On Wednesday, May 30, our United Way Navigation Center reached its 2 millionth call; a symbol of greater need for our local Austin community and greater progress for your United Way. This specific call helped a repeat caller set up appointments to gain clearance for the Medical Access Program (MAP) for her family and helped an older woman gain access to taxpayer advocacy help. “Clients fluctuate between not having a stable job and unpredictable income,” said Charro Peralta-Bronstein, Bilingual Navigation Specialist. “My role is to make sure these callers qualify for assistance for the various programs offered in the Greater Austin community.” The Navigation Center is at the essence of what keeps United Way for Greater Austin moving forward with vision and purpose. Providing 24-hour assistance, 2-1-1 connects those with needs to useful resources around the clock. Since the economic downturn, United Way has implemented a number of programs and created various partnerships that have been key building blocks in developing and sustaining community access to essential resources. “We have personal relationships with public services important to the well-being of each individual who needs it,” said LouAnn Bardash, Navigation Specialist. “Our helpline has access to a large database filled with our long-standing partners in the community and statewide programs available to anyone.” Through partnerships, not only has the Navigation Center increased their connections to the local community, they have facilitated programs to gain increased recognition for their services. A partnership with Central Health, for instance, has resulted in a 40% enrollment increase into their […]
Read MoreIntroducing: United Way for Greater Austin
After months of careful evaluation, we’re announcing an important evolution for our local organization: we are changing our name to United Way for Greater Austin! Austin is an incredible city to live and work in and we’re proud to be here, so this name change reinforces our long-standing commitment to our dynamic community. We deliberately chose for—and not of—because we are here in service to Greater Austin. The new name does not signal any change to our service area, we will continue to provide research-based and results-focused services to all ten counties where we work. We’ve been helping Central Texas for almost 90 years and are committed to creating a resilient, innovative, philanthropic, creative and thriving community for all. The new name is one component of a larger rebranding process, where we are reintroducing ourselves to this vibrant community. At United Way, we are solving problems not just for one person with one need, but creating solutions for a large community with large needs. Our mission is to make Austin greater by building philanthropists, helping the working poor overcome barriers and making sure Austin continues to thrive. With this change, we have a new Facebook page that we urge you to like to see updates on UWATX. You can also follow @uwatx on Twitter for even more posts on how we’re helping Austin continue to thrive. (Note: While our Twitter handle has also changed, if you were following @unitedwaycapitalarea, you are automatically following the new handle.) As always, we couldn’t do […]
Read MoreUnited Way Capital Area Announces Wildfire Relief Fund Recipients
Yesterday, UWCA awarded $118,000 from its Central Texas Wildfire Relief Fund to three organizations that continue to support and rebuild devastated communities after last fall’s massive wildfires. In all, the UWCA Wildfire Relief Fund raised $122,000, of which $4,000 was used in October 2011 to provide Wells Fargo and H-E-B gift cards to help people displaced get what they needed to get back to work, feed their families and buy clothing. “At United Way Capital Area we unite philanthropists at all levels to ensure our community continues to thrive,” said Debbie Bresette, President of UWCA. “When the wildfires devastated Central Texas last fall, we brought together our resources and networks to increase our collective impact in providing for both immediate needs and long-term recovery efforts. Today’s announcement is just another strategic investment by United Way Capital Area in the future of our community.” Funds were distributed to the following organizations: Adopt A Family was awarded a $75,000 grant for its “Volunteer Action Network” program. The grant is specifically meant to provide recruitment and assignment for volunteers to help with disaster clean up and adopting families. Society of St. Vincent de Paul-South Central Region was awarded $20,000 to go toward the recruitment and training of volunteers to provide Bastrop families affected by the wildfires with case management services. Spicewood Long-Term Recovery Committee, which received $23,000, will the money will go toward rebuilding 16 new homes for families that lost their own residences in the fires. The funds raised for the Central […]
Read MoreCommunity Needs and Trends Identified by United Way Navigation Center
Today, the United Way (UW) Navigation Center, formerly called the UW 2-1-1 Helpline, released its 2011 Community Needs and Trends (CNT) Report. Using demographic information, feedback from callers and data compiled from 10 counties in the Greater Austin area, the report is developed each year to support planning for future health and human services. With the information the CNT Report provides, Texas legislators, city planners and community stakeholders are better equipped to meet the needs of our community. The UW Navigation Center is a free information and referral phone line that connects callers with services in their community that can improve their overall quality of life. Through a partnership with Texas Health and Human Services Commission’s (HHSC) 2-1-1 Texas program, the Navigation Center has access to more than 5,000 services and 1,800 agencies in a database that is updated daily. Additionally, through a partnership with Central Health, the center makes appointments for callers with the Medical Access Program (MAP), the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and other health care and public insurance programs. “The United Way Navigation Center is a vital yet easy-to-use tool that connects the community to services in an efficient and effective manner,” said Kay Euresti Garza, Vice President of the UW Navigation Center. “When a recently laid off single mother of three calls seeking help to pay for last month’s utilities, our call specialist will spend the time needed navigating through her situation until they’re able to connect her to the appropriate resources, resources the caller […]
Read MoreUWCA raises over $100K for Wildfire Relief
It’s hard to believe it has been over a month since wildfires broke out across Central Texas. For UWCA, this time of year is always busy with workplace giving campaigns, but the wildfire relief efforts brought an added sense of urgency to the work we do. Within hours of hearing about the fires, our 2-1-1 (the United Way Helpline) team went to work verifying information on resources, services and safety. Social media is now a huge part of every disaster recovery effort so 2-1-1 staff members scoured social channels for up-to-the-minute news, verified its validity and then served as a hub of verified information for all callers. UWCA also initiated a text-to-give campaign, so anyone can text “Wildfire,” to 85944 and donate $10. The money donated to the Wildfire Relief Fund has already provided gift cards so those affected by the fires could buy groceries, gas, lodging, replacement tools, clothes and other necessities. To date, we have collected more than $117,000. Recently, Samsung announced a one-time gift of $50,000 for our wildfire recovery fund, the largest contribution to date. This donation allows United Way to work with communities to determine both immediate and long-term recovery needs. Together, we can help those most in need and those who are no longer covered by insurance regain a productive life. Samsung’s gift exemplifies what it means to be a true corporate partner and citizen. Their gift toward wildfire recovery is in addition to the ongoing corporate giving campaign, so those who relied on […]
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