Tag: Austin

8 Fun Ways to Spend Your Fourth of July

Fireworks, barbecue and patriotism are just a few things that come to mind when thinking about the Fourth of July. You might have plans to spend some time at the lake with family, have a potluck-style picnic with friends or you may still be on the search for ideas. We compiled a list of Fourth of July festivities taking place in Austin and surrounding areas: 4th of July Fireworks and Symphony at Auditorium Shores – Come out to Auditorium Shores and enjoy a variety of food, drinks and live music. The symphony performance begins at 7:30 p.m. and fireworks begin at 9:30 p.m. Best of all – it’s completely free. Hill Country Galleria Independence Day Festival – The Hill Country Galleria will celebrate the Fourth of July this year with more than 75 vendors, live music, family fun, barbecue and a fireworks show at 9:45 p.m. to end the night. Live music begins at 4:15 p.m. and will include Vallejo, Dawn & the Hawkes, T Bird & The Breaks and Uncle Lucius. Parking and admission is completely free. Attendees are also encouraged to bring their dogs! Willie Nelson’s 4th of July Picnic – Austin legend Willie Nelson will play at the Circuit of America’s racetrack along with 20 other artists including Eric Church, Merle Haggard, Asleep at the Wheel and more. There will be picnic tables where fans can eat, drink, celebrate and watch their favorite artists perform. Parking opens at 10:00 a.m., gates open at 11:00 a.m. and music starts at 11:15 a.m. Ticket prices range from $35 to $75. […]

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Your Guide to the Most Philanthropic Day Ever

At United Way for Greater Austin, we believe that anyone can be a philanthropist. Any donation, no matter how small, of time or money makes a difference. Fortunately, living in Austin provides you with many opportunities to give back to organizations that are working to improve the world we live in, both locally and globally. From restaurants, clothing stores, volunteer-based organizations, coffee shops and more, you can discover a variety of ways to contribute and show your support for amazing causes in traditional and non-traditional ways. Here is a guide to help you have the most philanthropic day possible in Austin: 7 a.m. – Wake up and head to TOMS Roasting Co. on South Congress to start your morning off right with a fresh cup of coffee. TOMS Roasting CO. Austin serves a selection of fair trade, direct trade and blend coffee. Proceeds from coffee purchases go towards providing water to people in need. Your purchase from Toms Roasting Co. supports health improvement, increased economic opportunity, access to education and job creation. Location: 1401 S Congress Ave. Hours of Operation: Monday – Friday 6 a.m. – 8 p.m. Saturday 7 a.m. – 9 p.m., Sunday 7 a.m. – 8 p.m. Phone Number: 512-350-2115 9 a.m. – Get your workout in and bond with cute animals in need! Take a dog for a run through the RuffTail Runner’s program, which collaborates with Austin Pets Alive!’s Town Lake Animal Center, Pflugerville Pets Alive! and the Bastrop County Animal Shelter. By volunteering with RuffTail Runners, you help […]

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Upward Mobility in Austin

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 […]

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7 Ways to Spend Memorial Day in Austin

Happy Memorial Day! Whether you are taking a mini-vacation or just excited to lounge around the house for an extra day, we’ve compiled a wide array of Memorial Day events taking place around Austin for you to check out. 1. Head north to Round Rock to spend Memorial Day the American way–watching baseball of course! The AAA Round Rock Express will face the El Paso Chihuahuas at 7 p.m. on Monday. The highest price you’ll pay for a GA ticket is $15, and you can even grab lawn seats for only $7 each. 2. Give back while enjoying jazz music at the Austin Jazz Festival on May 24th at Austin 360 Amphitheater at the Circuit of the Americas. This is an all day event beginning at 10 a.m. Local, regional and national acts will play and the event benefits the East Austin Music Academy, an afterschool program focused on intensive music instruction for school-age children. 3. “Carry the Load” on May 24th at the Austin Memorial March. This is a 20.15 mile walk at Reveille Peak Ranch in Burnet, TX, and provides an opportunity to share in remembrance of those who gave their lives in service to our country. Registration is free. 4. Spend the day at Lake Travis. Bring a picnic or rent a house with family and friends and enjoy one of Austin’s most beautiful areas. Remember, personal motorized watercrafts are banned this weekend. 5. There are many great concerts taking place this weekend. On Satuday, catch Purity […]

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Kerbey Lane Cafe Celebrates 35 Years In Austin By Donating Proceeds to UWATX

This May marks 35 years that our friends at Kerbey Lane Café have made Austin greater with their delicious pancakes and queso! To commemorate their anniversary, Kerbey Lane Café will donate 100% of net proceeds from ALL Austin-area locations to UWATX on May 4th from 6 a.m. to May 5th at 6 a.m.! Additionally, there will be a festive birthday celebration at all locations from 6-8 p.m. on May 4th, complete with miniature horses, face painting and balloon animals. Kerbey Lane Café is also running a “35 Days Until 35” social media campaign with many exciting giveaways including pancake mix, gift cards and t-shirts. Learn more here. Kerbey Lane Café is currently running their second annual employee campaign with United Way for Greater Austin and their staff embodies the spirit of philanthropy by investing a portion of their paycheck and their time back into our community. Restaurant managers go by the title “Community Ambassador” and make corporate social responsibility a priority. By coordinating volunteer opportunities for their employees with our Hands on Central Texas volunteer center, they’ve been able to log hundreds of volunteer hours in service of Greater Austin! Kerbey Lane Café has been instrumental in supporting our work in early childhood education and dropout prevention by consistently volunteering to participate in beautification projects at our high-quality childcare centers and our target middle school campuses. It’s hard to imagine Austin with out Kerbey Lane Café, and we are so proud to call them community partners and advocates. You may have […]

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AISD Grant Will Provide Pre-K For Nearly 500 Low-Income Kids

There a strong correlation between high-quality early childhood education and overall academic success. This trend is even more important for children from low-income families, many of whom cannot afford quality pre-K or childcare, and therefore have a higher chance of entering kindergarten behind their peers. We held a press conference on April 2 at Lucy Read Pre-Kindergarten School to announce that we are providing a $215,000 grant to Austin Independent School District to open more Pre-K classrooms for low-income three-year-olds next year. [youtube id=SVCFoRHv9PE] Currently, AISD serves 64 income-eligible children in a Pre-K 3 pilot program in two high-need elementary campuses in East Austin. AISD’s Pre-K 3 program currently provides half-day instruction to children who have not participated in formal early education. The $215,000 grant will allow for the opening of 15 additional AISD Pre-K 3 classrooms—four classrooms will provide full-day instruction—serving an additional 480 students. “We have piloted the Pre-K 3 program this year with great success and are grateful to United Way for Greater Austin for this generous donation to expand this important program to more students and schools in our district next school year,” Dr. Paul Cruz, AISD superintendent, said. “We work to give our students the best possible foundation, and it begins with early childhood education.” The grant is made possible by donations from three generous Austin families: Eric and Keri Stumberg, Sandy and Lisa Gottesman, and John Cullen. Donations from the Gottesmans and John Cullen were made in honor of John’s wife, Sue Cullen, who passed away in 2010. The funds will be used for the […]

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The Best Of SXSW Interactive 2015

It’s that time of year again–happy SXSW everyone! Whether you fully immerse yourself in the madness, or purposely plan your vacation during the weeklong event each year, there’s no escaping the excitement and innovation that overflows from downtown Austin onto social media. We attended SXSW Interactive this year in hopes of learning better ways to share our mission, finding new supporters and thank existing ones, and learning about the latest tools to better engage the community. Here are some of our favorite things we saw at this year’s event: 1. DoSomething.org As part of our mission, we believe everyone can be a philanthropist and aim to create opportunities for locals to do so. DoSomething.org shares this mission, and offers extremely innovative ways to give back where you are, whether you are 8 or 80 years old. Check out DoSomething.org for easy ways to get inspired, whether it’s creating 5 minute shower playlists for your friends to encourage saving water or hosting a clothing recycling party. 2. The Social Good Hub The Social Good Hub, hosted by United Nations, was our favorite place to relax and mingle with nonprofit representatives from all over the world. We spoke to staff from Libraries Without Boarders about IdeaBox, portable multi-media educational kits to bring fun and learning to refugee and other vulnerable populations. Each box unfolds into a library, complete with its own power sources, internet, 15 tablets and 4 laptops, 5 HD cameras, 200 films and a projector, and more than 5,000 books. 3. The Global Happy Party […]

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UWATX Selected to Assess Feasibility of Pay for Success

United Way for Greater Austin, in partnership with the Austin/Travis County Health and Human Services Dept. and Veterans Service, Central Health and Greenlights, has been elected as part of a national competition to assess the feasibility of implementing a “Pay for Success” initiative. The goal of the initiative is to reduce teen pregnancies among Hispanic youth and to improve birth outcomes among African Americans. Pay for Success (PFS) is an innovative funding model that enables communities to access greater resources in order to tackle complex social problems by tapping private investments for the upfront costs of the programs. If the programs are successful in delivering services that measurably improve the lives of people it is meant to serve, then the government repays those who made the original investment. This ensures that taxpayer dollars are being spent only on social programs that actually deliver measurable results.   Austin/Travis County was chosen among six other U.S. cities who submitted applications to Third Sector Capital Partners, Inc., the organization conducting the contest. Awardees will receive federally-funded technical assistance throughout 2015 for their various early childhood and youth development projects. The Austin/Travis County nonprofits and government entities involved were selected for their demonstrated commitment to funding high-quality, effective social interventions that produce real outcomes in the area of early childhood and youth development.  The Austin/Travis County feasibility study will result in an assessment of two initiatives—Maternal Infant Outreach Program (MIOP) and Peer-to-Peer Teen Pregnancy Prevention and Empowerment Program (P2P)—to determine if Pay for Success should be implemented […]

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Amplify Austin “Power Hour”

Amplify Austin is only two days away! What sets this online give-a-thon apart from others is the chance to win incentive prizes from sponsors.    Hourly prizes: Awarded to nonprofits that raised the most dollars or had the most donors in a single hour on Amplify Austin Day: $1,000 awarded to nonprofit with the most unique donors every hour during Amplify Austin Day $1,000 awarded to the nonprofit that raises the most dollars every hour during Amplify Austin Day   Grand prizes: Awarded to a nonprofit on Amplify Austin Day: $5,000 to nonprofit with most dollars raised in first six hours (6 p.m., March 5 – Midnight, March 6) $5,000 to nonprofit with most donations from unique donors $5,000 to nonprofit with most total dollars raised $5,000 to nonprofit with most individual fundraisers   In attempt to maximize UWATX’s chance to win some of these prizes, we are designating 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. on March 5 as the Amplify St. John’s Power Hour! Because St. John’s neighborhood is in the 78752 zip code, we felt this was an appropriate time to raise the most money possible during Amplify Austin. Unfortunately, if you are scheduling your donation in advance, you cannot select a specific time you would like your donation to go through. However, if you have a spare 5 minutes on March 5 from 7-8, we highly recommend making your donation during this time–and your donation could be AMPLIFIED! This blog entry is part of our “Amplify St. John’s” series leading up to […]

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Poverty Awareness Month

January is Poverty Awareness Month, and we have chosen to once again highlight one of the communities we serve—Dove Springs in southeast Austin. For the most part, the Dove Springs neighborhood has not changed significantly when you look at demographics data over the past three years with one key exception: poverty.  According to the most recent data, one in five adults in Dove Springs live in poverty, while more than a third of children in this community also live in poverty. This means about 12,000 in Dove Springs alone are living in poverty. And, unfortunately, these numbers are only increasing each year. 20% of adults in Dove Springs live in poverty   36% of children in Dove Springs live in poverty   10% of seniors in Dove Springs live in poverty From 2011 to 2013, the Dove Springs population grew by 7%, but the number of residents in this community living in poverty grew by 15%.  According to PovertyUSA, the number of Americans living in poverty today is higher now than in the last 50 years. As Austin continues to become more unaffordable, even for those living above the poverty level, the urgency of intervention and change becomes more crucial. The first step toward breaking the poverty cycle is promoting the understanding of poverty and its root causes. PovertyUSA produced an informative and interesting video that showcases how families living in poverty in the U.S. spend their money, and how easy it is to quickly fall behind while debt continues to […]

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