United Way Of Anderson County

Causes: Human Services

Mission: The mission of the united way of anderson county is to improve our community by providing leadership in identigying needs, securing and leveraging resources and driving action.

Programs: Community impact the community impact agenda is a road map for anderson county to meet the most urgent needs, connect area strengths and assist with opportunities to improve our community in measurable ways. Progress and results are continually reviewed to identify what is working well and what we need to improve. Focus areas of community impact are: education, income, health and basic needs. Funding requests were received for 40 programs from non- profit organizations serving anderson county. After much work by our dedicated volunteers serving on the vision councils and community impact cabinet, the united way board of directors approved funding to 36 programs at 31 agencies for the 2015/2016 fiscal year.

americorps the united way of anderson county was awarded an americorps grant for the eighth year in the summer of 2015 which allowed us to continue a collaboration of community organizations with a common thread - school completion. The grant placed eighteen americorps members in various schools and adult education centers across the county. The goal is to assist third grade students who are not performing at the state standardized required level. Partners in the grant are anderson county school districts 1, 2, 4 and 5 and adult education centers for districts 1 and 2.

women's leadership council united way of anderson county's women's leadership council (wlc) was created in 2001 to enhance women's involvement in the community through philanthropy, leadership and advocacy. With a vision to provide an environment in which children can become responsible adults and a mission to ensure that they ahve the knowledge and skills to do so, the wlc has charted a course for success. Since 2004, these dedicated women have invested over 500,000 to implement a comprehensive, evidence-based teen pregnancy prevention program in anderson school districts 3 and 4. The program received national recognition for its effectiveness in the march 30, 2009 edition of time magazine. State teen pregnancy data indicate that the cirriculum provided is changing teen behavior, incidents of teen pregnancies have decreased 80% in anderson county school district 3 after 10 years of implementation, and 60% in anderson county school district 4 after four years. The sc campaign to prevent teen pregnancy included the united way of anderson county in an 18 million federal grant of which 1,5 million will allow teen pregnancy programs to be implemented in all middle schools in anderson county, as well as the alternative school and new foundations in 2016. 2-1-1 2-1-1 connects people with important community services and volunteer opportunities. 2-1-1 provides free and confidential information and referral for help with food, housing, employment, health care, counseling and more. 24-hour service gets community members the help they need when they need it. African american leadership council the mission of the african american leadership council (aalc) is to cultivate leadership in the african american community to ensure a diverse voice in efforts that address community needs. The core strategies of the council are to identify, recruit and cultivate african americans who represent our current and future leaderhsip for our community. Each year, the council hosts mlk day on a day of community service and a black history forum for the community. The council focuses on youth through an annual youth summit for area children ages 10-18, by providing them with the necessary tools and supplies to begin a successful school year; mentoring middle school students; and assisting with college readiness, such as application completion and financial aid information. Center for nonprofit excellence in 2014-2015 through the center for nonprofit excellence (cne), united way of anderson county offered a series of leadership and development training for nonprofit executives, staff and board members to assist them in reaching standards of excellence in their field. Thirteen training opportunities were provided with over 100 individuals participating throughout the year. These sessions included grants training, a board develoment series, leadership development sessions, volunteer management training and scanpo's local access to training offerings. The cne aims to assist local nonprofit organizations by offering local training and networking opportunities that can help improve services and build excellence. Cne also offers opportunities to collaborate, network, and jointly lead efforts that will improve quality of life. Eat smart move more eat smart move more (esmm) anderson county is a local chapter of a statewide movement aimed at coordinating obesity prevention efforts. It was established in april 2012 through the leadership of the city of anderson, anderson county and united way of anderson county. The united way serves as the facilitator and manages the esmm staff and operatons. Eat smart move more anderson county is focused on uniting a wide variety of community partners to work together to increase active living, improve health eating, and decrease adult and childhood obesity in the community. In 2014-2015, esmm continued to implement a community wide action plan to address obesity. Some efforts that have been initiated include working with local pediatricians to pilot the utilization of a pediatric obesity tool kit during visits with patients; partnering with local elementary schools to implement the coordinate approach to child health curriculum (aimed at implementing health eating and active living efforts in all areas of the school); supporting local pto/ptas in implementing healthy practices in schools; enlisting school districts in fit gram effort and as an allicance for a healthier generation school; supporting culinary training for school food service staff; promoting the farmer's market and use of double snap for local produce; and promoting and encouraging the county's part and recreation resources. Leadershipnext leadershipnext strives to develop the next generation of community leaders, by advancing the idea that good/great leadership has less to do with a skill set or area of expertise and more to do with who you are, what your values say you want for yourself and others and where you want to take your life. Leadershipnext started in 2006 and we have had 148 graduates since its inception. For the 2015-2016 year, leadershipnext had 8 graduates that completed 432 hours of leadership training and learned of many different community involvement opportunities. Volunteer center the volunteer center of united way of anderson county is now affiliated with "get connected". We invite you to visit our website - http://uwandersoncty. Galaxydigital. Com for a listing of volunteer opportunities throughout anderson county. This webiste allows non-profit agencies, schools, churches, and civic organizations to submit volunteer opportunities available at their respective sites. Individuals throughout our community are able to view and register as a volunteer for any of the opportunities on the webiste. This website also allows the posting entity to track volunteer participation, along with hours volunteered. Both ongoin and one-time special event opportunities can be submitted. The volunteer center coordinates local community-wide volunteer events, such as day of action, which allows individuals to volunteer to work across anderson county on various projects that benefit local non-profits and our community. Vita volunteer income tax assistance - is sponsored by the irs, and run by local communities. Volunteers provide free income tax preparation assistance to low-income, elderly and disabled people. In 2015-2016, 540 volunteer hours were provided to to complete 614 tax returns for lower income households in anderson county. Weekend backpack program united way of anderson county has partnered with golden harvest food bank, anmed, habitat for humanity anderson county, enterprise rental car, the salvation army and area churches, civic groups and fire departments to bring the weekend backpak snackpak program to 24 primary and elementary schools in anderson county. Approximately 1,000 children recieve a bag of child-friendly, ready-to-eat foods every friday throughout the school year to take home for the weekend, when school meals are not available. Youth volunteer corps the youth volunteer corps of anderson county (yvc) provides community service opportunities for youth ages 11-18 throughout anderson county. For the 2015-2016 year, 71 members contributed over 788 hours of community service on 30 projects at various non-profits in our community.