Hands On Central Texas (HOCT) at United Way for Greater Austin coordinates corporate volunteer activities as team-building projects and each year they help hundreds of businesses engage their employees in community-changing volunteerism. On Saturday, Sept. 24., the Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation teamed up with HOCT to give back at their annual Coke Scholars Service Summit. The Coke Scholars Service Summit is an opportunity for Scholars to gather from different parts of the country to build strong relationships, adventure in a new city, and continue to be inspired about community change. Austin’s Zavala Elementary School, where Coke Scholar Tim McCallum attended in 1991, was chosen as the volunteer project venue for the 2016 Summit. View photos from the Summit here. In attendance was Madison Springgate, who in addition to being a Coke Scholar, is also one of our very own Campaign Associates. Madison was chosen as a Coke Scholar in high school and said, “I was thrilled to be a part of the project at Zavala, from the Scholar perspective, as well as part of the United Way staff.” To get to know more about the Coke Scholars program and the impact it had on Madison, read the brief Q and A below. What does it mean for you to be a Coke Scholar? When looking at my personal journey, specifically when it comes to my passion for community impact work, much of it goes back to my experience as a Coke Scholar. Though I was very involved with volunteering and philanthropy in […]
Read MoreVPL Graduates Celebrate at Kerbey Lane Cafe
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 lasting change in their communities. This week, 35 middle school VPL students from the three campuses we work on attended a celebration of their accomplishments at Kerbey Lane Cafe. They ordered pancakes and breakfast tacos from a special menu featuring a letter of encouragement and congratulations from Kerbey Lane’s CEO and UWATX Board Member, Mason Ayer. These students from Mendez, Webb and Decker Middle Schools completed 20 volunteer projects this year, ranging from making seed balls and beautifying their neighborhoods, to packing hygiene kits for the homeless and leading a craft station for refugee children. After breakfast, students received special certificates, t-shirts and journals to document their ideas on how to continue making Austin greater. As with any VPL meeting, the event concluded with a peer shoutout exercise we call “brag on your neighbor.” Students and volunteers recognized the contributions of each other that made this year both successful and fun. Below are some messages left by the students on a reflection board from the event: “Thank you for helping me help others” “Thank you for showing me skills I didn’t know I had” “Because of VPL, I know that I want to grow up to be a philanthropist” Want to make a difference in the community? Visit HandsOnCentralTexas.org, the largest volunteer network in Central Texas, and find opportunities that interest you!
Read MoreUWATX 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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