacities? Many years ago, I […]
Read MoreWho Inspires You to Be a Philanthropist?
Posted on by Ricky Deakyne
We asked UWATX employees to dress up as the person who inspires them to give back during our internal employee giving campaign kickoff this year. Sue: “The Directors and Executive Directors of the early childhood programs with whom we partner. They work so hard to support children and families — and they do not get the recognition they deserve.” Orsi: “I am inspired to give back because of my hard working coworkers. I am inspired by their passion to help others and their commitment to making Austin greater.” Courtney: “Everyday before I went to school my dad always told me to “be a good person today.” Working in a job that allows me to do that everyday is beyond fulfilling.” Leah: “My amazing team of talented individuals. Each and every one of them brings fresh energy, passion and expertise to tackle an area of need in our community.” Laura: “Leah inspires me to be a philanthropist because of her example of generosity of spirit and her dedication to her work and her family. As a working mother, Leah is a model of work/life balance. She daily demonstrates a commitment to making life better for families in her community. Her energy, creativity, and leadership inspire me to give back.” Nikki: “Vanessa is the Wizard of Oz of UWATX. Her job is internal facing (behind the curtain making the magic happen!) ensuring we have the systems, tools and processes to be successful. Boom!” Vanessa: “Nikki’s passion and ability […]
Read MoreSeptember’s Face 2 Face Recap with Laura Roberts
Posted on by Ricky Deakyne
Photo Credit: Austin Business Journal This month’s Austin Business Journal’s FACE 2 FACE speaker series brought in the co-founder and CEO of Pantheon Enterprises, Laura Roberts. Roberts formed Pantheon Enterprises to end the myth that green technologies are less effective and more expensive. The company’s mission continues to be to develop and commercialize products that help increase financial growth, while at the same time sustaining human health and safety. Prior to joining the company, Laura was a self-described “treehugger” and owned many “kill corporate America” t-shirts while working as an elementary school teacher in the ’90s. Her transition to Pantheon was circumstantial after her father passed away. Both parents owned a small chemical company, and in an effort to help her mother save her business, Roberts stepped in. She frequently stated during the interview that she recognized her own empathetic nature from a young age. Roberts aims to be an example for women entrepreneurs. She persevered after 300 investors said “no” to funding an elementary school teacher’s company. “Not having industry specific management” was the top reason for venture capitalists not to invest. She was pitching during the “dot-com era,” where there was much more of a focus for investors receiving liquidity in a 3-5 return. Since then, there has been a shift to the “impact” investor that is not so focused on the fast return, but the real change the company is trying to make. She advises young entrepreneurs to only take from shareholders who are purpose-aligned and mentioned […]
Read MoreSpotlight: Ed Rosentel
Posted on by Angelica Velazquez
Join us in welcoming Ed Rosentel to the UWATX team as the Vice President of Finance! Ed sat down with us to give us a bit of his background and share what he hopes to accomplish in his new role with United Way. What is your background, both in the community and professionally, prior to working with United Way? I am a Certified Public Accountant with extensive experience as the Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer for Texas non-profits over the past 20 years. While most of these non-profits have been Health and Welfare agencies, I have also tenured with a Community Foundation. In hindsight, I have been an instrumental part of the movement to merge smaller agencies for efficiencies and greater community outreach over this period; creating new organizations developing the accounting, payroll, treasury, human resource, information technology, facilities management and administration departments. What drew you to UWATX and made you feel that it was the right fit for you? I have always worked with the United Way; but as the steward of the community investment dollars provided to the recipient non-profit agency. An opportunity to be part of the United Way legacy and community impact is a natural progression. As for UWATX, the timing was right for my skills and for the agency’s need at this time. The level of commitment, skill and intelligence of the staff, particularly the senior management, is what makes this feel a perfect fit for me. How do you see your role […]
Read MoreFall Day of Caring 2015
Posted on by Ricky Deakyne
Our annual Fall Day of Caring took place last week on September 11th, in conjunction with the National Day of Service and Remembrance. We could not think of a better way to remember this day than by giving back to our community, and neither could the hundreds of volunteers who joined us. This year, volunteers gave back what equates to more than $80,000 worth of work in just one day! More than 1,000 volunteers spent the day giving back at 40 projects across the city, including gardening projects, clean ups, assembling materials for our programs and sprucing up afterschool and Pre-K sites. Many of the volunteers came from our corporate partners, who utilized the day to not only give back but as a great opportunity for team-building. Team members from GM and UPS assembled materials for our Play To Learn program and loaded tablets for low-income families with educational apps and parent resources. Austin Coca-Cola assisted our funded partner BookSpring with sorting books. Rockwell Automation, PBK Architects, Aspen Heights, Build-a-Sign and Liquidation Channel teamed up to prep Creative Action for their variety of youth programs. Freescale employees worked on a variety of projects at Girlstart, the Empty Bowl Project and the Capital Area Food Bank. Farmers Insurance worked at Blackland Community Development Corporation. UWATX’s Women’s Leadership Council, a group of our most invested women donors dedicated to our early childhood education work, spent the day at El Buen Pastor organizing the resource room. JE Dunn and Advisory Board Company worked on improving the playground […]
Read MoreUWATX Internal Campaign
Posted on by Ricky Deakyne
You likely know by now that many of our donations come from Austin-based businesses running employee giving campaigns by asking their employees to give a bit of each paycheck back to UWATX. But did you know that United Way for Greater Austin runs our own internal employee giving campaign too? That’s right–we don’t just talk the talk of being philanthropists, we pledge to pledge! We held fun activities to inspire our employees to give, including Twin Day (dress up like the person who inspires you to be a philanthropist), Represent Your Favorite Sports Team Day (complete with trivia and prizes) and Campaign Cool Down (in which we got to wear comfy workout clothes to the office and had a group stretch). Our own UWATX employees pledged to donate more than $23,000 out of their paychecks over the past few days back to United Way programs. As this year’s internal campaign kicked off, we asked our team leads what it was like to run a campaign in an organization that already gives so much. Our Resource Development team travels around town every day helping businesses run their employee giving campaigns, but how does this differ when it’s your own coworkers? Check out their answers to get some inspiration and tips when it comes to running your own campaign: When you signed up to be a part of organizing the United Way for Greater Austin campaign, what were your initial thoughts? Jeffrey King: Very excited! This was a learning experience and an […]
Read MoreInternational Literacy Day 2015
Posted on by Angelica Velazquez
Did you know that children growing up in homes with at least 20 books get three years more schooling than children from bookless homes, independent of their parents’ education, occupation and class? Today (September 8th) is International Literacy Day, and we are taking the opportunity to stress the importance of beginning to teach your children to read as soon as possible. Here are some classroom/home activities you can take part in while celebrating International Literacy Day, provided by internationalliteracyday.org: Scavenger Hunt Create a scavenger hunt where the answers are found in a book. This keeps your child active, engaged and critically thinking while making a game out of learning. Read-a-thon Encourage children to read as many books as possible within a certain time period (a day, a week, a month, etc.). Help them to track the books they are reading and monitor their progress on a chart to show how much they’ve read over time. Book Sale/Exchange Have any old books you want to toss out? Host a book sale/exchange at your school, or even in your driveway à la garage sale. This is an inexpensive way to not only find new books for your child to love, but spread the love of reading to even more children in your community. Writing Competition Host a writing competition within your family and provide a special theme. You can even make it more challenging by developing a list of required vocabulary words to include in the story. First prize? A trip to your local bookstore! Character Dress Up […]
Read MoreAT&T Gives Back
Posted on by Jeffrey King
AT&T External Affairs employees came by the United Way for Greater Austin office to present their 2014 employee campaign corporate gift check for $70,000. AT&T invited several leaders from their Employee Resource Groups to attend the check presentation and learn more about our work in the Austin community. UWATX runs employee campaigns in more than 400 Austin-based businesses, and AT&T’s employee campaign ranks #5 in terms of how much they raise. City Council member Ora Houston stopped by to thank AT&T employees and UWATX for providing more opportunities to working poor families in Austin. Kevin Rogel, one of our former VPL students and now UWATX donor, thanked AT&T employees for their generosity and spoke about how he has benefitted from UWATX services and why he decided to become a donor after getting hired at his first job. After the check presentation and hearing from Kevin and Ora, the AT&T employees toured our Navigation Center and received an overview of the work done through 2-1-1 calls and Central Health. They learned about the biggest needs in our community, as seen from data from the more than 330,000 calls that are taken every year by our call specialists, and heard firsthand from the specialists about the importance of this call center. Randy Clawson, who leads the Veterans Employee Resource Group at AT&T, was especially inspired by Kevin’s story and the Navigation Center’s work. “I am looking forward to our 2015 campaign and continued partnership with United Way in hopes we can create […]
Read MoreI Wish I Could Tell My Middle School Self
Posted on by Ricky Deakyne
This year’s Young Leader’s Society campaign kicks off on September 3rd. Each year, United Way for Greater Austin provides quality educational programming for middle school students right here in Central Texas, and the Young Leaders Society helps make this work possible through donating, advocacy and volunteer efforts. Middle school is a notoriously hard time, especially for the low-income students we serve. We asked YLS members to tell us what they wish they could travel back in time to tell the middle school versions of themselves. Celso Baez, III “If such a time capsule existed that would teleport my 26-year-old self in front of my chubby 13-year-old middle school self, I’d have quite a lot to say. Beyond the flat-top haircut humiliation, the one thing I’d emphasize is that community involvement is a way of life and to start acting like it, plus encouraging others around me to follow suit. The Young Leaders Society’s (YLS) efforts via United Way for Greater Austin’s Target Graduation Program aim to bridge the ever-growing opportunity gap between students in low-income households and students in medium to high-income households. While this is very important to tackle, I’d look at my “state-dubbed, at-risk youth” self in the eye, and challenge myself and my other prepubescent friends to endeavor in rewriting their own narratives by way of community engagement. Simply put, if you see a need, try your best to do something about it. In non-13-year-old language, I’d suggest to others that caring about your neighborhood and the […]
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