United Way Of Dane County Inc

Programs: Born learning goal: "children are cared for and have fun as they become prepared for school. " we have three major born learning strategies that are helping us achieve the goal that 80% of our 4-year olds are at age-expected development and ready to begin school by 2020: (1) home visitation, (2) play and learn and (3) developmental screening. We served 296 young children, and their families, with home visiting in 2014. Home visitation is in-home education and support to low-income parents of young children facing multiple risk factors to help them nurture their children. Our home visitation programs include the parent-child home program, welcome baby, and kinderready. In 2014, 86% of the children who graduated from the parent-child home program had skills that were kindergarten ready. We served 1,501 children and 1,271 caregivers at 14 play and learns sites in 2014. Play and learn sessions are weekly early childhood and parent enrichment programs that model for parents how to be their children's first teacher. The ages and stages questionnaire was administered in all home visitation and play and learn programs as well as through community partners. Our lead partners on these three born learning initiatives include access community health centers, center for families, children's hospital - community services division, and community coordinated child care. Academic success goal: "students succeed academically and graduate from high school, regardless of race. Our major initiatives in this area are tutoring and academic support programs at the elementary, middle and high school levels to help increase the graduation rate in dane county to 95% by 2020, with an interim goal of 93. 2% by 2016. To help all children succeed in school, the schools of hope literacy tutoring mobilized 697 volunteers to tutor 2,168 students at elementary schools in madison, middleton/cross plains and sun prairie in the 2014-2015 school year. Centro hispano is the lead agency partner on elementary tutoring. The result: 96% of teachers report volunteers contributed to increase in student skills. An independent evaluation of our madison program demonstrated that schools of hope students had an average of 19% higher reading scores than a matched comparison group, contributing to an overall 7% district increase in reading growth by 3rd grade and 11% by 5th grade. We are also working to help middle and high school students succeed in school and life. In the 2014-2015 school year our middle school tutoring initiative engaged 558 volunteers to tutor 1,315 students in literacy and math in the madison, sun prairie and oregon schools. Urban league of greater madison is the lead agency partner on middle school tutoring. Our high school tutoring program, achievement connections, recruited 246 volunteers to tutor 446 students in the madison and middleton schools in algebra and geometry in the 2014-2015 school year. Recognizing that students learn best when supported by their parents, more than 600 parents attended programs we organized to model strategies to help children be successful in school. In addition, we partnered with neighborhood, community and school-based programs to promote academic achievement and engagement and success in school, work and life for more than 2,440 youth, including big brother big sisters, boys and girls club, briarpatch youth services, by youth for youth, cambridge youth center, centro hispano, deerfield community center, east madison community center, goodman community center, kennedy heights neighborhood center, literacy network, lussier community education center, madison schools and community recreation, mcfarland community center, salvation army, simpson street free press, stoughton community center, the urban league of greater madison, vera court, the worker center and the ywca of madison.

healthy for life goal: "health issues are identified and treated early. " we have three main strategies in this area: (1) providing access to behavioral health services, (2) providing access to physical health services, and (3) providing access to dental services. Connecting people who have low incomes and are uninsured with health care and dental homes is a primary strategy and proven best practice. Health care homes provide a regular source of care that focuses on preventive care, managing chronic illnesses and reducing the need for hospitalizations or emergency visits. A top priority in this area is our work to identify and treat behavioral and mental health issues that keep children and youth connected to school, families and the community and on-track for graduation. During the 2014-2015 school year 2,661 sixth graders were screened for behavioral health issues and referred as needed for treatment. The face-kids program conducted 116 behavioral health groups for 691 students in 45 schools and 6 off-site locations in 8 dane county school districts. In addition, more than 4,450 students received mental health support and treatment through partnerships with agrace, canopy center, catholic charities, children's hospital - community services division (children's service society of wi), family services madison, and hancock center for dance/movement therapy. In 2014, through united way's support, 1,350 children received preventive and/or restorative dental care through school and community based partnerships. 1,813 children ages five and under received a well-child exam during the year, 125 children with adhd received medical and mental health care and monitoring in a primary care setting, and 775 diabetics improved the management of their disease as a result of being connected with a community-based medical home. United way of dane county's healthconnect premium assistance program allowed 875 low-income individuals to become or remain insured by paying their 2014 premiums for plans purchased through the health insurance marketplace. We partner with multiple health agencies including access community health centers, triangle community ministry, aids resource center of wi, american heart association, and community health charities.

basic needs goal: "there is a decrease in family homelessness. " we have four primary strategies to reduce family homelessness and the number of children in shelter by 50% in dane county from 2007 to 2015: (1) provide quality housing case management and eviction prevention, (2) increase financial literacy, (3) increase access to food, and (4) provide direct access to housing through housing first. Among the results of our work in 2014: (1) 2,345 families and individuals received case management to remain stably housed, (2) 3,401 tax filers were assisted in filing state and federal taxes yielding $3,790,546 in tax refunds, of which $1,515,179 were from earned income tax credits(eitc) to low-income individuals and families and 1,467 households learned financial literacy skills, (3) 8. 7 million pounds of food were distributed to 158,000 households, and (4) 163 families were stably housed in our housing first programs eliminating their time in shelter and improving potential for their children's' school success. Lead partners in this work include the community action coalition for south-central wisconsin, domestic abuse intervention services, the financial education center, and habitat for humanity, porchlight, the road home, second harvest of southern wisconsin, and ywca of madison, city of madison and dane county housing authorities.