Since 2003, the Women’s Leadership Council has worked to be “the most powerful female-driven philanthropic force in Central Texas” – and with more than 500 members investing in our community annually, it’s safe to say they’re delivering on that promise. At each of the 400+ companies that we work with locally, the WLC looks a bit different, adjusting to the culture and needs of that particular workplace. Since it’s International Women’s Day, we wanted to find out what drives these incredibly giving women by talking to Judy Donigan, National Account Manager at 3M, about what’s working for them. The WLC group allows us to leverage the power of women and support efforts that are close to our heart. – Michelle Diggs, 3M Marketing Manager & WLC Member JA Central Texas Board, Any Baby Can Advisory Board, Texas Civil Rights Division Commissioner What makes the WLC at 3M unique? The WLC women at 3M are true leaders within our company. They are successful in their different businesses and foster a sense of responsibility in giving back to our community. Many of the women are board members of nonprofit organizations within the greater Austin area. All of our members are committed to improving the lives of those with barriers to economic opportunity through our philanthropic efforts. How many women are involved? Who has the WLC changed over time? Twenty-four 3M women participate in activities with the Women’s Leadership Council. From my perspective, more 3M women are also taking additional leadership positions […]
Read MoreMentoring “can easily change lives with as a little as one hour per week”
In our work, we get to meet and talk with incredible donors and volunteers who are committed to our community – and one of the most remarkable among them is Julie Fisher. Not only is she on the YLS founding committee AND an Employee Campaign Leader for Samsung’s Employee Campaign, but for two-and-a-half years, she’s been giving her time every week to be a mentor. Since January is Mentoring Month, we thought we’d ask Julie a few questions about her experience: UWATX Question: What policies does Samsung have to allow their employees to do this kind of work? Julie’s Answer: One of Samsung’s core values is co-prosperity. We are dedicated to being socially and environmentally responsible corporate citizens in every community we operate in. Specifically at our local level, employees are allowed to volunteer on a workload and manager permitting basis. We offer volunteer opportunities at several different times to accommodate the schedules and shifts that our employees work. We encourage our employees to find their passion and connect with our nonprofit partners to ignite inspiring volunteer opportunities. How much time do you spend mentoring each week? What kinds of activities are involved? We meet for at least 1 hour each week . I visit Da’shyra during her lunch period and we usually do arts and crafts and talk about different things going on in her life. At the beginning of our mentoring relationship, we created a scrapbook that I bring every time to sketch, write and put pictures in. It is […]
Read MoreResearch 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 […]
Read MoreResults 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.
Read MoreVolunteering brings young leaders together (& so does tailgating)
Since the Young Leaders Society relaunched earlier this year, volunteering has been a significant focus for our group. It brings us closer to the community we’re working to support, and often it shows us a whole world we didn’t know existed right in our own back yard. A few weeks ago, we volunteered at Mendez Middle School to plant ten fresh trees on the campus grounds and do some much needed garden maintenance. Our group divvied up and conquered. Some dug holes and made space for the trees, some plucked weeds while avoiding large ant beds, and some went on a trash pick-up. During the trash pick-up, one member found a waterlogged copy of The Giver. We worked quickly and had some time to spare, when the campus coordinator informed us that just down the street at the recreation center many folks needed assistance after the Halloween floods. We quickly made a beeline to the recreation center for an impromptu volunteer opportunity. Donations were coming in fast and we were poised to sort them and get them to those in need – dozens upon dozens of bottled waters were loaded on pick-up trucks and to the neighborhoods. We were told that what families most need are baby supplies, i.e. baby formula, diapers, etc. After about half an hour the traffic died down, but we’d experienced the frenzy of being close the front lines of a disaster right in our backyard. In the past few weeks, others at UWATX have been […]
Read MoreUWATX: What We Do
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPZTdJaMoiY[/youtube] United Way for Greater Austin has been in this community since 1924 – committed to making Austin greater by building philanthropy and running strategic programs. In the presentation above, Debbie Bresette, our president since 2009, breaks down how we do it: To build philanthropy, we run employee campaigns, giving everyone in our community who earns a paycheck the opportunity to give back. We also coordinate volunteer efforts because we believe giving your time is valuable as well, and we work to inspire individual giving because we know we are all richer when we give back. Last year, we raised more than $16M for nonprofit organizations and coordinated nearly 100,000 hours of volunteering. Of that fundraising, donors entrusted $5.1M to our organization – and we put that giving to work for Greater Austin. In our strategic programs, se support young children through Success By 6, middle school students through Target Graduation and families through Financial Opportunity, and we provide an easy way to connect to services and resources through the Navigation Center. But we also know that it takes a village – for children to succeed, they need parent support, for families to thrive, they need quality education for their children. So our programs are structured to create wrap-around services. Our work is coordinated, knowing that supporting one student can be a key first step to improving the trajectory of a whole family. It’s also targeted in areas that have the highest needs, innovative (because we keep an eye on the landscape […]
Read More[VIDEO] Bobby Jenkins on the value of philanthropy
![[VIDEO] Bobby Jenkins on the value of philanthropy](https://www.unitedwayaustin.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Video_BobbyPhil-02-1.png)
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4h9bKDe5JJc[/youtube] “Austin is on a trajectory to grow, and it’s up to all of us to decide how we’re going to manage that growth in a way that’s positive.” – Bobby Jenkins, President of ABC Home & Commercial Services Our mission at United Way for Greater Austin is to build philanthropy and to invest those gifts of time, dollars and talent to help our community thrive. We believe that when we give back, we are all made richer, and that everyone in our community who earns a paycheck should have the opportunity to give back. Since last year, Bobby Jenkins, President of ABC Home & Commercial Services, has served as our Employee Giving Campaign Co-Chair, spreading our shared message about the importance of philanthropy to companies and individuals throughout Greater Austin. For us, it’s been an inspiring journey to see his commitment to philanthropy. We hope his words will move you too.
Read MorePhilanthropic women make Austin greater
One of the most committed groups supporting UWATX is the UWATX Women’s Leadership Council, co-chaired by Jennifer Foster, Dell (who voices the presentation below), and Lauren Hammonds, Blackbaud. Their commitment to early childhood brought in $400K last year for our youngest and most vulnerable children. [youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rD0Nnowtfn8[/youtube] The WLC is a committed, diverse group of women who donate $1,200 annually, volunteer their time and spread the word about UWATX Success By 6, our work in early childhood. At UWATX, we focus on early childhood because the first few years are critical and, in our community, children are not getting off to the best start. Across Central Texas, only 50 percent of children are ready for school when they get there – and in low-income communities, that drops to 13 percent. UWATX makes a difference – 90 percent of children in our Success By 6 program are on-track to be ready for school. WLC members support Austin’s future, our youngest children, by giving back in flexible ways. At the same time, they can network with peers and connect to women in different industries and from different backgrounds. Last year, the WLC included 200 women representing 55 businesses. Besides giving $400,000 to support young children, advocacy spearheaded by UWATX Success By 6 and the WLC restored half a million dollars in City of Austin funding for young children. Learn more about these philanthropic women and check out photos from their latest event.
Read MoreYoung Leaders show their ‘Mettle’ when talking philanthropy
Our freshly re-launched group, the Young Leaders Society hosted our first official happy hour [PICTS!] this month at East Austin’s newest bistro, Mettle. (Mettle was gracious enough to lend their space for their first-ever special event – Thanks Mettle!) About 60 young professionals from numerous employers in the Austin area were represented and talked philanthropy with the YLS Founding Committee. The YLS signature cocktail (Habanero infused Tito’s, cherry bitters and Topo Chico), wonderfully concocted by Mettle’s mixologists took the edge off when discussing the embarrassing years as a middle school kid. Here’s what my fellow Founding Committee members had to say about the evening: “I was really happy to see that THAT many people shared the same enthusiasm for helping our community as the YLS committee does, not to mention the food was delicious!” –Juan Wah “The zeal in the room at our official re-launch happy hour only reaffirms my decision to be involved with YLS. I am confident this will NOT be just another “young professionals” group, but rather a gathering of personalities who will volunteer their time, ideas and passions to foster a positive difference in the greater Austin area.”—Marcus Everett “Over 60 people from 28 different leading Austin companies and organizations….great networking, food and drinks…great time!”—Rich Cleary All of us from the Founding Committee were excited to share information about our efforts and engage potential recruits around supporting UWATX’s Target Graduation, which aims to helping middle school students stay on the path towards graduation. While some of […]
Read MoreLet’s help Decker Middle School get a sidewalk!
UPDATE on 7.25.2013: As of today, TXDOT approved priority funding for the Decker sidewalk project, saying the Decker Middle School students that led this charge are “an inspiration.” TXDOT will provide $1.5M in funding to build the sidewalk. Local advocates will work to fundraise an additional $600K to support the project. Special thanks to Mark Marek for his help today! Almost a year ago, UWATX started a Volunteer Project Leader (VPL) class at Decker Middle School – bringing together 6th, 7th and 8th grade students to learn about their community, assess needs and create and manage projects to make real changes at their school. One of the most pressing needs they identified was a sidewalk to make getting to school safer, and over the past year, the students worked hard to make that a reality. The road in front of Decker Middle School is a four-lane highway and the speed limit only drops to 50 mph in the school zone. In the past year, one student was killed crossing the road to get to school. Another saw a person be hit by a car. To date, there has been a third death. In speaking with fellow students, teachers, administrators, business leaders and local advocates, safety was a top concern and the lack of a safe way to cross the street hit the top of the list. The VPL class at Decker led a letter writing campaign to let Texas Department of Transportation (TXDOT) and Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (CAMPO) officials know about […]
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