United Way Of Coastal Fairfield County Inc

Programs: Keeping collaboration at the core of its efforts, united way of coastal fairfield county, (uwcfc) focuses on engaging partners to build innovative solutions whcih create results that are transformative showing true change across the cradle to career continuim-without band-aids, or quick fixes. As a leading catalyst for social change, uwcfc is aligning efforts across sectors and organizations that touch all stages of a child's development toward adulthood. Across it's footprint, uwcfc uses data and evidence to guide decisions, course correcting as needed, challenging practices and processes to improve early learning, fix service systems to address the needs of the whole family; increase high school graduation rates, and reduce unemployment among youth. In bridgeport, the state's largest city, uwcfc plays the role of backbone organization for bridgeport prospers, cradle to career, a collective impact movement, which utilizes the strive together model. This project brings together over 400 local stakeholders including parents, educators, community, business and governmental leaders to identify and implement agreed upon strategies to ensure all children are ready for kindergarten, reading by 3rd grade and graduating high school, college or workplace ready. As the backbone organization of this community led effort, uwcfc provides funding and technical support. To move this work ahead, each of the nine identified key outcomes, infant health, kindergarten readiness, early grade reading, middle grade math, high school graduation, youth safe from violence, post secondary enrollment, post secondary completion and youth employment use community action networks (cans) to identify and analyze data and work to implement solutions. In 2016, bridgeport prospers released a summary report outlining the data and discovery work which will be used to continue the forward motion of collective agreements among those involved with bridgeport prospers - propelling efforts around the city improve outcomes for its youth. Using data as the building block for accountability and progress, bridgeport prospers looked to start at the beginning. Recognizing that 80% of a child's brain development occurs before age 3, and knowing that the brain develops fastest before age five, the uwcfc launched bridgeport basics. Bridgeport basics is a video support series for parents and caregivers, providing fun, simple and easy ways to foster school readiness. In norwalk, the second largest city in uwcfc's footprint, uwcfc is a member of the leadership team for norwalk acts, the city's collective impact effort. This community's goals are focused on early childhood and early literacy, working cradle to career to offer strategic solutions for struggling children and families. Changing the odds for children:connecticut's children face the largest opportunity gap in america. Uwcfc is playing a key role in ensuring that developmental needs of children are identified early and families are provided with solutions to keep those children on track to thrive and enter kindergarten ready to learn. To support the goal of school success, uwcfc focuses on the importance of early literacy. Programs such as kick off to kindergarten ensure children with no previous exposure to formalized learning (pre-k) are familiar with school classrooms and are able to interact and respond appropriately in a classroom and with peers and teachers. To help encourage reading among parents and young children uwcfc partners with organizations such as read to grow and has provided over 200,000 books over the last 10 years, to low-income families, helping to build home libraries. To further encourage families with small children to build language skills, uwcfc launched 1000 books before kindergarten, a national early literately program, in the cities of norwalk and bridgeport in conjunction with the city local libraries which promotes both reading and use of library resources. In addition to help children meet the critical milestone of reading at grade level by 3rd grade, uwcfc has identified six schools as early literacy schools of hope (soh). Schools receive extra support to help struggling students with a special focus on english language learners. The schools utilize seniors who participate in the national foster grandparents program to increase one on one reading time for high need students. Last year, these seniors provided over 53,000 hours (20 hours a week) of literacy and language support for children from pre-k through 3rd grade to ensure they were reading at grade level. Neighbors helping neighbors:for those most in need within coastal fairfield county, uwcfc has been the backbone organization in the creation of the collaborative opening doors fairfield county (odfc), providing funding and technical support . The odfc collective, focuses on how to best serve community members who are homeless or at risk of homelessness, by coordinating advocacy efforts, prevention, housing, employment, and social services to ensure that episodes of homelessness are rare and of short duration and that individuals and families have access to safe, affordable housing. Uwcfc also provides odfc with the ability to utilize 2-1-1 as a uni-directional point of access to information and services for this population. Uwcfc also understands that a child that is hungry or not in a stable home situation is challenged to focus on learning. Through the neighbors helping neighbors program local homeless shelters, food programs and organizations providing emergency rent and utility assistance receive funds to help those families that do not qualify for other assistance. Many of the organizations funded were able to increase availability of healthy fruits and vegetables in an effort to reduce health conditions like obesity and diabetes. In 2016-17, the alice (asset limited, income constrained, employed) report update highlighted the growing working population that is struggling given that the household survival budget for a family of 4 in our area is $63,329. Other supports provided by uwcfc include weekend backpacks of food for elementary school children (1,100 children served) and the volunteer income tax assistance program (vita) which served 4,894 low-income working families and individuals saving the community $978,800 in tax preparation fees and providing over $7 million in tax refunds and $2 million in earned income tax credits (eitc).

designations: one role of united way of coastal fairfield county has remained the same, our facilitation of donor's pledges to non-profit agencies of their choice. Without our presence in corporate campaigns, this service would not be available. The financial administrative support we supply, allows donors to contribute if they wish to designated charities within coastal fairfield county or in the town they live in.

provision for uncollectible pledges