National 2-1-1 Day, celebrated on February 11, recognizes the more than 200 2-1-1 helplines located across the country. For the past 20 years, United Way for Greater Austin’s 2-1-1 helpline has connected thousands of Central Texans to local, statewide, and national resources such as housing, food, health, child care, education, employment, transportation, counseling, disaster information, and more. This year, we are celebrating 2-1-1 Day by recognizing our compassionate Navigation Specialists, who power this service and work around the clock to answer the call for members of our community. Just last year, our 2-1-1 Navigation Specialists answered 157,514 calls for help in our region. One of these specialists is Susan Martinez. She began working at United Way last year because she believes everyone in our community deserves to have their basic needs met. “There’s a real disparity in wealth here that’s getting bigger and bigger,” Susan said. “We all have to do what we can to close that gap. I feel like it’s our duty as humans to help out and do our part, however small that may be.” Read more about why and how Susan answers the call day in, day out to support fellow Texans – and how each and every call advances our mission to fight poverty. What brought you to United Way? I’ve always been involved in some sort of volunteer work in nonprofits since my 20’s. I liked that the mission of United Way is to end poverty because it’s such a huge problem all over […]
Read MoreYou Have the Power to Make Change for a Neighbor in Need this Holiday Season.
We all love this community we call home, but what if I told you that you have the power to Make Austin Greater? This Holiday Season, Make Austin Greater with a gift to the United Way for Greater Austin. Your gift to UWATX has the power to dramatically change our community for the better: Your gift can make sure every child is ready for kindergarten through our Success By 6 program; Your gift can positively impact middle school students through YES! (Youth Engaged in Service); Your gift can provide quality services and education to low-income families through UWATX’s Economic and Social Opportunity program; And your gift can make sure our community is connected to much-needed health and human services through UWATX’s 2-1-1 Navigation Center. I truly believe that no matter what size the gift, we all have the power to make change for someone in need. Won’t you join us in making Austin greater this Holiday Season?
Read MoreCommunity Needs and Trends Report 2015
Since 1996, our Navigation Center has served as the access point for our community for health and human resources. The 2-1-1 Navigation Center has published its annual report of trends in community needs for social services for 2015. This past year, the Navigation Center received a total of 261,504 calls from residents in need of help. The UWATX Navigation Center partners with 2-1-1 Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) to help individuals navigate through 30,000 nonprofit and government resources in the ten counties we serve. The counties served through our Navigation Center include Travis, Llano, Burnet, Williamson, Blanco, Hays, Caldwell, Bastrop, Lee and Fayette County. Here are some of the community needs trends we saw in 2015: Increase in Housing-Related Calls Our data shows housing-related needs were the top subject 2-1-1 callers asked about in 2015. Previously, food-related needs were consistently the top need. However, they are related; many times when someone is paying a high percentage of income on their housing, they are likely to have a hard time paying for other basic needs as well, like food, clothing, healthcare, prescriptions and more. This year, the Navigation Center made 100,128 housing-related referrals, which made up 31% of total calls. Top needs for 2-1-1 callers Create pie charts More Calls From Outlying Areas 2-1-1 calls reflect demographic shifts in our community. There has been an increase in calls from people living in Williamson, Caldwell and Hays Counties, which have experienced booming growth in recent years as people who can no longer afford […]
Read MoreOctober 30th Flood and Tornado Relief
We are taking donations for those affected by the October 30th floods and tornadoes. Please donate at uwatx.org/floods to make a gift specifically for disaster relief. Additional important info for those affected by the floods and tornadoes: · The Red Cross is opening a shelter at Seguin Coliseum in Guadalupe County to support residents impacted by tornado in that area. · The Civic Center in Wimberly is opening as an evacuation shelter from flooding on Cypress Creek, evacuations taking place on Flight Acres Rd. and Fulton Ranch Rd. · Evacuation Shelter being set up at Lulling High School for potential flood impacts in Caldwell County. · Residents of South Austin & Onion Creek are urged to go to the Dittmar Recreation Center, located at 1009 W Dittmar Rd, Austin, TX 78745. Major flood wave is expected to flow down Onion Creek. *Info via Red Cross and KXAN* Stay safe, everyone!
Read More2-1-1 Call Data Shows Community Needs and Trends for Greater Austin
Happy February 11th, or as we like to say at United Way for Greater Austin, “Happy 2-1-1 Day!” Each year, 2-1-1 resource centers around the country celebrate this day and aim to raise awareness about the importance of the service. Since 1996, our Navigation Center has served the Greater Austin community as an access point for health and human services referrals. We are able to quickly and privately connect those in need of assistance to nonprofit and government resources, as well as track the needs and trends of the community as a whole with each call. The UWATX Navigation Center celebrates 2-1-1 Day by releasing an annual “Community Needs and Trends Report,” a compilation of data reflecting the scope of needs within our community throughout the year. View the complete report for 2014 here. The most recent data showcases the suburbanization of poverty in our region. While 2-1-1 call volume stabilized in Central and East Austin, we saw a significant increase in call volume from outlying areas, including Pflugerville, Manor, San Marcos and portions of Bastrop County. We aren’t the only ones noticing this trend. According to the Brookings Institute, “There has been a 143% increase in suburban poverty in the Austin metro area over the last decade.” Of the 327,935 calls answered in 2014, 79% of callers were female. We know that single parent-headed households are more likely to live in poverty than dual income households. The majority of callers were between 20 to 50-years-old, indicating that it is the working […]
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