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 […]
Read MoreSummer Learning Day 2015
Posted on by Ricky Deakyne
Many adults still vividly recall their time at summer camp: canoeing, arts & crafts, field day and all of the social aspects that make summer camp such an unforgettable experience. Unfortunately, these enriching programs are often reserved for middle to upper class students, as many low-income students are unable to participate due to high cost, family obligations, lack of knowledge of high quality programs or other barriers. When students are unable to access summer learning opportunities, they lose out on much more than fun. Researchers from John Hopkins estimate that roughly two-thirds of the achievement gap between low-income and higher-income students in the ninth grade is a result of unequal access to summer learning opportunities during elementary school. Low-income students lose an average of more than two months of reading achievement, while middle and high-income students actually improve their reading skills over the summer, according to the same study. This lost time contributes to the lower high school graduation rates among low-income students, which in turn sets many children up for lifetimes of economic hardship. Additionally, summer learning opportunities have been linked to increases in self-esteem, self-confidence and motivation, meaning low-income students have fewer opportunities to develop these crucial soft skills. Central Texas educators are doing their part to work to close this gap. In Austin, there are currently 64 summer programs hosted by 60 different organizations dedicated to expanding access to summer learning opportunities. These programs have enrolled over 32,000 youth and represent the combined efforts of school districts, […]
Read MoreFree Summer Meals for Kids
Posted on by Angelica Velazquez
Summer vacation is a time that most children look forward to, but summer can also mean something different for the children who rely on school in order to receive regular meals. Because of this, the summer break can be detrimental to low-income children. According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Texas is one of the top thirteen states to receive intensive technical assistance to expand the reach of summer meal programs. This is because Texas is currently experiencing high levels of rural/urban food insecurity and reduced program participation. Over 23 million children rely on free and reduced-price meals provided by National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs throughout the school year. However, only a small portion–3.8 million–participates in the USDA’s Summer Food Service Program. By creating the Summer Food Service Program, the USDA hopes to minimize this gap in order to ensure that children are receiving the meals they need. Fortunately, there are various locations in the Austin community where eligible children and teens ages 18 and below can find facilities that can provide them with free meals while school is out of session. The Summer Meal Site Finder is a mapping tool provided by the USDA that shows local sites that provide meals through the Summer Food Service Program. Distance, days of operation, times and the types of meals being served are some of the details provided by the finder tool. Every day parents, teachers and educational staff members worry for the children that do not have […]
Read MoreAccenture Employees Inspire Future Women Leaders
Posted on by Jeffrey King
Accenture is one of the top consulting firms in the world that brings first-class business and technology strategy to companies and organizations to carry them into the future. Accenture employees invest in local solutions for our community as well by giving back their time to speak with students who are the future. Just before school let out for summer, the Women’s Employee Resource Group at Accenture took time away from their jobs to pay a special visit to the students at Decker Middle School. The Women’s ERG shared personal stories about their lives, their careers and how they got to where they are today with the students. Accenture employees first spoke with the Decker AVID Class about college readiness before eating lunch and discussing common interests with the Tech Girls Club. Accenture employees not only got to know the students they support through employee campaign better, but also got the chance to inspire each of them by sharing their own unique stories of how they became successful women in the corporate tech world. Katy Aus, UWATX’s Out-of-School Time Coordinator for Target Graduation, said: “Students see their future when professional volunteers come out. The Tech Girls Club all have aspirations of being women in the fast-paced tech field. Accenture volunteers are real models of that and show how you can reach this goal from all different paths.” Decker Middle School is located in Manor ISD and is one of three schools UWATX offers intervention and support services to students through the […]
Read MoreSpotlight: Claudia Franco
Posted on by Ricky Deakyne
Meet Claudia Franco, the newest addition to our employee campaign team as the Corporate Relations Coordinator. Although she is new to the campaign team, she is not new to UWATX–she served as a Bilingual Navigation Specialist for one year, helping connect Hispanic Austinites in need to heath and human services. What is your background, both in the community and professionally, prior to working with United Way? I am originally from Lima, Peru. I moved to the United States when I was 11 years old. I graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in the McCombs School of Business, where I studied marketing and Spanish literature. Before working at UWATX, I worked at Austin Community College as a technical lab assistant and interned at KIS as a marketing designer. What drew you to UWATX and made you feel that it was the right fit for you? I always wanted to make an impact in someone’s life. After graduating from McCombs, I interned at KIS and it made me realize that the way to make a greater impact was by giving back to my community. After meeting with Pedro (Navigation Manager at UWATX), I was surprised on the ways UWATX has changed the lives of many people, and there was no doubt that I belonged here. How do you see your role at UWATX, and what do you hope to accomplish in this job? I would like to increase donations by engaging the Hispanic community. I want the Hispanic community to […]
Read MoreUpward Mobility in Austin
Posted on by Ricky Deakyne
Last month, the New York Times published an article titled “An Atlas of Upward Mobility Shows Paths Out of Poverty.” The article details a recent study that finds that some children living in poverty have a better chance of escaping poverty as adults than their counterparts living in similar situations in other cities with smaller chances of upward mobility. Essentially, growing up in poverty does not mean a child will stay poor; much depends on where they grow up. The article lists our own hometown, Austin, as one of the cities where low-income children face the worst odds–meaning they have a small chance of living above the poverty line, even as adults. In fact, a child who grows up in Travis County will earn 8% less as an adult than if they had grown up in a city with an average chance of upward mobility. Other cities on this list are Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Orlando, West Palm Beach, Tampa, the Bronx and low-income parts of Manhattan. It also highlights Baltimore as the city with the worst chance of upward mobility. The study, titled “The Impacts of Neighborhoods on Intergenerational Mobility,” was authored by two Harvard professors. They analyzed more than five million children who moved over a 16 year timeframe. The study found that the younger a child moves from a neighborhood with bad upward mobility to a neighborhood with better upward mobility, the higher the chance they will rise out of poverty as an adult. Additionally, the […]
Read MoreYLS Chaperones Webb Middle School Dance
Posted on by Keith Richardson
As the school year comes to a close and students have summer tunnel vision, most adults would assume that they are thinking about anything but school. This is not the case at Webb Middle School. Managing the Young Leaders Society for UWATX has allowed me to get a glimpse into the lives of middle school students at Webb and they continue to truly impress me. On June 2nd, the Young Leaders Society volunteered to chaperone the 8th grade graduation dance for the second year in a row. The dance immediately followed a graduation ceremony, where several Webb students were honored for academic achievement. As I listened the names being called of the students that worked so hard to gain success, I could not help but be moved. As an employee of United Way for Greater Austin and a donor, I could clearly see the impact this organization has on Webb, Mendez and Decker Middle Schools at that graduation ceremony. After the last name had been called and the parents made their way down to congratulate their graduates, other YLS volunteers and I headed into the cafeteria to get set up for the dance. Members of the YLS executive committee as well as potential YLS members mixed and mingled while we set out punch, tacos and a sheet cake the size of Texas. After a few minutes all of the middle school students filled the room, and once the DJ started playing you could tell it was going to be an […]
Read MoreBB&T’s 2015 Lighthouse Project
Posted on by Ricky Deakyne
BB&T completed its annual BB&T Lighthouse community volunteer project in May to celebrate its sixth year of promoting a company-wide service effort. Across the country, BB&T has contributed more than 325,000 volunteer hours to local nonprofits, including United Way for Greater Austin. This year, more than 50 BB&T volunteers spent two days improving the Boys and Girls Club gardens. The Boys and Girls Club serving McBee Elementary provides high quality afterschool programming to more than 130 elementary students each weekday. Through enrichment programs like the Gardening Club, students not only have a safe place to go after school, but also to deepen their understanding of concepts they learn during the school day and develop an interest in their community. BB&T volunteers renovated the current garden area and added new resources for the Gardening Club to use in their lessons. Volunteers built a fence around the garden, added raised garden beds, created pathways around the garden, added a picnic table as a teaching space, and built and painted signs labeling the garden. The garden will be used by the Boys and Girls Club for Gardening Club lessons, outdoor science activities and as a fun activity space. The project cost $4,900, which BB&T donated. View all photos from the Lighthouse project on Flickr. What BB&T volunteers had to say about the project: “It was an amazing day! It’s great to see all of our BB&T associates work together for a great organization like United Way’s partner, Boys & Girls Club. We have […]
Read MoreJune’s Face 2 Face Recap
Posted on by Ricky Deakyne
Each month, the Austin Business Journal hosts a Face 2 Face speaker series at Whole Foods, featuring leaders of all types of industries. This month’s speaker was Terry Lundgren, CEO and Chairman of Macy’s. Macy’s is a $28 billion corporation with 176,000 full-time employees and 800 stores. Macy’s is also the 7th largest Internet company. Lundgren commented that while the company embraces technology as a powerful source of commerce, he believes “people first, technology second.” Terry Lundgren has been high on the Macy’s ladder since 1997, with his roles including president and chief merchandising officer, among others. He started his career in retail in 1975, slowing climbing his way from trainee to management to buying to director of stores before becoming an executive. His advice to young adults entering the workforce: “Bloom where you are planted,” meaning not to focus so much on where you are going next, but to perform your current job better than anyone else to get noticed. When moderator Colin Pope asked if it is lonely at the top, Lundgren responded that he has a great team of management and board members. “When we make decisions, we move forward together. Success has many fathers, but failure has none.” Lundgren is notorious for showing up to his stores unannounced, to get a real feel for the atmosphere and customer service being provided. He says he enjoys watching and learning from his star performers. He believes localization is the reason Macy’s has been able to grow while maintaining […]
Read MoreUWATX Celebrates VPL Students With Documentary Screening
Posted on by Ricky Deakyne
Students and staff from Webb, Decker and Mendez Middle Schools joined Young Leaders Society members at the Alamo Drafthouse last week for a fun end-of-year celebration. The UWATX Volunteer Project Leader (VPL) middle school program aims to transform youth into active community leaders by teaching them leadership skills they need to make meaningful and lasting change in their communities. This year, our 110 VPL students from the three campuses completed 28 volunteer projects. This resulted in 1,565 hours of time given to improving their Manor, St. John’s and Dove Springs communities! Members of the Hands On Central Texas team, who work with these kids each week, and YLS members handed out certificates and t-shirts to the students who were dedicated to the program during the 2014-2015 school year, as well as special plaques for the principals of each school. They also received popcorn and their choice of snacks and drinks during the film as a special treat. Underwater Dreams is a documentary about the story of a group of Hispanic high school students from a Title I school who build and enter an underwater robot in a national robotics competition. The students constructed the robot out of low-cost materials from Home Depot, and beat out all of the competing colleges, including powerhouse MIT. The documentary was meant to inspire the middle school students to pursue STEM fields, as well as any other dreams and future goals they have, regardless of their upbringing. Jesse Garcia, a YLS member and engineer at […]
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